It all began in…
LIFE Club—Life Is For Everyone. That certainly has the ring of truth to
it. So whose splendid idea was it to
form a LIFE club here at Notre Dame? If
you were a student here in the early 1980s may recall the beginnings and your
own membership in the club which was a chapter member of the Right to Life
organization. It was a speaker that
Student Council (Sr. Mary Kevan moderator) sponsored, who spoke to the students
about life and the dignity that should inspire all of us to labor for its
preservation, especially for the unborn. This talk inspired Sr. Many Sebastien to
begin a LIFE Club. The exact year: 1982. (Just a little note about SMS: she is in her
late 80s and still very clear in her recollections of her years here at NDA. Sr. M. Sebatien is a resident of St. Joseph
Heights Infirmary.) The yearbook for 1982-83 says this: “L.I.F.E. members were involved in many activities (that
first) year: a Walk-a-thon, a national convention, and picketing at an abortion
clinic. L.I.F.E. also took up
collections for Birthright and for Kentucky flood victims. and passed out
lifesavers and tiny feet to all N.D.A. students.”
LIFE Club was, and still is, a vibrant part at Notre Dame
Academy. One of the major activities now,
as in the early years, is, of course, the annual trip to the nation’s capital to
rally for life along with students and adults from all over the country in Life
Week in January. The club
in this 21st century takes on other challenges appropriate to our
times (there will always be such causes).
Mrs. Theresa Van Auken, the moderator of the club writes: “We
sponsor the Fall and Spring Blood Drive, each month we do a collection for the
Wounded Warrior Project (we rotate every month between the grade levels), St.
Elizabeth Hospice Doves, Care Net baby bottle campaign, and once a year we do
an "out of uniform day" [blogger’s note: the students pay to come out
of uniform] and we donate the money between 3 organizations...Madonna House,
Rose Garden Mission, and Care Net (these are the ones we did last year and I
believe we are doing again this year).”
She also notes that the dues are $2 and
everyone is considered an active member because all contribute to at least one
effort in the course of the year.
So yes, we have lots of life and a
healthy LIFE—good for life all around.
