By Nancy Valko

A disturbing statement made by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for life, appearing to support the European Court of Human Rights decision to reject Baby Charlie Gard’s parents’ request to go to the US for an experimental treatment for their critically ill son struck a nerve with many Catholics. And although Pope Francis quickly expressed his support for Baby Charlie and his parents shortly after the statement, the ethical issue of experimental treatment remains confusing to many people, Catholic or not.

But what has the Catholic Church really said about experimental means?

Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s Summer Academy brings pro-life high school students together for workshops and seminars that equip them to become pro-life ambassadors in their schools and communities. Part of the experience is learning to get up in public and speak about life issues and so we’ll be bringing you some of the speeches that the 2017 participants gave this summer.

By Sarah Ryan

I thought I should preface this by telling you that I am extremely nervous - for two reasons. The first is that I am not a fan of public speaking. It doesn’t matter if there are ten of you or ten thousand of you, I will inevitably turn red, have shaky hands, and stumble over my words.

But there is another reason why I’m nervous. I’m nervous because I am not the same person I once was. If you had met me five years ago, three years ago, possibly even a year ago, you would be meeting an entirely different person from who I am today.

On Saturday, April 8, a beautiful spring day, several dozen pro-lifers gathered on the Boston College campus for Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s annual convention to hear speakers and to hold discussions on topics ranging from abortion to physician-assisted suicide.

(See photos from the day at the end of this article.)

The theme of the day was “Keep the Momentum Going,” based on the fact that nationwide and in Massachusetts, the pro-life movement is making advances. Anne Fox, president of MCFL, explained, "Abortions are down one-third in the country as a whole and down 55% in Massachusetts, pro-life legislators are in the majority in Congress and in virtually all the state legislatures, we have elected a pro-life President and … we'll have a new Supreme Court Justice whom we expect to rule fairly on life cases. This is amazing momentum on which we plan to build."

See many wonderful photos from the banquet at the end of this article.

The annual fundraising banquet for MCFL on Thursday at the Four Points Sheraton in Norwood gathered hundreds of Pro-lifers to a room filled to capacity to hear Irish singer Dana Scallon and support the mission of MCFL.