On October 15th, Fr. Tom Lynch of Priests for Life Canada visited OLSWA to speak about some of the issues surrounding the culture of life. His talk, which was very well attended, focused primarily on taking advantage of the tools and methods that are most expedient for building up a culture of life in this present day. In particular, Fr. Tom spoke of the need to get involved in politics, to take advantage of social media, and to take an open-minded approach to direct action methods.

Fr. Tom noted, first of all, that in order to build up a culture of life, we need to know what we want, and to be able to articulate it: “Unless you know what you want, you’re not going to get it,” he said. In particular, he urged listeners to be aware of what they want from politicians, and then to ask for those things. He pointed out that there are so few people actively engaged in politics today, that, whether it’s through political office, or even just writing to a local MP, we can have a huge effect. He encouraged listeners to get involved in politics, declaring that “You will be amazed at how influential you will be.”

Next, Fr. Tom went on to explain that, if we are going to win people over, we will have to communicate effectively. This doesn’t have to be difficult: “We can talk all we want,” he said, “but people want to see pictures.” He strongly encouraged the use of means which are already at our disposal—in particular, the use of social networks. In an age of social media, he noted that one of our principal tasks is simply to drive people to websites where they can “see for themselves.” Nevertheless, there is more to our role...“All of those websites need ‘stuff’,” he said. Fr. Tom explained that we can make that “stuff” ourselves—for instance, by collecting stories, or by making short, to-the-point videos. In an age in which YouTube is so wildly popular, people do not care whether what they see is professional or homemade, as long as it is effective—that is, as long as it is able to talk, not just to their minds, but most especially to their hearts.

Finally, Fr. Tom spoke about the need for direct action—that is, the need to actually take the pro-life movement out into the streets. “Whatever you may think about direct action, the main thing is that it works,” he said. He conceded that we will have to change tactics every two or three years to be most effective, but affirmed that “Whatever kind of direct action it is, I think it’s important.” He gave examples of young people attending sporting events and tossing pro-life messages into crowds, and of pro-life parade floats handing out Lifesavers bearing the message, “Have a Lifesaver – Be a Lifesaver – Be Pro-Life.” He spoke of a gathering of young people in the United States that meets every year to brainstorm as many new ways as possible of getting their pro-life message out. As Fr. Tom explained, “it’s very hard to gauge effectiveness” with regards to direct-action methods. Some methods may work better than others. Some may not work at all. No method will be effective as a means of reaching everyone. The important thing, however, is to be willing to take some sort of action, and in closing, Fr. Tom drove this point home by exhorting his audience: “Be willing to do something that fails.”