Latest / Restoration Spotlight / Episode 68: Kurt Kondrich, pro-life and Down Syndrome advocate
Transcript
- (Machine Generated) Jerry Ewalt: Welcome to the First Right podcast, a weekly conservative news show brought to you by Restoration PAC. I'm your host, Jerry Ewalt, chief marketing officer for Restoration PAC. And today we are blessed to have a special guest Kurt Kondrich. Mr. Kendrich felt a calling to speak for the voiceless. After the birth of Chloe his down syndrome child in 2003, he quit his job as a Pittsburgh police officer and he, his wife, Margie son, Nolan, and Chloe have been on an incredible journey ever since. How are you? Kurt Kondrich: Good Jerry. Thanks for having us. We deeply appreciate all you do there and we appreciate you having us on your show today to share the amazing journey that God has led us on. Jerry Ewalt: It's my pleasure Kurt. Thank you. Thank you. So look, I'll start it off. Kurt. Tell us a little bit about your life prior to 2003, you were a police officer and your life took an unexpected turn. Tell us a little bit about that. Kurt Kondrich: Sure. Prior to 2003, I liked to tell, I went to college in 1980s. I graduated a criminology degree. My lifelong dream was always to be a police officer. And so I, I left became an Atlanta police officer served there for six years. Then I worked down in Fort Myers, Florida as a deputy sheriff and I returned to my hometown of Pittsburgh in the early nineties. And my goal was to be a police officer, the rest of my life and retire and make rank. And that was my plan, Jerry. I like to tell people then God had his plan in 2003. When he blessed me with my daughter, Chloe, who was born with a postnatal diagnosis of down syndrome. And that greatly shook our world and set me on a completely different path as it does do a lot of people when you are obedient and available to God. Jerry Ewalt: Yeah. So, so expand on that a little bit more occurred. Like when, when Chloe was born, how did that change the trajectory of your life mission? Kurt Kondrich: Sure. When, when my wife was pregnant with Chloe, we were both 40 at the time. So during the pregnancy, as I said, I was a city police officer and it kept kind of like pressuring us to have these prenatal tests. And every time we had an appointment neck cause we're 40 and they said the word they used, we were high risk. I like to tell people risk is not a good word. That's a word connotates, you know, danger or lookout, something dangerous up ahead. But they told us we were a high risk to have a child with down syndrome because of our age. But we declined the prenatal tests. Even at one point a medical person, I asked him, I said, what do we do if we get a positive prenatal test for downs syndrome? And the person said, well, you know, you can make a decision. And I'm like, well, what kind of decision? And I said, well, whether you want to keep your, you know, continue with the pregnancy. And I remember, you know, we knew we were having a daughter. She was already named Chloe, my son Nolan, who was four at the time, was already talking to his sister in the womb. And you know, I just thought here I am a police officer in a medical facility. And if somebody walks near and threaten somebody's life or tries to hurt somebody, I'm going to defend and protect them, that medical people telling me if I don't like the diagnosis of my own daughter, that I'm free to terminate her here and just walk out like nothing happens. So that's, that was the setup to what was happening. And my beautiful daughter, Chloe, she just celebrate a birthday. This week was born May 16th, 2003. And like I said, we got a postnatal diagnosis. And when the doctor told us that Chloe had characteristics, the down syndrome was kind of a negative somber type of tone in his voice. And I remember asking, I said, can I hold my daughter? Because my wife had a C-section and he was clearing some aspiration, Chloe. And I remember he looked at me, he said, oh, you want to hold her? And I said, yeah, bring her over here right now. So I held Chloe. I didn't know anything about down syndrome at the time. I was just a beat cop, but I said, I said, my daughter is beautiful. I said, she'll do fine. And that's the, that's what changed my trajectory to where I was going with my life. Jerry Ewalt: Oh, God got really turned it upside down on you. And I, I love your background as a cop and all that you've experienced there. And you, you said something very interesting and it, it re I believe this is actually your favorite verse, right? Proverbs 31, 8, that you have a tattooed somewhere on your arm and it speak up for those who can not speak for themselves. Right. And that's, that's what you did as a cop. And now that's what you're doing for the community. That Chloe is part of, maybe expand a little bit on that being your favorite verse. Kurt Kondrich: Well, I, I like to tell people, you know, when I do things in life, I'm rooted in the word, not in the world, because there's a one letter difference and the know we'll get you lost. Cause it's all lies. But in the, in the word is Proverbs 31 8, which is speak up for those who can't speak from Dell's. And I'll just, I do have it