Pro-Family Women focuses on proclaiming the truth about human life and the family, as this is the decisive issue of our day.
The Catholic Church encourages the Catholic laity to actively participate in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ and, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, to “remedy the customs and conditions of the world, if they are an inducement to sin.” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium).
Perhaps no one emphasized the urgent need for the laity to get busy than did Pope Saint John Paul II who stressed that a “new state of affairs today both in the Church and in social, economic, political and cultural life, calls with a particular urgency for the action of the lay faithful. If lack of commitment is always unacceptable, the present time renders it even more so. It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle.” (Christifideles Laici).
In the 1980s, Sr. Lucia, one of the children to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima, wrote that the “decisive battle” between our Lord and Satan would be over marriage and the family, and that it would be the “decisive issue.” The recipient of the letter, the late Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, later said in 2017: “What Sr. Lucia wrote to me is being fulfilled today.”
Pro-Family Women’s mission is to proclaim and give witness, in prayer and action, to the truths of the Catholic faith.
In a spirit of charity, Pro-Family Women upholds that –
- Each human life is created by God in His own image and must be protected from the moment of conception;
- Marriage is between a man and a woman and must be protected;
- Parents have the primary role in the upbringing of their children.
Pro-Family Women speaks openly and publicly about life, marriage, and the family, because otherwise we would be “like a soldier who flees at the decisive moment in a battle,” as the late Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra put it. We would be “no longer witnesses, but deserters, if we [did] not speak openly and publicly.”
Pro-Family Women is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Contributions to Pro-Family Women are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.
ABOUT OUR PRESIDENT
Susan T. Muskett, J.D., President
Susan T. Muskett, J.D., serves as the President of Pro-Family Women. Ms. Muskett is a veteran of the pro-life movement, having lobbied for many years at the national level before the U.S. Congress on behalf of pro-life legislation. Her most recent position was serving as Senior Legislative Counsel for the National Right to Life Committee until August 2015.
An attorney by profession, Ms. Muskett graduated with honors from Georgetown University and received her law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School. In addition to her pro-life work with the National Right to Life Committee, she served as the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Christian Coalition of America.
For over five years, Susan Muskett was an attorney with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, where she primarily focused on the rights of Latinos, Native Americans, and infants with disabilities. Ms. Muskett was the Project Director for the Commission’s investigation into allegations of discrimination against Washington, D.C.’s Latino community, which surfaced at the time of a civil disturbance in the District’s Mount Pleasant community in 1991.
Over the years, Susan Muskett’s radio and television interviews have included appearances on CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, FOX News’ The O’Reilly Factor, National Public Radio (NPR), Court TV’s Miller’s Law, Court TV’s Washington Watch, NBC’s Nightside, CBN’s 700 Club, and the Diane Rehm Show. The newspapers in which she has been quoted include The Washington Post, USA Today, Roll Call, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Oregonian.
Our Advisory Committee
Mrs. Mary Ellen Bork
Mrs. Mary Ellen Bork is well-known among Catholic women. A long-time advocate for the pro-life movement, as well as a promoter of an active Catholic laity, Mrs. Bork brings a wealth of experience to the Advisory Committee. She has been active in numerous Catholic organizations, and is a writer and lecturer on Catholic issues pertaining to life and the culture. The recipient of many honors and awards, Mrs. Bork has received the St. Paul Woman of the Year award from the Daughters of St. Paul; an Honorary Degree from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio; and the St. Catherine of Siena award from Christendom College. She was a member of the Presidential Delegation to the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2003. She was also an attendee at the Beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta during the same year that her husband, Judge Robert H. Bork, was baptized.
Sister/Doctor Deirdre (“Sister DeDe”) Byrne
Sister/Doctor Deirdre (“Sister DeDe”) Byrne became nationally famous overnight with her passionate pro-life speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention. Both a missionary sister, and a double board-certified doctor, Sister Byrne integrates her medical expertise into her religious vocation. She is superior of the D.C. Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts community in Washington, D.C., where the sisters run a pro-bono physical therapy clinic, diabetic eye clinic, and retirement home for elderly sisters. She is board-certified in family medicine and general surgery. In 2009, Sister Byrne retired from the United States Army with the rank of Colonel after 29 years of service.