Earlier this month, Jesuit initiated its pro-life club that was started by Adam Hauser and many other Jesuit faculty members. This club helps students and the community understand the pro-life message. Hopefully, as the club grows, they will be able to have informational meetings about larger topics that reach outside of Jesuit. As the club leads into next year, they have many new plans on how it will run.
Interview:
Recently, I interviewed Mr. Hauser about the pro-life club to get his opinion on the topic and what the club will be like.
How and when did the club first it start?
“It kind of started in an impromptu way. Mrs. Wilson, back in communication, stopped me one day in the cafeteria and said, “Hauser, we’re starting to pro-life club so you’re going to be the moderator.” So that was how I was first thrown into it, and I would say he said that probably early February, so it’s been recent. Katie Wilson in the back of advancement and communications was probably the serious brainchild behind the idea. She previously was working for the Diocese of Dallas in the pro-life office, and she was speaking with different constituents in the school saying we need to have, or I would dream to have a pro-life club on campus.
I think another reason for it was Katie had kind of pointed out to Dr. Knize and maybe a few other administration that just through her work with the diocese that we are one of the few schools that weren’t consistently year after year or sending kids to the national March for Life that happens the third week of January 22nd, when the anniversary Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 happened. So I think that kind of piqued the administration to realize “OK we need to do something a little bit more concrete.”
Who are some people that have helped you build this club?
“There have been a series of adults who had an interest in the pro-life club itself specifically Sean McMullen was the one that first introduced and invited me, Mrs. Katy Wilson, Mrs. Hatzmann, Mrs. Jackie Wilson, and Ms. O’Neill were proponents at the school who felt that they are called to really be a part of the club.
I wish there was more to tell you, we’ve had a couple of meetings just as the five adults about the vision of the club. They had me come up with a kind of working title and working logo, so I wanted to play on this idea of trying to welcome people in. Because sometimes when people hear pro-life, many see it as a trigger word in today’s society. The Catholic Church has really robust teaching on kind of pro-life issues. It’s not just abortion, but also euthanasia and the death penalty. Pope Francis has said something new and it’s kind of being an addition to the catechism last few years about particularly the death penalty.
We wanted to kind of give a really comprehensive view of the Church’s teaching on pro-life issues to kind of help invite people in that might stigmatize the phrase. So, we kind of did this kind of double meaning of Rangers for Life, like the kids are obviously dedicated to the school, but they’re also Rangers that stand up for life and pro-life issues.
For the logo, we didn’t want to put like the traditional pro-life movement or the March for Life as a pair of baby feet that has always been kind of just against abortion kind of anti-abortion image, which is great, but I think the same time we wanted to try and dialogue and bring as many faculty, staff, and students into the conversation as we could. I said I really had a feeling that I needed to have a more neutral image that was kind of intriguing, so I just came up with this idea of like what if we put like the electrical cardiogram image wave behind the crest of the shield.”
What is the club planning on doing this year?
“A couple of things that we’re hoping to do with the club is the first kind of huge kickoff event. It’s going to be at the end of April this year when we’re going to officially send our leaders or ambassadors at a table for the Bishop Burns Pro-Life Dinner. We’ve sent kids in the past, but now we’re intentionally sending pro-life student moderators and leaders, so I’ll be at a table chaperoning them.We were going to give ongoing comprehensive formation on the church’s teaching, we’re hoping that in the community times going forward that we can bring in some expert speakers, particularly around the idea of bioethics. We khad this vision that the club could be a really interesting place to meet and answer questions.
Also, this place could potentially be a sounding board for some of the really tricky issues today around pro-life issues. I mean IVF and Vitro fertilization; a lot of these things are tied to really delicate issues around sexuality and life. They’re really controversial in society, and so trying to help the boys just understand kind of where the church kind of gets its logic and its reason from. Because when you start looking at it, it’s really integrated from the moment of conception to natural death is the term that you hear a lot and it’s all integrated by one or two principles of the dignity of a human person. So that’s ultimately what we’re hoping to accomplish, and I think in the long term, we would like to start sending some boys to the March for Life and having faculty help us staff it. From there we’ll see how it grows.”
Why did you choose to lead this club?
“I gladly wanted to lead it. I personally had been to a couple of March for Life events when I was in college at the Catholic Newman Center at the University of Kansas. The trip I remember as a student was really life-changing through my witnessing of the solidarity of thousands upon thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics marching for this ideal.
Also seeing a lot of students, really young generation, some people call that John Paul II generation, he wrote a famous and encyclical called Gospel for Life, and that whole generation was all marching for this cause. I think that first moved me, but at the same time Mrs. Hatzmann had kind of pointed out to me saying: “Adam, I think it would be really important to have a male figure leading this club.” As much as it deals with particularly abortion issues and deals with the woman and the mother, she was always like men seem to be underrepresented in abortion cases like the loss that they feel of their children. Also, the role men play is to be strong and defend life and to use their strength to do that. So, I think it was those reasons why I chose to lead the club.”
Were there any students who approached as well to start the club?
“So, we actually had to have 10 students on the application, so we’ve got several freshmen and sophomores and one junior. One of the reasons that we kind of focused on freshmen sophomores was to hopefully grow this club, and to let them kind of establish the culture Once we got 10 that were interested, we put it on the application for Dr. Knize to approve.”
Conclusion
Overall, the Pro-Life Club is going to be a great club. It will allow students to talk about sensitive subjects and feel comfortable expressing their thoughts on pro-life. Additionally, this club will allow the students to grow in leadership by becoming role models for other students in the community.
The Pro-Life Club is a great club to join if you want to learn more about the Catholic Church’s beliefs on sensitive subjects like abortion and the death penalty. To get more information about the club, contact Mr. Hauser.
The club will begin meeting regularly in September. If any student is interested in participating they are encouraged to submit their contact information at www.jesuitdallas.org/life.
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