tattooed on my arm right here. And it is, it is my favorite Bible verse. Cause I think it summarizes the mission as a police officer and mission as a, I call myself a dad advocate. Now not just an an emission is men today in our culture. I just, it dismays me so much how men are refused to take a stand and stand up for, to protect others. And if, if needed, be laid down their life for others. So Proverbs 31 8 is a summary of what, what my life is about and what my anchoring is, which is in God's word. Jerry Ewalt: That's great. And around here, we, we, we quote from Esther alive for such a time as this, right? So you can reflect on all the things in your life that brought you to this point and look what you're doing. It's amazing. Kurt Kondrich: It is amazing. And it's, it's, you know, I've, I've kept a good record of, I have a PowerPoint. I do a lot of presentations at colleges and, and venues across the country. And as I go through it, it is, it's a, it's a great reminder of how awesome God is when you trust in him not knowing exactly where he's leading you. I know, you know, Jonah didn't know what was to be like in Nineveh. Moses didn't want to be led by God. And Paul certainly was not falling after God. But when you allow God to lead you the path, isn't always easy. There's a lot of struggle. There's a lot of attacks. And there's because when you're doing God's and you're shining, God's light down here. Unfortunately there's a lot of darkness that tries to squash the light that you're shining and the truth that you're bringing as you well know it it's organization. And, but it's been the best mission ever like to tell people. And it's been a, it's been a mission of faith and mission of obedience and a mission of life to, to really defend and protect these beautiful children like my daughter. Jerry Ewalt: And, and it is a mission, right? Because what I, what I read is that 90% are more than 90% of down down syndrome. Children are boarded in the U S and even a hundred percent in places like Iceland. I mean, how does that make you feel and how does that drive you? Kurt Kondrich: Well, what happened Jerry, after Chloe was born, you know, we had postnatal diagnosis. I started connecting with other families in that. And what I learned from them was every family I spoke to, whether it was in person over telephone, back then, or internet or whatever, every person who had a prenatal diagnosis told me that they were encouraged at that moment, the terminate, their child. And that just greatly disturbed me. I mean, that's silent, silent eugenic movement. And it is true, like in the United States, it depends on what region you're in. It's between 70 and 90%. You know, some areas are much more pro-life than others, but you go to Europe, it's over 90% Australia, New Zealand. We don't know the numbers in China. We can only imagine, but it's, it is a, it's a global genocide, prenatal genocide against these kids. And we learned in 2017 that the health minister in iceland and proudly proclaim that they had sure down syndrome in Iceland. And they cured it by using prenatal tests because they have socialized medicine up there to identify target and eliminate all children with that prenatal diagnosis. And that was their idea of curing Down's syndrome, which greatly offended me and led me, God led me at that point to speak to the United nations as though I can detail later. Jerry Ewalt: Yeah, you, you, you call it a silent eugenics, right? That's the word you would call not cure, but silent eugenics, Kurt Kondrich: Identifying, targeting, eliminating a human being. I call it as my police perspective, giving them a prenatal death sentence without due process, because they don't meet the cultural mandate per for perfection is something it's just disturb all of us. And every, you know, anybody who's watching this podcast should think, well, who's next? What if we get a prenatal test for autism? How about depression? They say, that's genetic. How about one for baldness or being shorter, having acne, or maybe having a health condition that the society deems is not appropriate. Now the list goes on and on. I think they tried that once in society, back in the 1940s to eliminate the people that weren't worthy to be here. And so as this prenatal testing advances and we all should be very concerned of where it's leading us. Jerry Ewalt: Well, your, your ministry, Kurt has gained you a lot of notoriety. Can you, can you tell me a little bit about your interactions with the previous administration, the president, the vice-president now how that came about? Kurt Kondrich: Absolutely. So because of Chloe, you know, I left my policing career, began advocating, and we started doing legislation here in Pennsylvania. And in 2014, we were able to get legislation passed, called the down syndrome, prenatal education act, which is Chloe's law. And Chloe actually signed it on governor Corbett's desk, along with a couple of other individuals with down syndrome. And that, that law mandated that people get a down syndrome, prenatal diagnosis get factual, supportive, uplifting information. And after that, I'd like to say that was kind of a catalyst that started getting the