This
gift makes a difference for life
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
This Christmas, you can give a gift that helps save lives by giving family
members and friends a “Life is Beautiful” 2008 calendar.
Conceived by the photographer Maria Kurmlavage of St. Andrew Parish in
Drexel Hill, the calendar is meant to showcase a child’s preciousness,
as well as to help raise money for pro-life causes.
“I started to really think that the media … has manipulated
our children, who don’t really know what ‘choice’ means,”
she said. A mother of four children ranging in age from 8 to 18, Kurmlavage
is the owner of Luminous 5 Photographic Arts and Custom Framing.
“It’s so convenient to say ‘I’m pro-choice,’
because we think everyone should have a ‘right to choose,’”
she said. “But we really don’t understand what we’re
‘choosing.’”
Abortion has destroyed a third of the post Roe v. Wade generation in the
United States. That is the one thing that the Alan Guttmacher Institute,
Planned Parenthood’s special research affiliate monitoring trends
in the abortion industry, can agree on with National Right to Life, the
largest nonprofit pro-life group. As a result, most people now know someone
who has had an abortion or has been affected by an abortion.
With that in mind, Kurmlavage wanted to focus on the joy a child brings
— even when least expected. She enlisted the help of Kathy Coll
of the Delaware County Pro-Life Coalition to find parents who would be
willing to have their children model for the calendar.
Among those who came forward was Meg Dierkes, of Kurmlavage’s own
parish. She and her husband have eight children, who range in age from
1 to 19 years old, and they believe that “God sends these small
beings for a special reason,” she said.
The Dierkes baby, Thomas Augustine, made the calendar’s cover —
and the months of February and December.
“I was 47 when I delivered him,” Dierkes said. “It’s
just a great gift to have him. …
“I had given most of my baby things away because I thought …
at 44, when I delivered Maria, ‘That’s pretty old.’
“Not that I didn’t want another one, but I just thought it
was a natural ending,” she said. “So when Thomas came, I was
really thrilled.
“Someone once said to me, ‘The greatest thing you can do for
your child is give them siblings,’ and not all women are blessed
with the ability to do that,” Dierkes continued. “My fertility
has been a gift and I’m very, very thankful.”
All proceeds from the calendar are slated for use by the Delaware County
Pro-Life Coalition to continue its educational outreach in the area —
as well as to help any pro-life group that needs funds for programs, including
area high school groups that need money to head to Washington, D.C., in
January for the annual March for Life.
Meanwhile, Kurmlavage is already planning a 2009 calendar.
“Next year, I am hoping to photograph fathers with their newborn
babies, as a theme about fathers’ roles in life,” she said.
Her goal is to help people understand that children are always a blessing
— and that they have the right to become what God created them to
be.
So, this Christmas, celebrate the birth of Christ — humanity’s
greatest gift — by giving something that really makes a difference.
The calendars are available to the public for a $10 donation by e-mailing
Maria Kurmlavage at luminous5@rcn.com or by calling the Delaware County
Pro-Life Coalition at (610) 789-LIFE (5433).
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith can be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.