Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 We, uh, gather today, uh, for another edition of this podcast, big city Catholics with Bishop Robert Brennan, the, uh, Dias and Bishop of Brooklyn, myself, father, Chris HEK, uh, and today we're really pleased to gather and to join with us, uh, Julia Cheetos, uh, the vice president of bridge to life and the director of, uh, material assistance there. Um, obviously our topic today is about, um, the recent Supreme court decision. Um, certainly in, in the case of dos versus Jackson and, and all of the news that we hear about, uh, Roe V Wade. And, uh, so we're really very, uh, grateful for your presence here, but we'll begin, uh, first, uh, with a prayer. This prayer is from the U S C C B. It's entitled the, the life and dignity of the human person in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit.
Speaker 1 00:01:01 Amen. God of all life help us to appreciate the great gift that is human life formed in your image, a reflection of your holiness help us to recognize you in all whom you have created children. Not yet born families affected by poverty and war people of different abilities, people from other lands and all who are victims of hatred and racism help us to bear witness to the dignity of all whom you have created regardless of stage of life or wealth or ability or color or creed for every person is fully equal in your loving eyes. Share with us your holy knowledge that we are all your children, each bestowed with inherent dignity, may your justice reign forever. Amen. Amen. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Thank you. Amen.
Speaker 2 00:01:59 That was beautiful. Thank you, father Chris. Um, and it is, it's great to be here. We have our third, I think this is really our third edition and already we're, we're doing great. We have some great guests. We had father Carlos Velasquez last week, and today we have Julia Cheetos and, um, this, I think gives us some opportunities for some meaningful discussion.
Speaker 1 00:02:22 Finally, uh, I know Bishop, when we were talking about the reasons for creating this podcast is, uh, really to give your you an opportunity to, to, to, to talk to directly to the faithful of the diocese, but also to do it in a way that's not, uh, a rushed conversation. It's not just a two minute, uh,
Speaker 2 00:02:41 Sound's right, cliff. That's right. We wanna meet the issues of the day. We wanna be able to talk about the proclamation of the gospel in the world today, but, you know, we live in a sound bite world and, you know, you take something like the, um, Dobbs versus Jackson Supreme court decision last week. And in fact, a number of the decisions last week, we have a lot to talk about in the coming weeks. That's right. But when you take a, a look at something like that, soundbites don't do it. No, it it's some really thoughtful, um, in depth discussions are, are, are called for here. And, um, today we have a great opportunity to do exactly that. Thank
Speaker 1 00:03:17 You really, and soundbites don't do it. And, and, you know, the youth are all on, on Instagram and, and, uh, I see a lot of my, even the, the, my nieces and nephews and their friends posting, um, just truly false information or just a qu quick post that they think is gonna, uh, change the world by this one post. And, and, and it's, uh, we really, it's, it's a blessing to be able to, to, to, to delve into this topic.
Speaker 2 00:03:46 So, you know, after the Supreme court decision last week, um, some of the things we talked about, I talked about it in my letter. And even in ahead of time, the bishops of New York talked about, um, that it presents us with certain challenges now. So there are challenges, we'll have a chance to talk next week, more about the broader issues of the dignity of the human person at every stage of life at every stage. But the other thing is we've always been saying, and we do that. We are not the only there to walk the journey of pregnancy. We, you know, one of the things the pro-life movement gets accused of is that, you know, we say you save the life of the baby, keep the baby, but then, huh, that's the end of it. Um, but Catholics are incredibly generous to, um, pro-life organizations and we have a couple of them here and bridge to life is one I'm very, very proud of where we, we have people who are deeply engaged in the pro-life movement and see the broad needs and say that this is about accompanying people all the way through and beyond getting people on their feet.
Speaker 2 00:04:57 So, um, so I'm glad we have the chance to talk a little bit about bridge to life, because this is one example of how we are ready to redouble our efforts. We, we say that we're going to, we don't just do the talk. We walk the walk. Yeah. And say, we say that we're gonna be ready. And we want to be able to refer to women and families in need in a time of crisis. And thank God, there are good committed people who are ready to receive them. So with that in mind, Julia, it is such a pleasure to welcome. Thank
Speaker 1 00:05:28 You today for joining us.
