“Pro-Life Journeys” now in paperback

Pro-Life Journeys is now available at Amazon.com in e-book and paperback formats. Later in January, the paperback will also be available from me directly at local events. And if you want to invite me to your event in or near southern New Hampshire, I’d be honored to hear from you!

I’m grateful to the blog’s Facebook followers for their encouraging messages. For those wondering how they can spread the news about Pro-Life Journeys, let me offer a few ideas. This is a self-published book, so I’m working without a net: no editor, no agent, no press representative. Let’s work together!

First and foremost, please read the book! Its Amazon page includes a short preview of the opening chapter via the “Look Inside” tab. For the e-book, you don’t need a Kindle device; you can download the free Kindle app to read the book on whatever device you use. A note for e-book fans: if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you already have access to the book. Just click the KU button on the book’s Amazon page.

Like what you read? Let your friends know! Leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Do you have a podcast or other media outlet? Let me know if I can be of assistance as your guest. You can follow my site at ellenkolb.com, which includes links to more of my work outside of Leaven. Subscribe to that site’s newsletter for updates on book-related events and special sales.

The book’s final chapter – “The Journey Ahead” – is going to be at the heart of a speaking engagement I have later this week at a private venue. I’d love to share that chapter’s message of practical optimism with your group or class. If you’d like to contact me about your event, you can use the contact form at the bottom of the ellenkolb.com homepage.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me with encouraging words. Every blogger should have such readers!

Tickets now available to stream “Roe v. Wade” film

From my inbox comes this announcement of a special online event, courtesy of WICX radio in Concord. “Roe v. Wade” is a new film drama about the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nationwide. Tickets are available for a limited time at a discount from the full price, which will go into effect when the film gets a wider release in April. Read on for ticket information.

From the WICX announcement:

Would you like to help support pro-life efforts, learn things that you might not have known, and enjoy a new star-studded movie at a discounted ticket price?  WICX 102.7 Hope FM in Concord is hosting an online screening of the movie “Roe v. Wade” during March 2021.  

The film tells the story of events leading up to the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States.  It is a story that affects all of us.  You can watch the trailer here: Roe v Wade Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUkEpm8kPyQ&t=2s).

Buy a ticket for your online screening now!  Click here: Buy a Ticket (https://www.watchroevwade.com/nhrtlwicx). That discounted ticket will give you a 30-day window to complete your private screening before the movie’s April release date. [Note: the ticket costs $14.24, which includes the processing fee.]

Be a pro-life advocate, support this important cause, and spread the word about the online screening event to everyone!

 Note:  Please keep in mind that the film is rated PG-13 and might not be appropriate for younger viewers.

For Life,

Mike Bellino, WICX 102.7 Hope FM, General Manager

Audio: “Life With Liz” on this week’s events

Many thanks to Liz Gabert, host of “Life With Liz” on WSMN 1590 in Nashua, for welcoming me this week on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She invited me to tell her listeners a bit about the abortion amendment’s hearing and about the upcoming March for Life in DC. Here’s six good minutes with Liz.

Liz Gabert, “Life With Liz” on WSMN 1590

“Gosnell” to be released October 12

Ever since seeing the rough cut of the film Gosnell last year, I’ve looked forward to the film’s release. Financing and finding a distributor took awhile. Finally, a release date has been set for the drama based on the trial of Kermit Gosnell: October 12, 2018.

Anyone looking for a sensationalized Gothic horror story can look elsewhere. This is a crime story, with much of the background taken from the Gosnell grand jury report. The focus for much of the movie is on the investigators and prosecutors, none of whom has an axe to grind one way or the other regarding the right to life. The story is about ordinary people, doing their jobs diligently, who are brought up short when political considerations get in the way of investigating homicides.

The portrayal of Kermit Gosnell is chilling in its restraint. It would have been easy for the screenwriters to render him in caricature. They didn’t.

I don’t know where the film will be screened locally, but I’ll watch for it.

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The producers of the film are the authors of Gosnell – The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer. Here’s my review of the book from 2017. 

 

Communication, Mother Angelica style

An Alabama nun died on Easter Sunday, and honoring her life and work in the service of God is a much more edifying way to spend time than parsing the latest outrageous remark by a presidential wannabe. So here we go: May Mother Angelica rest in peace – and I hope I can learn as she did how to use media to communicate the truth in love and charity.

The television network she founded, EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network), is well-known. I wonder how many people who watch it remember what preceded it.

I was a college freshman in Florida in 1977.  One day in the back of the church I attended, I found a little free booklet by someone named Mother Angelica. I can’t remember the title, but it was about prayer. The brochure was a low-budget production, which didn’t surprise me when I saw that it came from an Alabama monastery. When I started reading, though, the quality of the printing didn’t matter. Here was sane and sound and sensible counsel.

As time went on, more Mother Angelica brochures appeared in the literature rack. The topics varied, but there were repeating themes: love of God, His infinite mercy, the value of human life at all stages, the need to keep growing in faith. The writing was always clear, good-humored, and down-to-earth.

That was a time in my life when by imperceptible steps I was moving from a personally-opposed-but view of abortion towards a pro-life commitment. The Alabama nun’s brochures that looked as though they’d been cranked out on a high school’s mimeograph machine were to play a subtle, indispensable role in changing my life.

I couldn’t anticipate in 1977 what kind of reach EWTN would eventually achieve. All I had were those simple little booklets. They were tiny masterpieces of communication and evangelization and pro-life coaching. They were like the snack food whose tagline was “betcha can’t eat just one” – I couldn’t read just one. I kept looking for more. And thus that Alabama nun with a gift for communication became one of the many influences that set me on the path I’ve been trying to follow for many years now.

Mother Angelica didn’t need fancy equipment to communicate. She used the tools at hand, however sophisticated or humble.

In her own words, “You see, God expects His people to do the ridiculous so He can do the miraculous.”

By the way, it turned out that the man responsible for the supply of brochures back in my college days was Father Bob, pastor of the church I attended. Father Bob is now Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham, Alabama – the diocese where Mother Angelica lived and prayed and worked with her sisters in faith at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.