word out across the country, what was happening. Cause I remember people kept coming say, I didn't know that was happening. I never heard about that. And it just elevated us. God elevated us to be spokespeople. What this, this silent eugenic movement was going. So by speaking, whenever, whenever God opened the door, I went, I actually drove to Alabama one time be on EWTN. I left it nine o'clock got down there in the morning was on two TV shows and drove back after a couple of cups of coffee because I just wanted to get the word out. But it, it got attention across our state, but it also got attention nationally. So in 2018, when the president spoke at for the first time, president Trump and vice-president Pence at the national right to life spoke live in person, March for life. We actually got a call. I thought it was a spam call at first. It was from the white house, inviting us to be with the president during this historic event. So we went down there and I thought we were just going to sit in the audience, but we happen. His aide said, no, you're going to stand right behind him. So I remember standing there Chloe, we had one of her books to give to the president and he spoke. And after he got done speaking, he turned around and gave him a book and he kissed her on the head. And he looked at him and said, she's beautiful. And it was really neat, you know, just to have Chloe as part of that historic thing, especially being that are trying to eliminate these children from the earth and Chloe's has become good friends with vice president Pence axes introduced them at a couple events when he was vice-president and a picture that was taken of Columbia. Vice-president Pence actually hung on the west wing of the white house. And since I'm home doing his park is I actually brought this down real quick. This is the picture that hung on the west wing and the white house. And vice-president that hung her for several months. Vice-president Pence signed that and sent that to Chloe when things changed in the Washington DC. So it's a real blessing. You know, people ask me how's this happened? I say, well, God, doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called and he's continued. Like I said, to open doors for us and to use us to be his mouthpieces, his servants, to spread this message, to spread this life message, because I'll tell you, Jerry, there's no greater issue in our society today than the issue of abortion. We've terminated 63.5 million children. We kill 2300 every day. We wiped out most of individuals with down syndrome. It's it's, it's, it's beyond the numbers are staggering. That's just the United States. So living in this moment of history, I love history. This is, this is what I'll call to do to address this great evil. Jerry Ewalt: Amen. I couldn't agree with you more. And that's fantastic that you're you're you're on this crusade right now. What a perfect timing for all of this, right? Kurt Kondrich: It is. It is. It is. It's amazing. I wanted to add some real quick, we were talking about Iceland. You know, what's interesting. I was doing some research, you know, in 1973, when we pass Roe V Wade in the United States, we have one of the most, you know, open abortion laws, odds, abortion, basically any reason up to birth in 1973, we pass when abortion was legalized, we legalized killing our most vulnerable and innocent children prenatally, but also 1973. A lot of people don't know that was the same year. We passed the endangered species act the same year, which criminalize kill their most vulnerable animals, even animals it's against the law to destroy an Eagle, egg, or a turtle egg. You'll probably end up in federal prison. If you do an Eagle egg is what it's a prenatal Eagle. Why is it illegal to kill them? Because they're endangered species. So I've, I've made that argument. He said the United nations, if they're going to protect the prenatal legal and they should be protecting prenatal individuals like my daughter. Jerry Ewalt: Yeah. The, the value of human life is infinitely more important than, than any animal out there. And it's amazing how many, how much people actually care more about animals sometimes than they do about people. So that's, that's, that's really interesting that you would point that out. Kurt Kondrich: Yeah. It's, it's, it's fascinating. Like I said, I mean, I love animals, but I mean, human beings are, God's greatest creation that the sanctity of life, the miracle of birth from a, a child, that's the size of a pencil point growing into, you know, in the womb. And, and I have to tell this to Jerry, you know, like I said, I'm strong in my faith. And I, I mentioned this a lot to people around Christmas time, you know, the creator of the universe. And it was the hairs in your head who, who knows your DNA, who knows every single human being on this earth, the creator of the universe, Jesus Christ. When he chose to come down here to our earth to make his first appearance live, he chose to enter this earth through the womb of his mother. He could have came anyway. He wanted, he could have just appeared. You got to arrive on a chariot or a Tesla, but he chose to enter this earth with the womb of his