St. Joseph, Protector of the Unborn

A prenatal diagnosis can feel like a verdict, but it is still a human life and a family being asked to hope. I’m Lori, Stacy’s sister, and I built this podcast around one intention: honoring Saint Joseph while begging his protection for unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome, especially when fear and pressure are loud. After spending 60 years with my baby sister Stacy, I can’t ignore what’s at stake when children who look like her are targeted in the womb. We begin with the traditional prayer to Saint Joseph, then I share how my devotion deepened after Stacy passed and why Father Donald Calloway’s consecration to Saint Joseph helped me see Joseph’s strength in a new way. From there I explore Saint Joseph as Patron of the Unborn, drawing on Saint Pope John Paul II’s Redemptoris Custos to show Joseph as the humble guardian entrusted with the earliest beginnings of our redemption. I also recite the "Prayer to Saint Joseph, Defender of Life,” asking for the grace to welcome, cherish, and safeguard life where it is most vulnerable. The episode revisits the remarkable story of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the geneticist who discovered trisomy 21 and then paid a professional price for opposing abortion. And, I want to credit Francois Lespes, Jerome Lejeune, to the least of these my brothers and sisters (Ignatius Press, 2026) for much of the information regarding Dr. Lejeune. Dr. Lejeune's friendship with John Paul II, his work connected to the Pontifical Academy for Life, and his cause for sainthood reveal what it looks like when science, conscience, and the dignity of the human person collide. To keep everything grounded, I share a joyful memory of Stacy at a Kenny Rogers concert, a small moment that says more about dignity than any debate ever could. We close with "A Litany for Life" based on First Corinthians, praying for patience, mercy, courage, and hope in a culture that often forgets the unborn. If this mattered to you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these prayers and these stories. What part stayed with you most?Credits:  A Prayer to St. Joseph, Defender of Life. Used with permission. Copyright © 2021, USCCB, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.A Litany for Life. Used with permission. Copyright © 2010, USCCB, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.

Most people think of Saint Joseph as silent background in the Nativity, but I keep coming back to one urgent question: what does his quiet courage look like when unborn babies with Down syndrome are being targeted for abortion? I’m Lori, and this first chapter of Saint Joseph, Protector of the Unborn is both personal and prayerful, rooted in my sister Stacy’s life and the ache of knowing how many children who look like her never get the chance to be born.I share how my devotion to Saint Joseph deepened after Stacy’s death, shaped by Father Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year community and Father Donald Calloway’s consecration to Saint Joseph. We pray together, and we reflect on Saint Joseph’s role as foster father and legal father of Jesus, a man entrusted with protecting a child the world did not understand. That’s why I talk about Saint Joseph as patron of the unborn, especially for babies diagnosed with Trisomy 21 and labeled as disposable.We also start tracing the road that led from genetics to eugenics through the story of Dr. Jérôme Lejeune, the French Catholic doctor who first published findings about the extra chromosome 21. His work affirmed that people with Down syndrome have something extra, not something less, yet he later watched that knowledge become a tool for elimination. To ground all of this in real life, I share a joyful story from Stacy’s adulthood: her journey to Confirmation and the way her faith lit up an entire parish.If you care about Down syndrome awareness, Catholic pro-life witness, prenatal diagnosis ethics, and the power of prayer, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find this conversation. What part of the story stays with you most?Credits: Francois Lespes, Jerome Lejeune, to the least of these my brothers and sisters (Ignatius Press, 2026)