If you’ll be in the Washington, DC area this coming weekend and haven’t heard (or managed to register yet), the 13th Annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life is a truly invigorating experience. The conference, which will be held this upcoming Sunday, January 22, will this year feature speeches by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Ann Marie Buerkle of New York, and Fr. “Rocky” Hoffman of Relevant Radio, among other leading public and academic pro-life lights.
The conference affords high school and college students (especially, but not exclusively—-all are welcome to sign up) a chance to discuss issues surrounding the protection of human life and dignity on an elevated intellectual plane, as well as strategize and network with the like-minded. It’s also a great complement to Monday’s March for Life. As the conference’s title implies, a goal of the gathering is to emulate the late Cardinal’s relentless witness in the public square. The Conference:
was first held in 2000 and later named in honor of His Eminence John Cardinal O’Connor, the late Archbishop of New York and a Georgetown University alum. Cardinal O’Connor was renowned for his courage as a champion of the unborn, and the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life seeks to continue his mission of defending the sacredness of all human life.
It’s worth noting that this is a student-run conference, and that it only comes together through the efforts of a dedicated group of Georgetown students. As someone who has attended in past years, I’d say the atmosphere to be found at this conference is as rare as it is powerful.