mother. And actually was John the Baptist prenatal John the Baptist when he was in the presence of prenatal Jesus leaped in the womb. So a prenatal child, right. Identified the prenatal creator on this earth that should tell everything you need to know about the sanctity of human life. Okay. Jerry Ewalt: That's right. That's right. So that's fantastic. Thanks. Thanks for bringing that up. I couldn't agree with you more so Kurt, what we'll do here, maybe there's an interesting story I read about Chloe. Maybe you can expand on a little bit about, I think he was a friend of yours. He's a fallen police officer that she seems to have a special bond with you mind talking a little bit more about that? Kurt Kondrich: No, I I'd be honored. I love, especially, you know, as, as week was police Memorial week, cause remember the men and women who defend us and I always tell people, you know, when they talk about defunding, the police and bad mouth, the police, I said, I'm not aware of many professions where a person will put on a uniform and go out to defendant, protect people that hate them and will lay down their lives for them no matter what. And I've worked with a lot officers throughout the years from every background, every race, every culture, and every one of them or some of the highest credibility honorable people I've ever met. But back in 2009, the city of Pittsburgh, there was a ambush on three police officers out of the station. I used to work out of. I had left the city at that point and be an advocate, but I knew the officers. It was a simple call, just the basic domestic call. And the officers went there. And when they entered the first two that went through the door, the individual was highly armed and he shot both of them. And then another officer was getting off, heard the, heard them, the shots fired and headed over that way. And when he was exiting his personal vehicle, this individual shot and killed him. And the one of the individual's name was Paul Sholo. He was a friend of mine, actually knew his family. When I walked the beat as a beat cop and he left a six figure job to become a cop because he wanted to give back to his community. Paul was the first one killed on that thing. And I knew his mom and dad. Well, so Paul's buried up at the cemetery next to children's hospital. And his face is on his tombstones. Whenever I took Chloe up there for appointments, I would always make it a stop and just pay my respects to Paul and Chloe. When she was little, she would start talking to Paul and saying things to him. And I'd say, Chloe, he talking to you, honey. And she said, well, I'm talking to Paul dad almost like, what's wrong with you? Don't you see him here? And she started telling me things about him that nobody knew Chloe had actually never met Paul. And I would go down to visit his parents after those appointments and tell her, tell them these things. And it brought them a lot of peace in that. But the one trip up there, she was talking to Paul and she was just communicating with them. And then after her appoints to dad, I got to talk to max and Susie that's Paul's parents. I said, okay, honey. So we drove down their house. We went in there and Chloe says that max and Susan goes, I have to tell you something. I have to tell you something. And they go, what is it, honey? she goes, I see Paul. And he's up in heaven and he's holding a baby. And Paul's mother got real emotional as you're like, ready to cry. And I thought, oh no, here we go. I'm sorry. They go. No, no. And she said, what do you mean? He's holding the baby, Chloe. And Chloe said, I see Paul up in heaven. He's holding a baby. It's his brother, his name's David. And he's holding him up and having then the father was in there. They both started crying and weeping. I thought, oh boy, what a mess I started here. And then I S the mother goes, no, no, Kurt. We have to tell you something. 43 years ago, she miscarried a baby boy. Only her and her husband knew about it. David was one of the names they were thinking about it that naming the child. And then when Paul was killed in this horrific ambush and all, these great police officers, they said to each other, well, at least he's in heaven with his brother. And they were the only ones that knew it. And here's Chloe telling them that she sees Paul up in heaven with her, with his brother. So I said, that's just another miracle how God speaks through these kids. And, you know, and just, and it also shows that children who die in the womb are in heaven, waiting to be reunited with us one day. Jerry Ewalt: Yeah. That is, that is truly an amazing story. It truly an amazing story. And I know we've talked a little bit about it. You, you feel that, that Chloe has a very special connection with God and you believe that a down syndrome children have that connection across the board. And it's, it's a really unique connection that we don't maybe share in the same way that they do Kurt Kondrich: Well, children with down syndrome have an extra chromosome. They have an extra 21st chromosome. That's why every March 21st 3 21, they is world down syndrome. A and I extra wrote an article once that Adam and Eve, because, you know, as I