16 Gulf Pine Catholic • February 27, 2026 Congratulations to Alex Patino who was named MVP by MHSAA during this weeks district tournament! St. Mary Catholic Church, Woolmarket, began their annual Lenten Fish Fry. Parishioner assisted by the Knights of Columbus James D. Hart Council #9673 and Catholic Daughters of the America Our Lady Star of the SeaCourt #2767, render generous portions of Mississippi farm raised catfish, baked beans, potato salad, hushpuppies and a beverage. Various desserts were also available. The annual event is held every Friday from 4-6 p.m. during Lent in Murry Hall at St. Mary’s. St. Mary Catholic Church, Woolmarket, begins annual Lenten Fish Frys St. Patrick Catholic High congratulates Patino on being named tourney MVP St. Francis Year US Churches From page 15 And like Father Aherne, Father Jara sees St. Francis as a force for unity -- a saint capable of issuing a global reminder “that we all are brothers and sisters, especially in this time of division and conflicts that the world is living right now, (and) that we need to see each other as all daughters and sons of God.” “It’s a good reminder,” he added, “that the Gospel is still something that we can live and practice.” Banners proclaiming the Year of St. Francis festoon the Mission San Luis Rey campus, and special prayers, services and gatherings will punctuate the liturgical and social calendar -- including a torch-lit procession on the Oct. 3 Transitus featuring an effigy of St. Francis. Ultimately, said Father Jara, St. Francis’ spirituality is “something that we can live in our different ways -- married or not, religious, priest, pope -- everyone can prayerfully bring the Gospel to live this way of life.” He added: “So I think this year is going to teach us to not only think of ourselves -- but to see how we can love our neighbor, love God, and love creation as well.” Kimberley Heatherington is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Virginia. Adoption is choosing life BY KATIE YODER OSV News Sitting on the toilet in a dimly-lit bathroom, a young woman hesitates before looking at her pregnancy test results. Her eyes widen and her heart pounds when she realizes it’s positive. This is how a new ad, widely shared on social media as a Super Bowl ad, begins. The camera follows the young woman as she’s transported into a black-and-white world where two mobs scream at each other from behind the metal fences that separate them. To her right, abortion supporters shout, “My body, my choice!” On her left, pro-lifers yell back, “Choose life!” A voiceover interrupts the chaos to console the woman: “They’re telling you that you’ve only got two choices. But the truth is, there’s three … You deserve to know: Adoption is an option.” The ad, named “The Girl in the Middle,” comes from Adoption Is an Option, an initiative by the Opt Institute, an adoption advocacy nonprofit. Since its release, more than 1 million people on social media have scrolled past the video -- a video that has sparked debate. Within the pro-life movement itself, many leaders and influencers applauded the ad for placing a spotlight on adoption. Others challenged it for casting the pro-life movement as an angry one that insists women raise the children they give birth to instead of one that, in reality, champions adoption. Abortion ends the possibility of adoption; choosing life is essential for it to happen. But beyond the immediate reactions, the ad invites us into a larger conversation about adoption. Even though the majority of Americans admire adoption, women facing unexpected pregnancies rarely consider it, according to Ryan Hanlon, former president and CEO of the National Council for Adoption and adjunct instructor at The Catholic University of America, and Elizabeth R. Kirk, assistant professor of law at CUA’s Columbus School of Law, where she co-directs its Center for Law and the Human Person. In a piece for the Institute of Family Studies last year, which draws from a larger article and cites research funded by the Opt Institute, Hanlon and Kirk counted more than 2 million unintended pregnancies but only about 25,000 private domestic adoptions in the United States in 2022. “Women facing an unplanned pregnancy are far more likely to choose to parent or to have an abortion than to place a child for adoption,” they wrote. “In fact, by a ratio of nearly 50:1, women choose to terminate a pregnancy rather than place that child for adoption.” In a survey of birth mothers, they found only about 22% said they considered all of their options -- abortion, adoption and parenting -- at once while pregnant. Many more birth mothers (26.5%) considered only adoption and parenting than only abortion and adoption (9.6%). Another 20% considered adoption and parenting only after considering abortion. SEE ADOPTION CHOOSE LIFE, PAGE 18
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