Speaker 3 00:05:29 It's an honor to have Bishop Brennan. Do you go by Bishop Robert or Bishop Brennan? This is the talk in my, my nine o'clock Italian mess. <laugh> Robert dog. The other one said, Brennan,
Speaker 4 00:05:43 However you go. One, one of my friends, a classmate of mine says for Robert Al Bishop, he always calls me Robert Al Bishop, as we say in the mess,
Speaker 3 00:05:51 Right. But I have to say
Speaker 2 00:05:53 Whatever works,
Speaker 3 00:05:53 Bishop Brennan, I and behalf of bridge to life we saw in you immediately, the day of the dedication, your heart and soul in the pro-life movement. And I thank you for giving me this opportunity, Bishop, I really am honored because we wanna get the word out there. How we walk with these moms all the way through, from the beginning, when they first find out they're pregnant or think they're pregnant and not sure what to do, they come to us, we can counsel them. We can guide them, or we can refer them to the proper places where they need the right counseling. And then we walk them through the whole pregnancy. And, um, and we're there for them afterwards. And what we do as you must have heard we supply material assistance, which, which encompasses, uh, baby bottles, uh, diapers, uh, clothing, uh, food for the parents.
Speaker 3 00:06:53 Cause now we started a little pantry and we have breakfast stuff, lunch, canned goods that have been donated. And we ask the moms when they come in, if they need anything in that area as well, uh, carriages, um, you know, we were blessed by being able to get a grant from mother Cabrini and we were able to purchase new carriages, new cribs, and you have to see their faces light up because everything we always gave in the past were used and we'd have to check if the screws were all there for a crib. Sure, sure. You know, and we're all volunteers, right? We, we, we have two part-time, you know, secretaries that just answer the phones, but you know, we are all there, including the women who assist these pregnant women and children, they're women that come in from all different parishes in the neighborhood. And, um, they volunteer their time. Every Wednesday. We're there for five, five hours giving out material assistance. Wow. And if they need anything else with counsel, we make a separate appointment, just see them.
Speaker 2 00:07:57 Wow. No, that's great. You know, um, my real introduction to bridge to life, apart from what I had heard and read was I had the chance to bless the new center at your expanded center. And let's start right at the front door. Um, you walk in one of the great things that, um, you can boast of is as soon as you walk in the door, it's welcoming.
Speaker 3 00:08:21 Thank you. And we worked hard to do that. We have an executive director, Francesca Yoko, who, um, was very, very devoted to decorating and helping us come up with ideas, being young, a young mother, a grandma, and she had an eye and she had the tree of life. I think you noticed when you came in on the left, it was just stood out because it was made as a sample. And we're gonna do the final thing in an orange leaf that as you come in, you see, as, you know, the bookcase of all the children's books, then you see the tree of life and then you see this beautiful staircase that goes up to the other rooms and it's ju it is welcoming. No, it is welcoming
Speaker 2 00:09:05 Very, very much. So, you know, in years past, we always did. I mean, in the broad sense, we, we always did the best that we could with what we had. And so sometimes we were operating out of, uh, closets or garages and
Speaker 3 00:09:16 Eleanor Ruda did that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:09:18 The founder, what we can do, she did, but now we're able to say, this is a place that's professional, that's welcoming. And, um, and, and, and that embraces the person who comes in that is an important message to,
Speaker 3 00:09:31 Yes. Bishop,
Speaker 2 00:09:32 We talk about dignity.
Speaker 3 00:09:33 Yes. Dignity, and, you know, um, we've expanded, you know, we have many more girls coming in. We service about 4,000 a year. Wow. And, uh, we do the boroughs, you know, it's Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens. It's not just, you know, a little place in college point. They're coming from all over and, um, and all different walks of life and all different problems that we have to look into and address because we don't want any, anything happening to these women and children that you can hear in the past has happened. That we were not aware of. Now, we, we are very aware, right. And we are in tune. So we will contact the social worker if we see something not right. And we wanna know more about this person so that we can help
Speaker 2 00:10:16 Them. That's right. You know, when, um, I was on long island, we had Regina residents years ago, part of the need was residential situations. That's, it's a different story today. It, it's more helping people to be on their own independent, independent, exactly,
Speaker 3 00:10:30 And secure and know they could do it.
Speaker 2 00:10:32 Right. And the director of residents would say, sometimes the pregnancy is only the presenting problem, that there are all kinds of other issues, whether it be familiar issues where persons coming from sometimes, um, the pregnancy comes as a result of an abusive relationship.
Speaker 3 00:10:50 Well, can I tell you a story of a true story that happened recently on that note, we, uh, got a call from a parish in the area and the secretary asked if she could come in with a young 17 year old girl who just had a baby, she was an immigrant. She was raped. Mm-hmm <affirmative> she didn't wanna get rid of the baby. She wanted to keep the baby. She was living with relatives, not even her parents. Cuz she was an immigrant that just came and can she please come over for some clothing formula and some counseling to let her know she's not alone. And that was most recent.
