NRLC 2007: An Event Not to be Missed June 14-16, 2007

By Dave Andrusko
Editor, National Right to Life News

With a theme like “Bringing Life to the Heart of America, Bringing the Heart of America to Life,” it’s only natural that National Right to Life’s 35th annual national convention (NRLC) would feature Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann and former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline among its roster of prominent speakers. To be held in Kansas City, Missouri’s Hyatt Regency Crown Center, the three-day educational event runs June 14-16 and is expected to draw up to 1, 500 attendees.

“Ever since 1974 it’s been NRLC’s goal to provide the best speakers discussing the most pressing issues of the day in light of the enduring values that sustain the Pro-Life Movement,” said convention director Jacki Ragan. “We know, for example, that you can’t pick up a newspaper without reading about stem cell research, cloning, and abortifacients such as RU486.”

These, and dozens of other topics, Ragan said, will be discussed in depth in more than 70 workshops, 4 general sessions, a prayer breakfast, and a closing banquet.

One of the major highlights will be a much-anticipated bloc of workshops on Friday, June 15 that will analyze the scientific, ethical, and religious dimensions of stem cell research and human cloning. Attendees at “Stem Cell Research: Fiction vs. Fact” will be the beneficiaries of the vast expertise of Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of the Pro-Life Secretariat at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Dr. David Prentice, a senior fellow for Life Sciences at the Family Research Council.

Bioethicist and prolific author Wesley Smith will deliver the opening address Thursday morning, June 14. In addition to all of his prior work fighting assisted suicide, he has also become a thoughtful, outspoken critic of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos. Smith will explain how the politics of embryonic stem cell research has corrupted science.

Archbishop Naumann will be the featured speaker at the prayer breakfast the following morning. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, the renowned editor-in-chief of the influential magazine First Things, will close the convention Saturday night at the 8 p.m. banquet. Fr. Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, will also speak to the convention in a number of settings.

After 34 years, NRLC’s annual convention has truly become the pro-life educational event of the year. Making sure that there are activities geared toward all age groups has been pivotal to earning that well-deserved reputation.

There will be a separate convention for high school students that will be held in conjunction with NRLC 2007. On-site childcare will be available for families with young children, complete with age-appropriate activities and field trips.

“We have people coming from all over American and all over the world,” Ragan said, “but the basic challenge is the same: fending off assaults on the dignity of human life, whether it be an assault on the human embryo at one end of the age spectrum, or the medically dependent elderly on the other.”

For detailed information about the convention, including how to register, you can either visit www.nrlc.org/convention/index.html, or call the convention office at (202) 378-8842.