The first ever Filipina-American to be crowned Miss World revealed her traditional values in a recent television interview. Megan Young, the 23 year-old who was crowned Miss World on Sept. 28, said in a recent television interview that she is pro-life, rejecting both abortion and contraception. Young, who was born in Virginia but moved to the Philippines with her family as a child, was interviewed on ANC, a Filipino news network, when she was asked about the country's recent adoption of a reproductive health law, which was signed by president Benigno Aquino III on Dec. 21, 2012. The new law mandates sex education in middle and high schools and subsidizes contraceptives, including potentially abortion-inducing drugs. Young indicated opposition to the law, saying, “I'm pro-life, and if it means killing someone that’s already there, then I’m against that of course. I'm against abortion.” Asked about contraception, she added that, “I don't engage in stuff like that,” going on to say she believes that “sex is for marriage” and “should be with your partner for life. I'm actually against divorce,” she added, “because I've seen that in my family. So I think that if you marry someone, that should be the person you should be with forever, through sickness and health, through good or through bad.” When asked how a single woman as “gorgeous” as herself could remain abstinent, Young replied with a laugh, “you just say no, that’s it. If they try to push you, then you step away because you know that that person doesn’t value you, doesn’t value the relationship as much.” She said that a gentleman would not pressure a woman into premarital sex in the first place, while at the same time recognizing that abstaining from sex before marriage takes character. “If the guy is willing to sacrifice that,” she said, “then that means a lot.” Young said she chose to compete in the Miss World pageant rather than Miss Universe because Miss World’s “main focus is charities and helping out and giving back.”
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...