Speaker 2 00:11:28 Wow. Yeah. So now it's not just women. See you, you also assist families, couples so that they can begin a new family life. You have
Speaker 3 00:11:38 Young couple young, young teenagers came in last week. Um, they were about 1920, something like that. But they, they found themself that she's pregnant and they had said, we'd keep the baby. But then he started getting feelings of no, maybe not, you know? And I don't know if we could do this. So she, she was told to call us and France, Jessica's been counseling them for the last three weeks and he's kind of, he wouldn't talk. And now eventually she noticed last week, she got him to open up about what's bothering him with this feeling of not having the baby cause deep down. He really wants to have the baby. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:12:18 And do, do we have ways of getting people, um, the other outside assistance? Not that we, we can't provide everything, but do no. Like you you'd mentioned independence. So, so taking advantages of the services and the realities that are, are out
Speaker 3 00:12:33 There for they're out there, but we're hoping to bring them to us because we have the room now. Right. And we're looking into that, that we would like to start different programs. Right. So that we could, for instance, uh, post abortive, Rachel's helpers, forgiven and set free. Um, I got involved with two other women from St Mel's and St. Anastasia. We had a group that we did post a board of counseling, then the pandemic hit. So we had to stop because women were coming to us from trains buses at night and it's a 12 week program, but we're not given up on it. So we started it at bridge to life. And I, I actually had two, two women, one, uh, who was considering an abortion. She was at our facility to get clothing for her little child. That was only one and mentioned to one of my volunteers that, oh, I think I'm pregnant.
Speaker 3 00:13:31 I, I, I gotta, I gotta get an abortion. I'm getting my master's. I just had this baby. So she came running down to me. I was in that day, but I tried to get there on Wednesdays cuz I know that all the women come that day and in case there's something that arises like this. And she said, will you be willing to talk to her? And I said, of course, is she willing to talk to me? And sure enough, she said yes. So after she picked her clothing in her formula and her this, she sat with me from three 10 to five 30 and poured her heart out. And the bottom line was, she was a Christian and she did not wanna give up the baby, but she was afraid that she couldn't continue her studies. So I told her to talk to her priest.
Speaker 3 00:14:14 I told her to meditate. I told her to talk to her family who resented her first pregnancy and she had to move in with her grandma. But guess what? Now that the little child is born, the grandpa's at the park with him every other day. Mm-hmm <affirmative> okay. Exactly. I pointed that out to her. I said, look what you just told me. Yeah. You, you got accepted back. Yeah. They saw this child. She says, yeah, you're right. Well guess what? Now she's three months. I talked to her the other day. She's still holding onto that
Speaker 2 00:14:44 Baby. And you know, um, that, we'll talk more about this next week, but it, it again is the legislative side of this too. That first of all, you know, people have rights. We wanna make sure that they're in the insurance system, that they're getting the other needs, that, that, that are available to them. But also you could give a good example with education. Pregnancy doesn't necessarily mean the end of your life.
Speaker 3 00:15:08 She sent me a picture with her, uh, diploma two weeks
Speaker 2 00:15:11 Ago and well, and that's the thing. And so on the one hand, we need to advocate for those opportunities in society. That's true, whether it be through childcare, through education, through, through, um, the, you know, appropriate legislation and through opportunities and helping people to get on their feet. So we are not just about bringing the child to birth, but it really is saying to the mother, um, this is going to be, this is a new beginning for you and for your, your family, father, Chris. One of the things that, um, I find, I don't know if you would have this experience in your parish life Catholics who tend to be generous in many, many ways, for some reason, whenever you do something for moms in need, that one always seems to get a huge response.
