Learning to be pro-life at a young age

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

“Cultivating a culture of life for our children” is the thrust behind the Footprints for Life program created by pro-life advocate Natasia Kissinger of Divine Mercy Parish in Kenner.


Kissinger, a mother of six and a cradle Catholic, remembers the day 21 years ago when her third child Kylie was born. As her daughter spent a week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Kissinger watched doctors and nurses work tirelessly to keep infants alive when, she knew, less than a mile away, a clinic was performing abortions.

“I felt and heard God say, ‘You were called to do pro-life work,’ while I was holding her,” she said.

She didn’t realize what that meant right away, but that whisper led to her to create a Choose the Child (choosethechild.com) program, detailing the path to being pro-life with helpful resources.

When her daughter Alexis, now 26, was in middle school, Kissinger helped her co-found a pro-life club with Catherine Pettus at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Kenner – the Eagles for Life – which today has 55 middle-school members. The school also incorporates the program during middle-school religion classes.

“It builds on a foundation of love, truth and dignity … to raise children who stand for what they believe in and, most importantly, come to know that God will provide,” said Kissinger of the program. “Children need to know that they can make a difference, even with the smallest of actions.”

Grant helped expansion                            
“I didn’t want to focus on just the unborn, but on all the life topics,” said Kissinger, who has been on the boards of ACCESS Pregnancy, New Orleans Right to Life and has served as the part-time Respect Life coordinator for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

In the 2022-23 school year, the Catholic Community Foundation’s Women’s Giving Circle awarded her a $25,000 grant that has helped finance publication of a book with nine lessons – one for each month of the school year – and with examples of monthly corporal and spiritual works that complement each unit. The book is based on the “Culture of Life” tenets of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), she said.

Footprints for Life is now being used at Annunciation School in Bogalusa, St. Peter in Covington, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Belle Chasse, St. Edward the Confessor and St. Louis King of France in Metairie, Our Lady of Lourdes in Slidell, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Kenner, Christian Brothers (Canal Street campus) and St. Dominic in New Orleans.

“When I got this grant, I was able to print 250 copies that are free to any teacher in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” she said. She provides free training and assists with posters, the models and stipends to allow a school to complete monthly respect-life activities.

“It exploded,” she said. “It’s been amazing.”

Every school administers the program differently. Some have pro-life clubs, and others do it in the classroom; yet, at every school, “the kids just love it and are begging to meet more often and do more stuff.”

The program “opens the kids’ eyes to the idea that being pro-life is more than pro-life in the womb,” said Melissa Wender, Footprints for Life club co-coordinator with Becky Frey at St. Dominic School. “It’s for every life, from the womb to the tomb. It starts with love for God, love for ourselves and love for others.”

She said the school’s club has doubled in size to 60 members of sixth and seventh graders since it began four years ago. 

“The girls grew in their awareness that God values every human life and that this value comes from the intrinsic dignity that every human life possesses,” said Beth Holloway of Christian Brothers School.

“Through discussions and activities, the girls have experienced the fulfillment and joy that comes when we choose to be loving to all persons, no matter what stage or state of life they are in, and to help them when we are able.”         

Kissinger’s goal is to grow the high school program. She is planning to conduct a survey to participating schools for feedback.

“It’s been amazing to watch what God has done,” she said.       

“It all started when Alexis started a pro-life club, and me continuing to say ‘yes’ to the next thing and the next thing.”

Discover more about Footprints for Life at choosethechild.com. Call Kissinger at (504) 339-5384 or email her at [email protected].

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