As the Catholic Church continues to celebrate a Year of Jubilee, another gathering of Christians did the same in Charlotte, North Carolina this past week. It was the annual Care Net conference, bringing together over 1800 pregnancy center directors and staff from across the country on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this life-saving network of faith, dedication and service.
“The Year of Jubilee” was the theme, set by Leviticus 25:10, which says, “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you…”
Melinda Delahoyde, who was with Care Net from the beginning and served for a time as its President, and gave a stirring speech during the conference, recalling some of the Christian giants who constitute its foundation: former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, Christian apologist Dr. Francis Schaeffer, and Dr. Harold O. J. Brown.
The closing banquet of the conference featured a moving tribute to leaders who have shaped the movement for these five decades. It is a fitting reminder to the whole prolife movement that a key to our success today is to know and value our history.
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In the opening keynote address, current Care Net President Roland Warren reminded participants of the vision of Care Net: abundant life. Based on John 10:10 (where Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly”), Roland compared two Greek words for “life,” bios (our physical life) and zoe (our share in the life of God).
The work of pregnancy centers, he pointed out, deals with both. It is not just social service; it is about making disciples. And both dimensions of pregnancy center work take place in the context of rebuilding the family, the natural context in which God intends life to be welcomed and nurtured.
Care Net has developed that aspect of pregnancy center work extensively, and has developed an extensive Church program (called “Making Life Disciples”) to not only work with the centers, but to empower Churches to do their own ministry to those who are pregnant and in need.
Aside from these and other keynote addresses, participants had a variety of workshops to choose from. Some of these dealt with the need to protect their centers legally, drawing on the expertise of groups like Alliance Defending Freedom and Americans United for Life.
Other workshops dealt with everything from Church outreach to fundraising to the use of AI and ChatGPT. The role of fathers was emphasized in various ways, and Care Net’s President, Roland Warren, brings an experienced perspective on this, having previously served as President of the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI).
Aside from breakout sessions, conference participants were able to take part in various “side meetings,” presented by various ministries that were present, and offering a chance to discuss topics in depth, such as adoption, grandparenting skills, reaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and more.
Prayer was a big part of the conference, not only in daily worship sessions and as a topic of some of the sessions, but also by the availability of one-on-one prayer time with members of the Care Net Prayer Team, on which I have had the privilege to serve.
One of the key topics of discussion throughout the week, of course, was chemical abortion. Participants were well-informed of how the availability of abortion drugs has changed the landscape of our movement and of the pregnancy centers. The dominant theme I picked up from conversations was simply this: our response is to strive to reach the mothers sooner, intervening with help before the pills get into their hands. That, in a nutshell, is what shapes our daily efforts.
The exhibit hall at Care Net was an impressive array of every facet of the prolife movement, with a sold-out room filled with booths sponsored by groups large and small, coming from coast to coast with their literature and other tools to equip the thousands of centers represented.
What a joy it was to be there among these men and women of God, some just starting out in the movement, and others – like my friends Tom Glessner (President of another network of pregnancy centers, NIFLA), Warren Williams (a pioneer in helping men deal with the pain of losing a child to abortion), Dinah Monahan (whose mom Virginia created the well-known “Precious Feet” pin) and Shari Richard (a pioneer in the world of prolife ultrasound). Being with all these people again was a simple reminder that our movement knows how to serve, how to persevere, and how to rely on the Lord for a victory that we already have, because death has been conquered in Jesus Christ!
LifeNews.com Note: Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.
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Author: Frank Pavone
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