Theresa Matters
The Interim
On Feb. 4, on the west coast of Canada in British Columbia, just over 30 young adults gathered at Rosemary Heights retreat centre with the common goal of becoming more active in the pro-life movement. The weekend was organized by Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and featured Stephanie Gray, its executive director, as the speaker and trainer.
The vision of CCBR, as found on its website at www.ccbrinfo.ca, is “to make abortion unthinkable, by confronting the culture with the visual reality of abortion, and by equipping, training, and educating our generation to persuasively argue against abortion.” That was exactly the message imparted to those in attendance throughout the weekend.
Gray explained the purpose of the weekend was “to gather together like-minded, intelligent and passionate pro-life individuals, challenging them to be even more serious in their response to abortion, train these people on how to give pro-life presentations (and) to equip them with the skills for support raising, with the hopes that many will consider full time pro-life work.”
Despite going to school in southwestern Ontario, I was more than happy to make the trip out West to gain important knowledge that would equip me to challenge the culture of death. It is hard to leave a weekend with Gray and not become acutely motivated to fight for the innocent lives of the unborn. After the weekend, Gray was pleased to say that “some (participants) have already expressed an interest in pursuing presentations, as well as their plans for full-time work soon, or upon finishing post-secondary education.”
There was representation from around Canada and across the border. It was important for students from various areas to be able to network with those in the same fight for life. Many campuses are not overly welcoming to the pro-life view and it is encouraging to be able to talk to others who are experiencing the same obstacles in spreading the truth.
We are not the “next generation” of pro-lifers. We are the now. I can promise you that the fruits of this weekend in British Columbia will be felt as these pro-life leaders are already peacefully, yet boldly, fighting for the rights of the unborn on their campuses. One of the many encouraging things for Gray that came out of the weekend was “being around so many young and intelligent people who are spiritually mature and want to make a difference in the world.”
Theresa Matters is studying English at St. Jerome’s College at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ont.