walked close, just turned 19. I w and I will tell you this though, he does not have you on her. She doesn't have a malice. Can she have a behavior or get upset if you take her phone off for absolutely so never intentionally hurt anybody. I, as a 20 year police officer for 20 years in three major cities, I never got a call with a person with down syndrome, hurting someone. So I actually wrote an article that Adam and Eve had down syndrome until the devil stole the extra chromosome. And we're actually the ones who are disabled. We're the, we're the messed up ones. And when we enter heaven, one day, we'll see that individuals with down syndrome were exactly as God intended us to be. We're the ones that have screwed things up since the devil opened our eyes, all the things of the world and kind of pulled us away from the word. Jerry Ewalt: Wow. No, that's and that's, that's fantastic. What a great theory on that. And do, would you mind if we talk to Chloe a little bit, Kurt Kondrich: She actually stepped out. She went to get a drink of water, but I can't I'll actually, yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll bring her over here and Jerry Ewalt: No worries. Kurt Kondrich: And when I was talking world down syndrome day on 3 21, so something really cool happened this past year, the great state of West Virginia, which is south of us, Chloe and I spoke at their convention last year and they told us they were trying to get a law passed there that will ban boarding kids with down syndrome. Governor justice is the pro-life governor down there. So I offered Chloe and I offered our services and we made at least a half dozen trips down through the West Virginia Capitol. Speaking to legislators, we were introduced on the floor. We spoke at a pro-life rally day. We did a lot of things down there and sure enough, the legislature down there passed a ban, the down center protection and education. I will also give education material and governor justice signed that ban just this past March 21st on world down syndrome day. I have a really cool video, if any of your listeners want to see it? I can be glad to share it with them. It's also on my social media of governor justice with his dog, baby dog, signing the legislation and handing Chloe the pen and giving her a copy of law. And I will tell you that was one of the most joyful of his awesome days in my life is when that happened down there in West Virginia, by the end of. Jerry Ewalt: So that's, that's a Chloe law part two in a different state. Is that what I'm hearing? Kurt Kondrich: Right. I mean, the Chloe law in Pennsylvania. Gets educational material out, but does not ban a boarding kids with down center. We we've tried to in Pennsylvania, we've got to pass the legislature. Unfortunately, we have a governor who's who doesn't, who vetoes all pro-life legislation, but that law down in West Virginia, yes, it gets the education material out, but it also bans a boarding, a child with down syndrome. So that's, that's the awesome part about it. And it was just, it was really an honor to be part of that whole thing. And to know that we got the advocate down there and we met some incredible people, west Virginians for life who just do amazing work. And I tell people they don't have a lot of money and neither do neither do we, but we have a lot of treasure stored up in heaven for the Jerry Ewalt: Amen. Amen to that. Wow. Well, that's fantastic. I have one more question then if Chloe comes back, that's great too, but we could, so for you, right? So I'd say this. So Kurt, what can everyday Americans do to help your cause? Right? How can we help elevate this issue even further? Kurt Kondrich: Well, I think the biggest thing is, as Americans is, is spreading the truth. You know, getting the word out, letting people know what's happening. Cause you know, take an opportunity just to inform people. That's that's, you know, that's why it's so important that we connect with each other. You know, Chloe and I, we speak across the country. If anybody would like us to come do a presentation at your church, at your state Capitol, at your any type of convention or venue, you can connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, we're on all, all, all social media sites. We even have a website called embrace. Don't erase.org. We're currently building that, but our contact information there, we would love to help you spread the word and get it out because the truth, if people aren't sharing the truth. And unfortunately, as we know in our culture, then the devil will we'll share the, the lies and the deception and the darkness. And we have to always be pushing back on that. And by doing that, I like to quote one of my favorite people. Diedrich Bonhoeffer said, silence in the face of evil is evil itself not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act, God will not hold us guiltless. And all of us, you know, the mortality rates a hundred percent we'll stand in front of God. One day, we're going to have to give them an account of what, what we did during this brief time. We were on this planet and you know, spreading the truth is so powerful. That's what Jesus did. That's one of the main