Speaker 1 00:16:02 Yeah. And my last parish of holy child, Jesus in every month of may, we did a, a Marion child, uh, Mary and child campaign. And, um, we'd put out these beautiful baskets of like little cribs, you know, in front of the altar of our blessed mother and the, the whole parish would just fill them with baby bottles and blankets and, and pacifiers. And now, you know, in the recent news, the need for, uh, for formula, um, you know, but, um, there was, it was just an incredible turn turnout of, of support. And that's, I, you know, I think really what it means when the church says, uh, walking with moms in need, right? Yes. You know, this is, uh, everything that you're talking about Julia is, is illustrating what, what we mean by walking with someone in need. And I, as you, the two of you're talking, I'm thinking, you know, uh, uh, a light, uh, is not placed under a bushel basket, but it's placed on the, on the stand to, to show a light to the world. And you know, how do you, how do you Julia, and, and the people at bridge to life and how do you get the word out? How is it that, um, that people will know? I mean, this, thank God for this. Again, this podcast, whomever may listen to, it may not have known about bridge to life. Um, but so that's a great way to get the word out. Um, how, how else do you do it? Is it word of mouth,
Speaker 3 00:17:24 Word of mouth? True. But we've, you know, we just celebrated our 30th year. So we have donors and people that supported us, the initial group that even left us in their wills, you know, that their family should continue. And, uh, because they believed in our cause, but we also, we do have a website and, um, we do one fundraiser a year. And in between the nights of Columbus before the pandemic, they're so supportive, they would have a pasta party. Now. Now what would happen? You spread the word to different nights, different chapters. Um, people heard of us now all the way to Brooklyn, Staten island. I have cousins in Staten island that come to the fundraiser. Wow. They told their parishes, so word of mouth does go far, especially that there is nobody else really around doing this in our area, you know, it's us, that's it. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:18:21 Yeah, yeah. It's, it's a great, honestly, it's a beautiful mission. I mean, Julia tell, you know, like how did you get involved? Where, what was your found? I'm
Speaker 3 00:18:30 Glad you asked me that question. Father, Chris, where, where you start. Okay. I, uh, from St. Mel's parish, um, my children all attended there and in came a pastor named Monsignor John and TOK. And at that time I was a vice president of the Italian American association of St. Mel's. And he then after two years of vice president, I became president and he came to me and told me about this woman that I never heard of Eleanor Ruda, who helps moms in need and helps babies. Would I consider having a baby shower for her in may. And we've been doing that ever since then, because then I became president of the rosary altar society about five years later. And I introduced Eleanor to that organization and she would come and speak and her story was just so heartwarming and beautiful. And, um, so I got to know her.
Speaker 3 00:19:29 So I'd say 22 years ago, and I'm part of bridge for the last 15 years all because she begged me to join her organization. Cause she was, she was dying of cancer. And she said, I need somebody that I know is dedicated to the cause. And I see how you operate with St Mel's and the different organizations. Would you consider, please, just overlooking that everything goes the way I want it. And um, I said, no. I said, I can't do it. I'm tired. My grandchildren are coming, but, and then a month later I get a call that she has passed and it was the same day. My fourth grandson was born at the same hospital that told me a big message. I had my resume ready within a day and dropped it off to bridge to life. Great. And here I am, and
Speaker 2 00:20:20 Here you are, years later, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 00:20:23 Honestly, just the work that is done there, and these are real gems. Uh, and Bishop, you know, again, as you were mentioning, and I always try to, I mentioned it a few times. We've only had a few of these podcasts, but each time, uh, I like to focus on just one aspect of, um, the, the, the greatness of the, of the role of, of being the ordinary of this diocese. And, and then to see I've got great parishes doing great things, but I also have great organizations with great lay people, just doing incredible acts of kindness and love, um, that we, we are proud of here in the diocese of Brooklyn, you have to be
Speaker 2 00:21:01 Extraordinarily extraordinarily. And that I, I, I think that's the important story. This, you know, this isn't a, uh, a, a hierarchical, you know, no imposition, but these people, good people, generous people, talented people, yes. Pulling together those talents and, and, um, and giving great witness witness, by the way you do the work, but witness by the effectiveness of, of how you touch lives.
Speaker 3 00:21:29 Thank you. Yes. Yes. And you don't realize that you have it in you, like, you know, you go along your life doing okay, I'll do that. You need somebody to be, uh, involved in that organization at the church. Oh, they needed a CCD teacher. Cause two people had left. Do you think you could do it? I said, well, maybe I'll try. I did it for 10 years. I loved it. I had fourth grade. I loved it.
Speaker 2 00:21:52 Exactly.
Speaker 1 00:21:53 That's how we operate in the church. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:21:55 You find somebody who's already generous
Speaker 1 00:21:57 To do more
Speaker 2 00:22:01 Now? Yeah. Yeah. Now that's okay. I think one of the challenges in a post Dobbs era, I love saying that one of the challenges in the post-ops era is not so much that we have to start doing those challenging work. Those important works of, of, um, charity, charity and caring for people, accompanying people. We all, well, we need to network well, and this, I think one of the challenges for us in parishes is to say, okay, am I equipped that if somebody came to me and said, I have this need, or I don't even know what I need, but this is my, you know, I'm, I'm afraid. I don't know what to do. We need now to coordinate all of our, so that we can have at our fingertips and say, I know where you can go.
