Cheryl Calire

Cheryl Calire, director of the Office of Pro-Life Activities for the Diocese of Buffalo, will head to St. Charles, Mo., to take part in the national Pro-Life Women's Conference, June 22-24.  The three-day event, by women and for women, is to illustrate that women's empowerment cannot be attained by the oppression of other human beings.  More than 600 women are expected to attend the conference held at the St. Charles Convention Center. 

The conference, which begins on Friday evening, will include keynote addresses by Serrin M. Foster, president of Feminists for Life, and Pat Layton, author, speaker and life coach.  Breakout sessions will be held on Saturday and Sunday and include such topics as pregnancy loss, abortion, sex education, concerns about the Girl Scouts and frozen embryos.  Other items on the agenda include networking, defunding Planned Parenthood and a panel discussion on Sunday with questions and answers.  Calire, who has been the diocesan pro-life director for more than eight years, overseeing the St. Gianna Pregnancy Outreach Center, Project Rachel, The Mother Teresa Home and Sidewalk Advocates for Life, is among the speakers on the panel.

"Since we were one of the first five sidewalk advocates in the country, I will share some stories from the sidewalk," Calire said.  "We have a unique situation in Buffalo in that our buffer zone is really enforced.  We have a very small amount of space to pray in front of the clinic, but we still manage to do what we do," she said.  "And, I can share some of the effective ways to reach people and to take it to the next level like we did with our pregnancy outreach center and Mother Teresa Home." 

The Pro-Life Women's Conference is sponsored by And Then There Were None Ministry and the Alice Paul Group.  More than 500 women attended the conference that was held in Dallas in 2016.