Canadian youth is excited to take on Culture of Death on world stage

She glows like a candle in the night. She can brighten up the gloomiest of days and put a smile on the face of anyone who's feeling down. That's just her nature and it was the love of family that planted those seeds within her.

Anna Halpine, a 24-year-old who studied music at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, is active and dedicatedly involved in the pro-life movement as a founder of the three-year-old World Youth Alliance, which she proudly calls her "greatest accomplishment."

Anna currently lives in New York. That's a big change considering she grew up in Orilla, Ont., a small town near Lake Simcoe. She has been involved in the pro-life cause since she was old enough to know what it meant to be pro-life. "I grew up in a family that was very pro-life," she told The Interim, "so all my life I've been really committed to this vision of what the human life is."

Growing up, Halpine had some peculiar heroes compared to other kids who worshipped action heroes and sport stars. Her heroes were those with great respect for life like Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II, but most of all, God. She says there were also some teachers that she really looked up to and, of course, her mother and father, both of whom were always active in the pro-life movement and continuously did their best to let her know about the importance of life and family. The Halpines would bring their children to crisis pregnancy centres and would volunteer with Campaign Life Coalition. "They wanted to make sure that we had a very clear picture of what we believed in when we went into the world so that we would be able to articulate that and pass these ideas to others," Halpine said gratefully.

Halpine grew up in a big family, the eldest of six siblings - three brothers and three sisters who all play a role with the World Youth Alliance.

Her parents felt that with such a big family they might lose touch with each other and their family life so they thought it would be best if the children were schooled from home. She says that being homeschooled reinforced the importance of family in her life. "Most of what they wanted out of that (home schooling) was for us to be able to spend time together. They wanted all of their kids to grow up and have memories, bonds, activities and this remembrance of family."

Halpine says family and religion are where you get your roots, values and morals. As a youngster Anna regularly attended church. "It's been a place of richness and to find answers in my life," Halpine said, commenting on the continuing importance of religion in her life.

When asked about her work with the United Nations and WYA, she spoke about the significance of youth and how it is the responsibility of us all to instill the importance of faith within them and to teach them to respect life. In the near future the WYA will be working toward establishing regional or continental alliances around the world. Anna says this will help get the message of life out to young people from people who live in the same culture as they do. "We're really looking for ways to engage young people and to bring this message to them, this idea of who they really are and I think that's the root of it. That's what we're really focusing on now in the World Youth Alliance."

Pro-life work can be extremely frustrating and emotionally draining at times, but for Halpine it's the small things that keep her going, like letters from young people saying that the WYA helped them realize what it means to be a human person, or people who say that the WYA is making a difference all around the world.

Halpine is hoping for a successful World Youth Day, where the Alliance will set up a Culture of Life Café and will be holding a two-day forum on the dignity of the human person. After WYD, she looks forward to establishing the regional alliances.