Building a culture of life, one student at a time

The Culture of Life Studies Program provides Catholic and pro-life home and classroom materials, resources, and trainings to educators, schools, and dioceses, equipping them to help younger generations bring an end to abortion and other threats against human beings, preserve the sanctity of marriage, and foster a culture of life within our communities.

Our vision is to create a world in which God’s word is resolutely proclaimed and willingly embraced; the institutions of sacramental marriage and family are protected and fostered; and all human beings are treated with respect, dignity, and love from the moment of creation until death.

Our History

The Culture of Life Studies Program was founded in 2014 when a small group of homeschool moms and educators became frustrated by the fact that there was no comprehensive pre-k-12 educational program teaching culture-of-life values. Watching their children grow up in a world that was increasingly disrespectful and even disdainful of life, marriage, and family, they knew they couldn’t wait for someone else to do the work, so they decided to create a program themselves. Judie Brown, president of American Life League, helped establish the CLSP, as it had always been a goal of hers to change the culture through education.

To expand its reach, the Culture of Life Studies Program left American Life League in the summer of 2018 to form its own 501(c)(3) organization called Light and Shield Ministries. In 2021, it returned to American Life League. Today, Culture of Life Studies Program materials are helping build a culture of life in almost 200 schools across the United States and Canada, not to mention the countless homeschool families, youth ministers, and religious educators who use the program in their families and groups.

Our Unique Approach

The Culture of Life Studies Program’s educational materials proudly stand apart from other pro-life educational initiatives. Our program is designed to instill the values of the gospel of life in students from preschool through high school. Throughout our lessons, students are educated, motivated, and inspired to live as St. John Paul II calls us to, bearing witness to the beauty and dignity of each and every human being from creation until death.

We are the only “culture of life” educational program to:

• Provide pre-k through high school lessons and unit studies for implementation in multiple learning environments. Every study includes practical applications of the ideas and truths taught, helping both students and educators to become effective communicators of the culture of life.
• Utilize subject-matter experts (doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, and religious clergy) and some of the greatest pro-life minds in the world to help create solid materials that inspire and motivate students to both live and promote the culture of life—all while protecting the innocence of our audience and respecting parents as the primary educators of their children.
• Create materials that can be easily integrated into religion, history, science, literature, government, art, music, and other classes. Our lessons are flexible enough to be taught in school, in religious education classes, in homeschool settings, or in youth groups.
• Delve deep into subject matters and into the lives of historical figures paramount to both understanding and defeating the culture of death.
• Pair the philosophical foundations of the pro-life position with real-world, hands-on applications for students by providing them with the tools necessary to articulate the message, defend the position, and live out the culture of life in every aspect of their daily lives.
• Engage educators and students with a youth activism arm (Life Defenders) so students can immediately turn their knowledge into viable, meaningful action.

Statement of Faith

The Culture of Life Studies Program is committed to providing resources that are consistent with the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings, including the Bible, divine revelation, and sacred tradition, as interpreted by the Magisterium. All programs and activities of the Culture of Life Studies Program are in conformity with the Magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church in union with the Holy See. Therefore, all definitions of human personhood, the family, and human sexuality must always conform to such teachings.

Most of our materials contain an imprimatur and nihil obstat from Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington. We are working on obtaining an imprimatur for all of our materials. An imprimatur means that a book or printed work has been reviewed by a diocesan censor and found to not contradict the teachings of the Catholic Church. An imprimatur is a bishop’s official permission for a work to be printed.

Our Mission Field

Today, the United States is home to almost two million students in Catholic schools and over three million students enrolled in religious education programs. Additionally, there are thousands of students being raised in a homeschool environment, and that number is growing daily. Although many of these students learn about their faith through their coursework, very few students leave Catholic school with a firm understanding of the pro-life message, let alone with the tools they need to express their pro-life beliefs confidently and courageously.

As members of the Culture of Life Studies Program team discovered at the 2017 March for Life in Washington, DC, 8 out of 10 pro-life students attending the March for Life Expo had no idea that Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood or that her racist and eugenic ideas are still fueling her organization. Today, even pro-life students are caught in the snares of the culture of death because of their lack of knowledge of the most basic pro-life principles and arguments.

This is our mission field. We are here to help equip the next generation of pro-life leaders so we can end abortion once and for all. Though the fight is now in each individual state, it is far from over, and it will take all of us to protect preborn babies. Education is a long-term, but necessary, solution. Saving lives starts with teaching our young people to be pro-life. Will you join us?