Story by Randy Porter
LINCOLN (SNR) - The Diocese of Lincoln and the Nebraska Catholic Conference both have announced new leaders in the pro-life movement in Nebraska.
The NCC hired Paige Brown to fill the newly created position of statewide pro-life activities coordinator. The diocese appointed Jeff Schinstock as director for pro-life activities.
Schinstock will retain his duties as director of youth and young adult ministry.
As statewide pro-life activities coordinator, Brown will build on the great work of former pro-life staff members Greg Schleppenbach, Tom Venzor and Jeff Kanger, according to the NCC. The new coordinator also will complement the work of associate director for Pro-Life and Family Policy, Marion Miner.
Both the activities coordinator and associate director will strive to unify and strengthen pro-life activities across the three Catholic dioceses and their parishes. Brown will work closely with diocesan and parish pro-life coordinators.
Paige Brown, Nebraska Catholic Conference
Brown plans to collaborate with other Catholic organizations in addition to state and national pro-life leaders. She also will direct the statewide implementation of Project Rachel, a post-abortion healing ministry. 
Brown received her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2018.
As a university student, Brown was president of UNL Students for Life and received the Students for Life of America Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship.
Upon graduation, she worked as administrative aide and committee clerk for State Senator Mike Hilgers in the Nebraska Legislature.
“We are pleased to welcome Paige to our team and to grow our pro-life efforts in Nebraska,” said Venzor, now executive director of the NCC. “Paige has demonstrated a great passion for pro-life work and dedication to defending the most vulnerable in our society. We are confident she will reinvigorate and inspire pro-life leaders across the state.”
Brown said she is elated to join the Nebraska Catholic Conference team.
“I have always admired the work of the NCC, and I am honored to serve the bishops and the Church in Nebraska through advancing the work of the pro-life movement.”
Brown married her husband John in June. He is currently completing flight training for the U.S. military.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference advocates for the public policy interests of the Catholic Church and advances the Gospel of Life through engaging, educating, and empowering public officials, Catholic laity, and the general public. Its work has included efforts in promoting the sanctity of unborn human life, advancing school choice for low-income families, creating a welcoming state for immigrants and refugees, abolishing the death penalty, and protecting and promoting religious liberty.
Jeff Schinstock, Diocese of Lincoln
Bishop James Conley announced Schinstock’s appointment in a letter to priests.
A member of St. Teresa Parish in Lincoln, Schinstock has been diocesan director of youth and young adult ministry for 12 years. 
“He has a great heart for pro-life work,” Conley wrote to diocesan priests. “For the past several years, many of you have accompanied him as he has led large groups of young people to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life. I am very confident in his ability to do this important work.”
As part of his responsibilities, Schinstock, will coordinate efforts with Brown to revive the Parish Respect Life Coordinators program. He will provide resources to clergy and laity caring for those affected by abortion. Other duties include being a resource for information on alternatives to abortion, natural family planning, chastity education and pro-life legal initiatives.
“I look forward to working with Jeff to defend the life of the unborn and promote a culture of life in our diocese,” Conley said. “Please join me in praying for Jeff as he begins this new endeavor.”
Schinstock earned a B.A. from Fort Hays State University in Kansas in communications (public relations) and an M.A. in theology from the Augustine Institute southeast of Denver. His professional experience includes more than four years for the Diocese of Wichita as the director of Totus Tuus, a catechetical program for youth. He also worked five years at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., most of those as director of student activities, before joining the staff of the Diocese of Lincoln.
“I am very excited about this appointment,” Schinstock said. “I want to help people deal with the real struggles of the times that we live in,” he said. “There are so many things that fall under the category of pro-life.”
First among them is to charitably teach the truth of the dignity of the human person, he said.
“How do we do that? A person going for an abortion didn’t arrive at that conclusion in a purely rational way.”
There are often heavy difficulties that bring a person to this, Schinstock said: How do we love our neighbor? How do we show a person hope when they are experiencing despair? These are questions with which he wants to help.
“One of the things I am most excited about is to research and find out what work is being done and help highlight that,” he said. “There are some fantastic apostolates already happening. Those apostolates are likely being staffed by people who are stretched really thin. Can we bring more people to the work that is already effective?”
Schinstock said he looks forward to talking with pastors. He does not want to start various diocesan programs that only make everyone busier. Life happens at the parish, in schools and neighborhoods, he said. What are our pastors seeing? He wants to help them in real situations. The new director looks forward to collaborating with them.
“I have seen the good work they do and I want to be a part of it,” he said.
Schinstock plans to urge people to pray more.
Prayer is about relationship with God, not changing His mind, he explained. God has a plan for every person. Part of His plan is for each person to be in relationship with others and to spread the good news of life in their words and actions.
“We should be active in asking God what He wants from us in this area,” Schinstock said.
Schinstock and his wife of 19 years, Sarah, have seven children: Regina, Thomas, Libby, Madeline, Michael, Benedict and Lucia. He participated in his first March for Life in 2002 after he and Sarah were married. He said Sarah is his first pro-life hero who urged him to action.
She was pregnant with Regina at the time. Regina has autism, Schinstock explained, and every day of her life has required advocacy. He has been a part of that, but no one knows the work Sarah puts in on behalf of their child.
“Regina has a voice, but she needs other voices to help her,” he said. “Sarah’s voice has screamed Regina’s personhood, her dignity, her beauty.
“I want to be that kind of advocate,” Schinstock said.
Campaign kicks off with movie
LINCOLN (SNR) – The annual “40 Days for Life” campaign will be held Feb. 17 through March 28, peacefully praying outside the Planned Parenthood location in Lincoln every day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Lincoln Right to Life will host a kickoff event Tuesday, Feb. 16. They will show the movie “Divided Hearts of America” at 7 p.m. at their facility, 5632 S. 48th St.
In the movie, Super Bowl XXXIX champion and executive producer Benjamin Watson talks with more than 30 experts in various fields, ideological and political spectrums, and asks the question: “Can the most divisive issue of our time actually bring us back together again?”
The film, released Sept. 17, became available on video platforms including Amazon Prime and Google Play this month.
After the viewing, participants from across the city and the surrounding area will pray in shifts throughout the campaign, as a peaceful yet powerful witness to the sacredness of human life.
Jeanne Kee, a member of St. Teresa Parish, is organizing 40 Days for Life in Lincoln for the fourth year.
“If you have not participated (in praying) on an abortion Tuesday during the day before, I highly recommend it to you,” she wrote in a letter to parish advocates. “The reality of the young women and the loss of the young babies becomes more tangible and real to you.”
She added that Sidewalk Advocates for Life are present while abortions are performed, to provide resources if needed.
More information about the prayer campaign is available at www.40DaysforLife.com/lincoln.
