Major national pro-life group relocates to Rapid City

Originally from the Seattle area, Healing the Culture relocated its headquarters to Rapid City last May. Camille Pauley, the organization’s co-founder and CEO, said they specialize in creating pro-life educational programs for all ages, from kindergartners to adults.

In a written statement, she added, Healing the Culture has arguably one of the most unique pro-life educational missions in the world. Driven by its goal to permanently end abortion and assisted suicide, the organization has a singular focus — to form people deeply in authentic definitions of happiness, success, quality of life, freedom, and human rights so that abortion and euthanasia become unthinkable.

Healing the Culture takes a unique philosophy-based approach to pro-life education, emphasizing universal principles of logic, ethics, and justice. The group uses these principles to advocate for the ethical and just treatment of unborn children and their mothers, terminally ill persons, and persons with disabilities. The academic content of the group’s programs was developed by Fr. Robert Spitzer, a Catholic Jesuit priest who formerly served as President of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. Father Spitzer is currently the President of the Magis Center for Reason and Faith and appears weekly on the TV program “Fr. Spitzer’s Universe,” which airs on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).

“Seattle was my home for nearly 30 years. Like all urban areas, it represents the front lines in the battle between the culture of life and the culture of death,” said Pauley. “But we were heavily burdened with government mandates that were expensive, disruptive, and even immoral.”

That led Pauley to envision a new business model. “You want your best-trained troops fighting on the front lines,” she said. “But that’s a dangerous area to locate your ammunitions factory or a training camp for new recruits. That’s Healing the Culture’s role, and so we see South Dakota as a politically and economically stable place for the hub of our operations. From here we can freely evangelize throughout the U.S. and internationally as well.”

Pauley says the teaching methodology developed by Father Spitzer enables them to reach out to people of diverse beliefs. “Our academic content was developed by a Catholic priest, and most of our Board members and staff are Catholic,” she observes. “Yet the programs we offer are based almost entirely on philosophical principles, not on theological teachings. That makes them accessible to all people, even if they’re not Catholic or not religious at all. Everything we present is consistent with Catholic teaching, but you don’t have to be Christian to understand it, embrace it, and make it your own.”

Healing the Culture has big plans following its move to Rapid City. The group has acquired modern office space on the south side of town, and early this year will begin construction of a large, state-of-the-art film studio. “Video production is the root of all our pro-life education, so it’s important that we have a professional, high-quality studio,” Pauley said. She encouraged professionals with a heart for the pro-life mission to contact her. “We’re changing the world from right here in Rapid City.”

To learn more about Healing the Culture, visit www.healingtheculture.com.