Catherine Woods, one of the National Leaders Collective’s (NLC) leaders of the month, is a Students for Life of America (SFLA) Hildegard Art Fellow attending Indiana University in Indiana (IU). Learn more about Woods’s activism below, in her own words.  

When I was a little kid, my parents would take all my siblings and me out to pray for the preborn at Planned Parenthood. Because they made defending the preborn a routine part of family life, it was instilled in me as a fundamental value to be pro-life in both word and action. Additionally, attending pro-life rallies from a young age made it impossible for me to believe that this could be anything but the truth: abortion kills an innocent person and is the farthest thing from healthcare.    

When I was a little kid, my parents would take all my siblings and me out to pray for the preborn at Planned Parenthood. Because they made defending the preborn a routine part of family life, it was instilled in me as a fundamental value to be pro-life in both word and action. Additionally, attending pro-life rallies from a young age made it impossible for me to believe that this could be anything but the truth: abortion kills an innocent person and is the farthest thing from healthcare.   

After being raised in the pro-life movement, I was eager to continue that work in college. I immediately joined Students for Life at IU, later becoming president my sophomore year. When my SFLA Regional Coordinator told me about the Hildegard Fellowship, I felt it was a direct invitation from God to dive deeper. As a violin performance major, the Hildegard Fellowship gives me the unique opportunity to place my musical talents and professional connections at the service of a culture of Life. Through this incredibly flexible and individualized program, I have been challenged to grow in courage, discipline, and humility, partly thanks to talking and learning from many outstanding leaders. The reward was incredible, and I feel incredibly supported.  

This past fall, I organized a nine-day prayer campaign outside Planned Parenthood. 30 community members and students joined to fill over 80 hours of prayer. As a group, we hosted events on campus with SFLA President Kristan Hawkins, Healing the Culture, and Justice for All.  

I wanted to do a campus display that would provoke thoughtful discussion about the impact of abortion. We hosted a tabling event with a sign that read, “If I played one note for every child lost to abortion, how many hours would I have to play to represent every life?” Over the course of two hours, we had conversations with 26 curious students. As I stood to the side playing hymns that could be heard across the whole quad, they came up to interact with the display and guess how many hours I would have to stand there.  

The correct answer? Over 13,400 hours, or 558 days. 

My dear friend Daniella Lombardi and I wanted to use our classical training to directly support women in need. We partnered with Great Lakes Gabriel Project and organized a classical chamber music concert in Carmel, IN. We were involved in every step of the process from choosing the program and creating advertising materials to coordinating the venue and performing. We had over 50 attendees and raised $4,817 for the Gabriel Project’s vital work. This concert sparked Daniella & I to turn our concert fundraiser into not just a one-time event, but to launch a non-profit organization called “Musica Vitae” which means “the music of life”. We are currently working on launching it and already have another concert planned for September.  

Being part of the National Leader’s Collective has been challenging, eye-opening, and rewarding. For anyone interested in a pro-life career, I know of no better way to gain real-world experience, build professional networks, and find your “why” for being a pro-life warrior. 

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