reasons they had to get rid of him. Cause he was spreading the truth. He was telling people, he was, he was letting them know the absolute truth is as far as God's word, he said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. So spreading the truth. If somebody would like us to come speak or help with legislation in your state, we've, we've gone to capitals across the country who spoke NASA, right? The life convention, North Carolina, right? To life, prayer, breakfast, we, we will go anywhere. Cause it's, it's that important. I've I tell people, people are like, why don't you slow down? I said, listen, when I'm in heaven, I'll I'll rest up there. Jerry Ewalt: That's right. Kurt Kondrich: So we got plenty of time to rest of the head here. There's that book that Chloe's on, that she gave to president Trump. She gave this book out. I went let your listeners know. We spoke to the United nations twice that that just came out of nowhere, that opening and Chloe gave this to delegates and diplomats from across the world. And there's actually a really neat picture. It's on my site. And there's some other things where Chloe is handing this book to the delegate from Russia and Saudi Arabia and standing in between him as he flashes the peace sign. So maybe we need somebody with down syndrome up at the UN the things straightened out here and what's happening on a global basis right now. But it's, it's been, like I said, quite a frustrating journey. Jerry Ewalt: Absolutely. It has in Chloe. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions for you. Kurt Kondrich: Yeah. Jerry Ewalt: Hi. How are you, Chloe? You are an amazing woman at the age of 18. You have done more than most people ever do in their entire lives. So it's, it's really an honor for me to get to talk to you. And as I was looking at some of the things that you've done, you've met the president and the vice-president already. You've got, I saw the picture earlier on, right? So you did that. You have the pictures actually hanging in the white house, which is fantastic. You've spoken at the UN, not just once, but twice. You've spoken twice at the UN you have countless awards for all of the advocacy work that you've been doing. You even have a law named after you. It sounds like two laws now and, and another law that came out of it. And so it's just amazing to see how God has used you in your life. And so I do have any words you want to share with the audience, anything that you would like to say Kurt Kondrich: Sometime I have to prompt her. Cause he gets like with a thing like tolerate buddy, what Jesus made you. She always tells everybody when she meets him that Jesus made her perfect. And tell her who some of your favorite people are Donald Trump. Well, who else here? Who's this right here. Is it because of my pants? So yeah, she gets a little shy from the camps. Chloe's really good in person. When I, when we got the speech, she speaks in person, but yeah, she tells everybody, she said that it's the UN it was, it was neat up there. There was a group of people who were there actually pro-abortion to kind of protest what we were doing. We were warned about it and she got up and spoke and told everybody Jesus made me perfect. And I I'm telling you when we were done, these people from all over the world came up to Chloe one, their picture with her want her autograph and actually an Italian filmmaker out of Rome made a video. That's a global video. You can find that online as why we should welcome children with down and then went out across the globe in like eight different languages, because that's just, I like to call. They're always a messenger. She's a harbinger for loving lashing. The peace sign is good because she does come and peace she's Jerry Ewalt: Well, like I said, clay is a real honor for me to meet you in person. And thank you for all that you've been doing. It's unbelievable work that you and your dad and your entire family have been doing. Thank you. Kurt Kondrich: Tell Jerry what happened his week What was this week? You're what, How old are you this week? You turned 19 as the weeks or months. Jerry Ewalt: I said 18. I thought you were eighteen. You turned 19 this week. Unbelievable. Kurt Kondrich: So Jerry Ewalt: That's awesome. Well look, thank you. Both of you guys for all that you've done. It was a real pleasure for us to, to spend some time with you. And I know the audience will definitely enjoy the message that you brought here today. So thank you. Kurt Kondrich: We thank you. We thank you for all you're doing. Cause it was, you know, spreading the truth, spreading the facts and pushing back the lies and deception of darkness is what we all need to be doing now more than ever. So thanks for what you're doing there at restoration pack and for the awesome leadership you have there and just continue to do what you do and we're at your service. If you ever need us in the future. Jerry Ewalt: All right. Thank you so much. Have a great evening. Kurt Kondrich: God bless. Jerry Ewalt: All right. Well that's our show for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and supporting conservative media. 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