You may have heard of Youth Defence, they are a prolife group here in Ireland and in past years you may ha
ve heard different things about youth defence, which were mainly negative, well in recent months I have seen Youth Defence popping up in different places like on EWTN’s Programme, Life on the Rock and also from a talk here on campus two days ago where a doctor who was a Member of Youth Defence gave a talk along with Fr John Harris O.P,
I have to say after speaking to them and seeing the life on the rock on EWTN, I am not seeing what I have experience from members of Youth Defence, in the past. In fact these people were brilliant and surprised me and has made me look again at Youth Defence and their work. Yes they do have some radical members, but this seems to be a very small minority.
In these changing times in Ireland where the prolife message is getting suppress I feel it is now time as Catholics to re look at organisations like these and see that they are not militant and support them, as this cause is important for the future of Ireland.
There are many ways to get involved in Prolife work, the easiest way is probably to join the prolife Soc on campus although not members of Youth Denfence this is great way of getting involved at campus level in spreading the message of life.
So let us have the courage as Catholics to stand up for life
catholicmaynooth 
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Hi, I was surprised to read your comments above. I have known members of and attended events of Youth Defence for years, and have only ever found them to be very decent, hard-working people. What experience did you have with them in the past? I have heard both pro-abortion people and people who call themselves pro-life badmouth Youth Defence in the past for absolutely no reason, and with no evidence, and I could never really understand why. I sincerely hope this stops, as there is no room in the pro-life movement for people who are just trying to be petty and nasty and cause divisions, and they are absolutely no help to the unborn child. Keep up the good work with the campus life society. All the best. Sinead.
Hi there, liked this post, but it’s a bit jarring to me, as I’ve been a YD suporter since 1993 and have worked with them a lot and most of the things they do so well now especially in regard to public engagement ie rallies, roadshows, advertising campaigns, info drives, big national campaigns are things they have always done really well. They get a lot of negative press for doing good work and all that has changed it that they are overcoming bad press by sheer persistence and that a lot of people – ie this blogger – has actually met them and seen that they are not what the media paint them to be.
So I don’t think they have changed – or they needed to! I just think that especially with social media etc they are just being heard more and in a fairer way. They spoke in Maynooth a couple of years ago with a stem cell expert, and it was totally packed out.
Hi Ursula,
i meet two people about five of years ago who claimed to be Youth Defence and they didn’t leave me with a nice image of Youth Defence or what they stood for i won’t say here what they said because i don’t think this would help the discussion, but that was my image of YD till recently, and my article really say the rest. I am also trying to write a fair acticle from my own experience and i hope you see where i coming from as i’m prolife my self and will be supporting YD from now on.
God bless
Steven Fleming
Editor Catholic Maynooth
Thanks Steven, n wish you the very best with your work in Maynooth. It’s so important and great to see a whole new generation rise up for life. Ni neart gan cur le chéile 🙂
happy easter!
Hi steven,
happened to come across this now. I, like the other commentators here, know youth defence for a long time. I haven’t done anything with them lately due to other commitments but hope to make the rally for life in early july. I have always found youth defence to be welcoming, courteous and above totally dedicated to mothers and children, particularly pregnant women and their unborn children, making personal sacrifices that others would not do. I had discussions with people who ‘didn’t like’ them and when we discussed it fully and got down to the crux of the matter, it was a biased media report that formed their opinion. Members of the National Union of Journalists of which most, if not all journalists in Ireland are a member, are supportive of the NUJ’s strong pro-abortion stance (look them up) and the NUJ has financed pro-abortion organisations in the UK. How can any pro-lifer or the unborn child expect favour or even the truth from them. I see your blog is written on the Catholic faith, so you know of the lies and hatred displayed by the media towards the faith. And I’m not talking here of the child abuse issue for which serious questions still need to be answered by each of Church, state and media. Catholic faith itself has come under bitter and nasty ridicule and comment. the same thing happened to yd. I think people should not be so quick to join the mob of bashing whoever the latest ‘hate figure’ is. I cannot comment on those who claimed they were with yd but maybe they were just claiming that; people do strange things.
Anyhow, all the best with your blog and I’ll check back on your postings in the future. like the design!
You criticise Youth Defence for being militant, how can you be Catholic and NOT be militant in defending the unborn child ? It is YD that keeps the pro-aborts of this country under control. It is YD that convinces the political elite that legislating FOR abortion would cause them too much trouble. The media in this country is full of two kinds of people; those openly pro-choice and those who claim to be pro-life and then finish off by saying “ but ultimately it’s a woman’s right to choose” ! But the people who do the most damage to the pro-life cause in Ireland, are wishy-washy-whingy-whiners who spend all their time back stabbing pro-lifers while claiming to be Christians !