Danielle Rose calls herself a music missionary.
She has traveled the world sharing her Catholic music since graduating from college in 2002, and she calls her current album a musical reflection on what’s necessary to build an authentic culture of life.
“The goal of the album is for people to be able to meditate on, and also be able to teach about, the dignity of the person from conception to death,” she said. “So it’s trying to bridge together a lot of different topics.”
Some of the topics she talks about on the 15-song album, titled “Culture of Life,” include openness to life according to God’s plan (natural family planning), the gift of chastity and post-abortive grief and healing.
Rose will bring the gift of her pro-life music to the archdiocese Oct. 10 for a special performance and keynote address at the fifth annual Champions for Life luncheon and awards ceremony at St. Peter in Mendota.
“I’m so excited,” Rose said. “It’s such a tremendous blessing to be asked to participate in Champions for Life.”
Champions for Life honors people who work in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to promote life. Three individuals and a couple will receive awards this year. (Click here for more on the winners.)
The Duluth native has been interested in the pro-life cause since high school, when she spent a summer in India volunteering with Blessed Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
But she really started getting involved and dedicating her music to the cause when she learned about the children of China Little Flower orphanage in Beijing, she said. The orphanage cares for children in China who suffer from terminal illness, disabilities or abandonment.
“As I learned more about their work and their needs, I felt God inviting me to use my voice and the music ministry on behalf of them,” she said.
“I think it’s been a beautiful, unique opportunity to be able to help raise awareness for people about things that are happening in other parts of the world,” Rose said. “It helps us look at what’s happening in our own country in a totally different light.”
Because of some issues facing the U.S. now — such as concerns over the federal Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate, part of the Affordable Care Act — she said that making a pro-life-themed album was very important.
People of faith are more a part of the pro-life movement than they realize, Rose said.
“I want people to realize how much they contribute — in their faith and in their families — to bringing about that culture of life,” she said.
Making sure that each person knows that they are loved and that they matter to God is really part of being pro-life, Rose said. “It all fits together,” she said.
“Culture of Life,” Rose’s fifth album, was released Jan. 22, marking the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. It is available on iTunes or www.daniellerose.com. For each copy of the album sold, a copy will be donated to support organizations that help build a culture of life.
