Lila Rose addressing the crowd gathered at St. Charles Seminary on Sunday May 3rd
Cristina M. Barba, a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena
and graduate of Archbishop Carroll High School, has dedicated much of her life
as a missionary. In 2014, after years with Generation Life, headquartered in
West Chester, Cristina founded the Culture Project now headquartered near the
seminary an serves as president.
Culture Project is an initiative to engage in the
restoration of culture with people of hope with a focus on human dignity. The
organization currently have 35 missionaries stationed in Philadelphia, across
the United States and internationally in Sydney, Australia.
On a sunny Sunday May 3 the Culture Project held its first
fundraising brunch at St. Charles. The morning began with 11:30 mass at
Immaculate Conception Chapel. Mass was celebrated by Father Tom DeSimone from
New York. In his homily he talks about encountering Jesus.
“Healing is essential to apostolic message” Father DeSimone
remarked. “We must be open to inner
healing of ourselves as we are transformed into faithful apostles. When we go
into our hearts, we embark on an interior journey to know ourselves.”
After mass everyone gathered for a savory lunch and a chance
to network with fellow missionaries.
Emily Ortiz, Director of Development for The Culture
Project, took time to highlight some of the huge accomplishments of the
organization after its first year.
“Since our finding in 2014, we have seen a tremendous
encounter with our culture. Social Media is a great tapestry of engagement. We
have reached more than 2.8 million people with more than 6,000 followers on
Facebook. Instagram had more than 26,000 views, over 300,000 impressions from
Twitter and 28,558 individual visits our blog.”
In addition to the use of social media, Ortiz points out
their missionary work.
“Between October and April, Culture Project has spoken to
227 parishes, schools and groups, given 677 presentations and encounter 22,858
students, young adults and parents.”
Emily shared a testimony from one person who attended one of
their talks during a college visit in Texas.
“Because of your presence, I am answering the call to live a
chaste life”. Ortiz stated.
After a recap from Emily, Cristina took time to address the
more than 100 attendees.
“It has been a hectic ten months” Cristina reflected. “Thank
you all so much for your support. We would not have done with without your
generous support and prayers.”
Following Cristina’s address, Lila Rose took the podium to
speak. Lila has been a close friend and inspiration to Cristina Barba for many
years.
“Lila is a woman of virtue, courage, and strength” Cristina
stated.
Lila Rose, founder of Live Action at the age of fifteen, an
investigative initiative in exposing injustice, spoke about what we need to do
about engaging the culture around us. Lila converted to Catholicism six years
ago. Her journey began at nine when she saw a book about abortion and it
changed her life forever. During her work with Live Action, she has help expose
the wrongdoings behind closed doors of several Planned Parenthood facilities
across the United States.
“There is a crisis in our country between the culture of
death and culture of life. We must form ourselves by forming others through our
own example by fulfilling God’s call. We’re not just her for culture but for
ourselves and there is a purpose as to why you are here”
Lila reminds the more than 100 gathered that there is a
spiritual battle happening in our culture. Many people are turning away from
God and using media as a way to get answers. Additionally she connects the
problems in America with current events. One such is the recent arguments over
gay marriage.
“Same sex marriage will be the Roe v. Wade of our time” Lila
warned.
She offers a life-changing strategy.
“We have to engage the culture. Become who you are and never
be afraid to begin again your journey. We need young people who are formed to
preach the gospel of truth”
Lila points out that people are hungry for the truth. She
has seen it firsthand with her recent conversations with friends and family.
One such is a conversation with fallen away Catholics. When asked why she is
filled with joy about her faith and they aren’t, Lila suggests that “her
friends haven’t encountered Jesus on a deeper level”.
Lila closes her keynote with these words, “If you can’t
imagine, you can’t achieve it. God’s dreams are bigger and better than ours”
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