Note: The native PowerPoint & Word files are provided, in the event you want to improve the material, gear it to a different audience, etc. In the event you do, please submit your new edition so others can use it too and please continue to give VeriCat and the original author credit. Verification citations are contained within PowerPoint comment bubbles, accessible in the PowerPoint “Review ribbon”.
ProLife Lecture
Description: A brief overview of the ProLife issues (who are the unborn, why is abortion wrong, why is euthanasia wrong, etc), the history of abortion in the bible and in the saints, and an exhortation to join the ProLife movement. 60 minute lecture, including ~10 minutes of audio/visual, 5 minute break, and 5 minute Q&A. Mixed audiences.
Forum: You can make general questions/comments about how to use or improve this Catechesis Material in the associated forum area LE-0523-0008 ProLife Lecture | Forum | VeriCat.org
Instructions and Tips from the Author: 100% of the words you need to say for this presentation are within the “Speaker’s Notes” portion of the PowerPoint Presentation MS PowerPoint Tutorial – Lesson 48 – Speaker Notes – YouTube. Hand motions, voice pitch changes, when to play what video, etc are all indicated in brackets [ ] within the speaker’s notes. Portions of the talk that are my personal testimony or that may change based on your audience are indicated in double braces {{ }}, and you should modify this content as appropriate to fit your audience and your personality. There is a time marker in the top of the speaker’s notes for each slide that you can compare to the timer in the top left of the PowerPoint Presentation mode so you can monitor whether you are going through the talk faster or slower than expected, which will guide whether you can pause to take a question from the audience or if you must tell them “please save all questions for end of presentation”.
It is 100% acceptable to be quite new to the Pro-Life movement and deliver this presentation by reading the slides word for word. If someone asks a question you don’t know or posits a riddle to stump you simply state “I don’t know, lets research that together.” . However, reading Trent Horn’s book “Persuasive Pro-Life ” Persuasive Pro-Life: How to Talk About Our Culture’s Toughest Issue (Softcover Book) (catholic.com) to prepare will help you grow as a person and as a catechist. USCCB’s abortion resources website Abortion – Pro Life Activities | USCCB is also helpful. You may also listen to Thinking About Assisted Suicide w/ Stephanie Gray Connors – Relevant Radio or read Start with What: 10 Principles for Thinking about Assisted Suicide – Kindle edition by Gray Connors, Stephanie. Self-Help Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. to prepare for the assisted suicide section or you can delete the 4th commandment and assisted suicide slides if you want the talk to focus solely on abortion (so long as you promise to verify anything you do, we encourage people to make presentations their own! I know the cosmetics of the presentation can be improved upon and I look forward to someone improving it!).
Nearly 20% of women will have had an abortion by the time they are 30, so the likelihood of someone in your audience having had an abortion, coerced an abortion, or having a close relative who has had an abortion is relatively high. Given this, it is important to stage a competent and empathetic counselor/friend in the back of the room to walk with such people in the event they want to leave the room or have such private discussions while the rest of the class goes through the presentation.
Pro Life Talk – YouTube Here is a video of me giving an older version of Part 1 of the talk if it helps you understand the tone and pacing of the talk. Part 1 of the presentation will take 25 minutes and can be used in stand-alone fashion.
This talk has been used successfully in adult RCIA and high school confirmation classes. It has been used in larger classrooms with 50 students just fine, but the intimacy of <20 people in a small room with good lighting has made for a better presentation on this sensitive topic in my experience.
Given this may be the height of excitement for the Pro-Life cause in your classroom, you want to convert the excitement into real action and real conversions by having Pro-Life resources printed out to share with them and volunteer opportunities lined up to plug them into. Every additional click or “I can do this later” is another fraction of students that will get distracted and not go onto fruitful pro-life labors, so you really need to have a physical piece of paper they can put in their pocket, precise volunteer timeslots they can sign up for in that moment, or a physical place they can go immediately after the presentation to immediately join newsletters or meet Pro-Life volunteers in your area.
I have included a page of Oregon/National pro-life organizations/resources that I would print out and give to students at the end of the presentation. Each Page has 3 handouts which you can cut up (only ORTL.org is state specific, the rest are national organizations and you can add your state or city specific ProLife resources to this list. This list also gives students the address to this webpage so they can leave reviews and lookup primary sources in the verification file, which is an important part of VeriCat, so please retain it.
I would also print out and distribute this 5 minute apologetics one-pager at the end of the presentation as well. How to Defend Your Pro-Life Views in 5 Minutes or Less (prolifetraining.com)
Time permitting, you can add slides that address the history, statistics, or recent legislative battles on abortion for your specific state to make the talk more personal/tailored to your audience.
Note: A wonderful dramatic audio re-enactment of St. Patrick confronting these idols/pagan priests by Augustine Institute Radio Theater (~3 hours long) entitled “The Trials of Saint Patrick“ is available for free at Formed.org and I’d highly recommend it and you can consider emailing it to a class of any age. Also, a beautiful children’s show illustrates why society should care for the weak instead of sacrificing the weak to “create a more perfect society” and if you feel it tasteful consider sharing it. I’m an adult that enjoys kids shows anyway, but some may find it insulting/beneath them Unit 2 | Success | Lesson 2 | Philo & Sophie™ (philoandsophie.org) Lots of other great content by Philo & Sophie too, definitely register for an account to view videos for free with your kids if you have any.
As always, practice using the audio visual equipment ahead of time and have a backup projector ready to go because you don’t want to waste 10 minutes anxiously fighting with the equipment during your class! Downloading videos or screen recording them so you can play a local file off of your laptop instead of being at the mercy of the wireless internet is also a great idea.
Special thanks to Xavier for helping complete the verification file.
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About the Author: Username “Cirra” I am a homeschooling mother of 5 who does graphic design for my local parish, occasionally blogs Cirra’s Clouds | the thought bubbles of a catholic minimalist mama (wordpress.com), and runs a store on Etsy “Busy Hands Holy Hearts” specializing in printable do-it-yourself Catholic arts and crafts activities for children. I pray you enjoy my content and please don’t hesitate to send me a private message if you have freelance graphic design work I could help you with.
