Grant Impact Story
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Erie, Inc. hosted the Respect Life Conference with support from a grant from the Catholic Foundation. “The Office of Social Justice and Life of Catholic Charities oversees all respect life activities in the diocese. It holds a bi-annual conference in October to celebrate Respect Life Month and to meet the needs of our local, state, and national communities,” Liz Slaby, Director, wrote in her grant application. “The conference is an opportunity to educate on life issues, build diocesan community around respect life activities, and give diocesan leaders tools to continue promoting life in their own parishes or ministries. “
The Catholic Foundation awarded Catholic Charities a grant to support the Respect Life Conference “Be a Sign of Hope”, including speaker stipends, speaker travel expenses, and lunch for volunteers and participants. “We expect participants to gain knowledge and awareness of action steps they and/or their parish can take to support respect life service and advocacy,” Liz shared in her application.
The conference was a success, in educating, engaging, and challenging attendees on less-prominent respect life issues. Five expert speakers gave presentations on infertility, IVF, post-IVF ministry, Walking with Moms in Need ministry, human trafficking, and hospice care. Each speaker also shared ideas of actions attendees could take to advocate for respect life causes in their communities. “Each speaker engaged the audience well, as evidenced by the questions and discussion after each presentation,” Liz shared in her grant report.
An additional component of the conference was six local social service and advocacy groups. They exhibited for attendees and gave them the opportunity to learn more about their work and how they could collaborate. “The local service agencies were quick to see the connections between the speaker topics and their work so they were able to engage with the attendees and the suggested action items exceptionally well,” Liz commented.
Finally, Liz herself found the topics and actions presented by the speakers gave her directions for where she can take the work of her office. “Some of the presenters' suggestions for service and advocacy are things that I can nurture through my office and support in parishes, particularly infertility awareness and compassion, the moral implications of IVF, and human trafficking awareness and education,” she shared. Additionally, she found that having an expert for Walking with Moms in Need has started conversations to create new groups of this ministry in parishes.
"Catholic Charities is sincerely grateful for the grant,” Liz shared in thanks. “We were able to offer the Catholic view through national expert speakers, and provided state and local resources to parishioners in these conversations in an engaging and informative way. Attendees responded gratefully and desire more such opportunities.”
This project was supported by a grant from the Catholic Social Ministry Endowment of the Catholic Foundation. Your gift to the Foundation in any amount designated for this endowment increases our capacity to award grants for innovative projects and programs throughout northwest Pennsylvania.
“Catholic Charities is sincerely grateful for the grant. We were able to offer the Catholic view through national expert speakers, and provided state and local resources to parishioners in these conversations in an engaging and informative way.”