Speaker 3 00:22:50 Right? Absolutely. And France, Jessica is looking into these different areas, right? She's been totally devoted to finding the programs, workshops being held, hopefully in our own facility for these different needs of the different people. I, I,
Speaker 2 00:23:07 And for us as parish priest, yes. To be able to say, here's bridge to life, here's the life center. Absolutely. Here are the sisters for life. These are the, the they're you, you're not alone. Um, and sometimes we, we, we might say, oh, well, let me think about it. Let me see. We have to be, we have to be ready.
Speaker 3 00:23:23 We have to be ready. Yes, absolutely. And Eleanor always felt that. Yeah, she, you know, she used to house these girls that came in teenagers one time she wrote a letter, she had the young man and the girl living with her at the parish where she was operating out of. So, and then she would, she would have clothing. We have women's boutique. Okay. It, we had to get back on track because over the years with Eleanor gone, uh, they became like fancy clothes, go to a wedding. Go. Yeah, no, that's not what she wanted. She told me she had suits. She had business shoes. She then geared them to get a job, would show them. Cause that's what she did as a single mom, she had to go back to school to raise these two little girls. And she knew that working women can have children and still go to school at night and become, she became like a, a, an executive at chase bank, I believe. Okay. She was high up, but she worked hard, but she did it. She wanted to show these women that came in and young girls don't give up school. Right. Because you can do it. I'm gonna show you how you're gonna do it. The
Speaker 1 00:24:35 Success.
Speaker 2 00:24:35 Yeah. That's, that's the key. And that it it's. So it goes well beyond well, beyond the birth of the child.
Speaker 3 00:24:42 Yeah. Yes it does. And to see them come in, you know, we usually service until about five years unless they have another baby then. And that's another thing we have to do. We have to get into the schools. We, uh, Francesca and I did get invited. Rightf just when the pandemic was starting, um, to park slope, um,
Speaker 2 00:25:04 Save, save
Speaker 3 00:25:05 You. Yes. What a reception we got and we both got to speak individually to each grade. Wonderful and attentive. It was wonderful that we touched so many of these young teenagers that they did on their own a baby shower. And they came two months later with a truckload of stuff for infants and children. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And I think we need to get into the high schools to teach them to respect themselves, to respect their bodies. We gotta get the morals back.
Speaker 2 00:25:40 Right. Again, human dignity, respect for human dignity has to be the, the very foundation of EV of every EV every social issue. Yeah. But even of every relationship that we can look deep into the eyes of everyone. Yeah. And see the human dignity of a person created in God's own image. And like this,
Speaker 1 00:26:02 The other day on the phone, you were telling me an interest, incredible story of helping a woman, um, who is suffering from the effects of, uh, having an abortion. And I, I just, I think, you know, Bishop when, and I was talking with, uh, Julia about that, I just thought again, walking with moms in need, I mean, this is a woman in need, a woman in need, uh, who is still comes to bridge to life to ask for assistance in that counseling session. How, how was that for you? Uh, Julia,
Speaker 3 00:26:37 Um, this was, I mean, I was gonna ask if I could please relate that whole incident. She, she walked in with her dad. We were in the middle of giving out material assistance. I thought she had a child with her. Cause she asked for me and I said, what do you need? Usually they don't ask for me because I'm not part of giving out the material assistance. I'm just overseeing everything she says, oh no, no, no, I'm here. I was told to come here and ask for you. Uh, you belong to the holy separ. I go, yeah. And I'm like puzzled. And then she said, I need to speak to you privately. I was told that you could help me. I said, okay, then come up to upstairs. We went in the counseling room. She had her father with her who has dementia, but she had recently become a Catholic at the east of vigil.
Speaker 3 00:27:25 And she's been suffering. She's 52 years old. She's been suffering with two abortions. She had one at 17 and one, I think 22, whatever I said all these years, she says I've had ups and downs studied to be a nurse. An intelligent girl had two children married. She married, she had two children divorced, but these two children who are in their twenties, late twenties, they're off on their own. She's in touch with them. But the guilt is coming back in the last few years. So she can't, she can't function. That's all she thinks about. So I said, well, would you like to do a program with me forgiven and set free. I got her the pamphlet from Christian RDA. And um, we ref we do chapters together and she comes weekly. Um, and she looks forward to it. Uh, one day I said to her, I have another lady involved in the same area of, of rape forgiveness set free.
