Local4/4/2008

April MCFL forums to encourage pro-life involvement

byGail Besse Special to The Pilot

STURBRIDGE -- “Bringing Massachusetts Back to Life” will be the focus of an April 12 convention offering practical ideas for pro-life involvement.

Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, the prosecutor who took on one of the nation’s largest abortion providers, will be the featured speaker at the Massachusetts Citizens For Life Convention. Kline has indicted Planned Parenthood in Kansas on 107 counts of illegal activity for failure to comply with reporting requirements for girls who have been statutorily raped.

In addition, on April 19, Father Tadeusz Pacholcyzk, director of education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center, will speak about end-of-life issues and stem-cell research and cloning at another MCFL forum in Hanover.

The April 12 convention will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center. Experts on legislation, stem-cell developments, and pro-life work at all levels will address participants.

“We want people to see how far we’ve come because of pro-lifers’ efforts, and inspire them to work even harder with our newly gained opportunities like the Supreme Court’s upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban,” said conference organizer Anne Fox.

The legislative impact of this 2007 high court ruling will be discussed by panelists Stephen Gilles, Quinnipiac School of Law professor, and Dwight Duncan, Southern New England School of Law professor. Mark Carron, former state representative, will moderate.

A “Medicine under siege” workshop will be offered by Drs. John Diggs, Helen Jackson, Mildred Jefferson and Trudy Murphy.

Other workshops include: “How to recruit and organize pro-lifers,” Richard Carey, Tom Day, Bea Martins, and Madeline McComish; “Gen X, Gen Y and Beyond: Getting the message to post-moderns,” David Franks, Kelly Kroll and Henry Luthin; “What parents should know about the Health Curriculum Frameworks,” Linda Thayer; “Dealing with the media,” Leslie Bond Diggins, Linda Kinsey, June Newman and Max Pakaluk; “More effective pro-life communication,” Edward Boylan and members of the South Shore Chapter; “Current and pending state legislation,” Marie Sturgis and state Reps. Colleen Garry and Paul Frost; “Stem cells -- the latest news,” Dr. Micheline Matthews Roth of Harvard Medical School, Dr. James Sherley of Boston Research Institute, and Nathaniel Jeansen, a candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Science.

Other speakers will include newspaper columnist Don Feder; MCFL’s current and former presidents, Dr. Mildred Jefferson and attorney Frances X. Hogan; and Eileen Smith, whose grandchild and daughter, Laura Hope Smith, died during a legal abortion in Hyannis in September.

St. Brendan’s Parish in Bellingham is offering partial scholarships to the first 21 high school students who register. Registrants must do so by mail, indicate they are a student, and enclose $15 per registration. In addition, students will be able to meet with former Attorney General Kline and his daughter, Hillary, a high school sophomore.

The April 19 conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Parish Hall. Father Pacholcyzk will give two talks: on the science and ethics of stem-cell research and cloning, and on end-of-life issues.

Father Pacholcyzk, a priest of the Fall River Diocese, earned his doctorate in Neuroscience from Yale University and worked as a molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He has testified before numerous state legislatures and appeared on CNN International, ABC World News Tonight, and National Public Radio.

MCFL member Linda Thayer, a retired biology teacher and pro-life speaker, will also explain what parents should know about the Massachusetts Health Curriculum Frameworks.

Registration for the April 12 convention in Sturbridge is $40 for adults, $25 for seniors and students and can be done online at www.masscitizensforlife.org, or mailed to: MCFL, Schrafft’s Center, 529 Main Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129.

Registration for the April 19 conference in Hanover is $30 for adults and $15 for students. Checks payable to MCFL South Shore Chapter may be sent to Ken Evans, 481 King St., Hanover, MA 02339.