Lesson plans for life

Next Monday on January 22 marks the 45th anniversary of the United States’ Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that declared abortion to be a fundamental woman’s right. Countless Americans of all faiths will march in Washington, DC, as in years past, to protest this controversial decision.
Here locally in Ville Platte, a Pro-Life Walk is set for Sunday leaving Our Lady Queen of All Saints Catholic Church. During the walk, a Pro-Life Rosary will be recited while the marchers make their way to Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church.
“The walk at Queen of All Saints has been going on for more than 20 years,” said Stephanie Andrus. “I kind of inherited the job of being in charge of it, and it’s been going on for a very long time. Nobody seems to remember when it first started, but I know it’s been going on for more than 20 years.”
Andrus is in her first year of running the walk solo. “Usually Pitchy Tuminaro at Sacred Heart and I kind of split up the job, but, due to health reasons, she wasn’t able to do any of it this year,” Andrus said. “She’s going to turn her position over to somebody else, so this year I had the whole thing.”
She then went on to describe what goes into planning the Pro-Life Walk. “I have to get the parade permits and make sure we have the bus and the bus driver,” Andrus said. “I have to arrange for a guest speaker and the police escorts. I have to get the sound system in the truck and make sure everything is in the church bulletins and the announcements for both churches and the surrounding communities. It’s not just for the Catholic Church. It’s for people of all faiths.”
Andrus characterized the walk as raising awareness of the pro-life movement. “The tide has turned to the pro-life movement with our presidents and all our representatives, so it’s nice to help get the awareness out there,” she said. “The walk itself builds a sense of camaraderie, lets people know they’re not alone, and gives people a little bit of a morale boost.”
“Sometimes it opens up a new window of opportunity for people to make that quick phone call or send that quick email asking legislators to make sure to vote pro-life.”
On top of being in charge of the Pro-Life Walk, Andrus also serves as the pro-life coordinator at Queen of All Saints. As she said, “I handle everything pro-life and everything from the womb to the tomb.”
She described some of the tasks that she performed in her position. “A couple of years ago, we had the vote coming up in the Louisiana House and Senate for surrogacy,” Andrus said. “I had these little red cards for everybody to sign and mail to all the representatives saying please don’t go with this.”
“Every October is Respect for Life month,” she continued. “Some years we do the baby bottle campaign for the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Lafayette, or other years we do kind of like a baby shower. People donate things like diapers, baby clothes, and other necessities, and we bring the whole lot to the Women’s Center.”
Andrus explained the main way the Church promotes a pro-life cause is through natural family planning and touched on other areas where it supports the pro-life movement. “That’s what the Church is all about,” she said. “You always hear Pope Francis talk about how all forms of abortion are intrinsically evil. The Church supports you if you’re in a crisis pregnancy and has people who teach the natural family planning classes for free. Everything about the Church is pro-life, and it always has been and will always be. It just hasn’t changed.”
“Where some of the other faiths have waivered and gone away all of a sudden to say it’s OK now to practice abortion or contraception, the Church teaches under no circumstance is it ever OK.”
When Andrus is not serving Queen of All Saints as its pro-life coordinator, she is at home tending to her nine children. “Our family, I hope, is a witness to life to show the openness and how we love having the kids around,” said Andrus, who is married to Pat Andrus.
A challenge for Andrus is home schooling her children. As she explained, “There are some days when I watch the yellow bus go by and get that fleeting moment of temptation, but I couldn’t ever send them to school.”
“I have one or two who have a couple learning disabilities because we have dyslexia on my husband’s side of the family,” she continued. “I use a special program for them, and they’re excelling with it. It’s one-on-one attention they just wouldn’t get if I had to send them off to a school.”
Andrus described what a typical day is for her family of 11. “We get up to do the chores and to help the little ones eat and get dressed,” she said. “Then we start our school work. There’s always chores to be done in between. When we’re done with school work, then they get to go play for a little while before it’s back to chores. There’s always some chaos thrown in between.”
Part of the chaos is seeing about the farm animals including goats, chickens, horses, and rabbits. Andrus concluded, “That in itself is a learning experience too.”
“It’s a lot of fun, and it’s never a dull moment. We just couldn’t imagine not having a little one running around. Honestly with that many, it just makes things a little easier because there’s always enough hands to do the chores and to help with the little ones. Now, I have a driver or two in the house because I have one off to college. It’s plenty of help, and I always have built-in baby sitters.”