Speaker 3 00:28:26 Maybe you could talk to her if I'm not here. Oh no, no, no. Because they get this confidence with the person they were introduced to. And she said something astounding to me this last time. She said that isn't it odd that my two children were born two years apart, one in June and one in October. And I didn't know where she was going with this until she said, and they were both born on the exact day. I went for my two abortions. Oh wow. I says, and you are asking me if God forgave you. So she looks up at the sky and she goes, what do you mean? I said, God gave you these two gifts. You've been suffering. And he knows that you are repenting. And he knows that. You're sorry. And now he gave you two children, one born on one date of your abortion. And then another one born on the other date of your other abortion. There's a message there. She says, well, I have to think about that. I never thought of it. She thought it was a punishment so that she could keep remembering that she aborted those days. I said, no, no, no, no, no. You've gotta see it. The reverse.
Speaker 2 00:29:42 These are the days that God redeemed.
Speaker 3 00:29:44 Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:29:45 That God redeemed, even it is so important. We know that there are many people who are suffering, you know, that the child, isn't the only victim in, in abortion. And, um, and, and at the heart of our Christian posture is mercy. And we want to be able to prove it proclaim, but really live mercy. Um, and that's such an important, um, certain important piece of the work you do. Do you have a message that you, you know, suppose somebody picks this up or knows somebody, um, a message to some,
Speaker 3 00:30:19 Please reach out to us the bridge to life. We're right. In college point, you could find us on a website. You could call our office. We're glad to talk to you. If you know someone that is suffering, uh, in any area of pregnancy or before pregnancy, after pregnancy, um, any kind of issues that do with family life, please contact us at the bridge to life. If you could ask for me, Julia, you could ask for, uh, France, Jessica, who is our executive director, we're there. And if we're not there, we do have a hotline and, and please reach out to us. We're here for you.
Speaker 1 00:30:55 Thank
Speaker 2 00:30:56 You. Thank you. And thank you for all the work you do, and the people who do it with you EV you know, on a regular basis, right there in college point, but all those people who support you in all the different communities throughout Queens and Brooklyn, um, I, I, I thank sincerely all of those who, who give credibility
Speaker 3 00:31:15 To, and the parishes, the
Speaker 2 00:31:16 Statement
Speaker 3 00:31:17 At parishes, I reached out to neighboring parishes, mine included, and there's always that spot in the bulletin of where we are and who we are.
Speaker 1 00:31:25 We're gonna also, uh, we'll add in, into the biography of this episode, your information, we'll put the, uh, your website and the link phone
Speaker 3 00:31:34 Numbers. Great
Speaker 1 00:31:35 As well. Great. This should, before we conclude, I just, you know, I'm just sitting here with your pastoral letter and I just want to maybe just kind of give this last it's like toward the last end of your, your letter. I find that the paragraph to just kind of summarize what we've been talking about today, and, uh, you say, um, the church's pro-life witness is marked by joy and respect for every human person, even those who oppose our message, or even wish to silence us authentic. Pro-life witness demands, consistent advocacy for the respect for human dignity and truth and love at every stage of life for every human person created in the image and likeness of God. And I am grateful for that witness and proud to stand alongside you. And I think that's a great way to sort of say, here we are, this is Bishop's words, he's talking really Juliet to you. He's talking to the people at bridge to life. He's talking to all of the other organizations, religious centers and houses, uh, that we, and all of the faithful of the diocese. Um, it's an honor to stand beside you.
Speaker 2 00:32:42 Well, I thank you. My gratitude is sincere to you and to all of those. So, so thank you. And God bless you. I guess we'll close today with, with asking God's blessing upon all of us on the work that we do and on the, and on our society, we always pray for that conversion, that transformation of hearts and minds, the Lord be
Speaker 1 00:33:03 With you and with
Speaker 2 00:33:04 Your spirit, may the Lord bless you and keep you may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he look upon you with kindness and grant you his peace and may the blessing of almighty God, the father and the son and the holy spirit come upon you and all your family remain with you forever and Deborah. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:33:22 Amen. Amen. Thank you, Bishop. And thank you so much. Thank you again, Julia Chito for, for joining us today, this has been another addition of big city Catholics, a podcast with Bishop Robert Brennan and myself, father Christ HEK next week, uh, will be joined by father Joseph WASA, uh, to talk a little bit about all of the topics of this, uh, the broader sense of the Supreme court. So we're looking forward to that. Thank you.
