By KATE BLAIN
Assistant Editor

Escaping upstate New York's frigid weather might seem like a dream come true -- but not for Alice Cantwell.

The parishioner of Holy Cross Church in Albany is just annoyed that an upcoming trip to Florida will stop her from attending the annual Public Policy Forum at the State Capitol.

"It's a shame," she told The Evangelist, shaking her head ruefully.

For life

An active senior citizen, Ms. Cantwell spends her days quietly -- and sometimes not-so-quietly -- demonstrating what it means to live out the Church's social teaching on the life and dignity of the human person:

* She attends events like the Public Policy Forum, where Catholics from across New York State gather to lobby state lawmakers on issues from abortion to euthanasia.

* She visits fellow seniors who are homebound or ill to let them know someone is thinking about them.

* She volunteers to man phones at the annual telethon to benefit the Center for the Disabled in Albany -- along with fellow members of the Capital Region Pro-Life Council, a group she helped form.

"We have a responsibility to perpetuate life in a big way," she declared.

Activist

In fact, a recent interview with The Evangelist was interrupted by a phone call regarding Ms. Cantwell's regular contact with state lawmakers. She explained that the Respect Life group at her parish has a phone tree, so she had made several calls to ask people to lobby Assemblyman Michael McNulty about a campaign finance reform bill. Someone was returning her call.

When it comes to lobbying, Ms. Cantwell knows her stuff. A native of Maine, she has spent the last 18 years of her career as a lobbyist for the Ford Motor Co., covering the entire northeastern part of the country.

After she retired in 1994, the activist thought: "What can I do to be of service, to keep our society on a more elevated level?" She decided to "try and keep in people's minds that we should think of a culture of life -- and `life' means life from beginning to end."

Linking to Church

That aim was right in line with the Church's social teaching. Pope John Paul II has spoken of the Church's "obligation to promote the dignity of each human person by addressing such questions as the elimination of extreme poverty and the promotion of an effective approach to human rights."

In their document "Social Development and World Peace," the U.S. bishops wrote: "In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and assisted suicide. The value of human life is being threatened by increasing use of the death penalty. The dignity of life is undermined when the creation of human life is reduced to the manufacture of a product, as in human cloning or proposals for genetic engineering...."

Ms. Cantwell's own belief is simply stated: "Having grown up with a sense of what is right and wrong, together with Church teachings [and] Scripture, it is easy for me to see that some of these things we're doing in our society are against God's creation."

Grass-roots

Her efforts to correct that situation began with co-founding the Capital Region Pro-Life Council, a group associated with New York State Right to Life, to promote life issues.

"I think I was helpful on [legislation about] physician-assisted suicide," she said thoughtfully, noting that she took information to state lawmakers from both Right to Life and the New York State Catholic Conference (which advocates on behalf of the state's bishops) and demanded the legislators read it.

However, she doesn't think she's the only one who can make a difference in that fashion. Anyone can lobby their legislators, she said: "We're lobbyists every day, whether we're trying to get our children to do something or with people who are ill, trying to help them feel better."

Disappointment

One current piece of legislation in Ms. Cantwell's sights is a bill in the State Assembly that would force Catholic employers to cover birth control in their employee's health insurance.

"I don't think we ever felt, in Catholic institutions, we wouldn't have the freedom to conduct our care as we believe," she stated.

Ms. Cantwell sent a personal message to Sen. Joseph Bruno, who backed the bill: "Tell Joe I'm very disappointed in him."

Causes

While she has a personal passion to halt partial-birth abortion -- which she calls "a most uncivilized procedure" -- Ms. Cantwell's efforts on behalf of life issues range from contacting legislators to helping young people in her parish raise money to see the Pope when he visits Toronto this summer.

"I'm sure he'll speak to them about life, because it was he who said our country is going toward a culture of death," she explained.

She paused and added, "But we don't like to focus on the negative."

In it together

Ms. Cantwell doesn't see herself as unusual, either. When she talks about Holy Cross' Respect Life group, she prefers the term "group" because it doesn't imply that just a few members of the parish can belong. Anyone is welcome to attend meetings.

"It doesn't happen, but at least our parish can be identified as having a pro-life group that can be called upon," she added.

That, too, matches Church social teaching on life issues. The Church calls upon all "Catholics and others to promote laws and social policies that protect human life and promote human dignity to the maximum degree possible," according to a new document by the New York State Catholic Conference titled, "Pursuing Justice: Catholic Social Teaching and Issues in Contemporary Society."

Cross of life

For Ms. Cantwell, advocacy for life is summed up in a cross she wears.

"I'm not overly religious," she cautioned as she slipped it off to show its message. On one side, Christ hangs on the cross, surrounded by the words, "What you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me."