Beyond ideology: Revamped pro–life expo guides students toward ‘engaging with their personhood’

The annual Catholic schools’ pro-life conference got a fresh coat of paint this year in the form of the Youth 4 Life Expo.

Organizers urged students to engage with pro-life ideas on their own terms. They transitioned from a traditional conference format, where content is presented to students, to an expo format, allowing students to browse and engage with the speakers, booths, and subjects that resonated with them.

Throughout the day, students from all over the Lower Mainland could make art, attend breakout talks, listen to music, and paint.

Speakers were chosen to help broaden the scope of what students thought the phrases “pro-life” or “reverence for life” could mean. Topics available for students ranged from typical pro-life issues, such as euthanasia and abortion, to less common topics like pornography and civil disobedience.

Lily Moric, an anti-pornography speaker, delivered a well-attended talk – especially by young men – about the impact of pornography on the brain. This helped bridge the gap and expand what reverence for life clubs might consider relevant.

“The desire was to show the kids that being pro-life does not need to fit into a specific political perspective. It’s about kids engaging with their personhood,” said Gloanec.

Ultimately, the expo aims to expand students’ engagement with pro-life ideas and ethics rather than solely focusing on the pro-life stance.

Keynote speaker Destiny Herndon De La Rosa spoke with students about her experience of running shelters on the Mexico-Texas border for pregnant migrant mothers. One student hadn’t considered the possibility of being a feminist and pro-life until hearing De La Rosa speak.

Speakers at the event represented a wide range of pro-life perspectives and work. Jared White of Advokate presented traditional pro-life ideas. Emily Bowman-Lukasik from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace conducted a game about fair trade and the causes of poverty. Kathryn Walker, a consistent life ethic speaker, discussed civil disobedience, emphasizing connections between war, abortion, capital punishment, and other life issues.

Some effort was made to expand the expo’s reach beyond the Catholic sphere, as evidenced by speaker Emily Neinhuis, who works as a researcher for the Association for Reformed Political Action, an organization that seeks to “educate, equip, and encourage Reformed Christians to political action, and to bring a biblical perspective to our civil authorities.”

“I loved the honest questions and curiosity of the high school students,” said Neinhuis, who gave a talk entitled “Euthanasia 101.” She enjoyed having conversations about “everything from someone who wasn’t sure he believed in God and wasn’t sure how to think about suffering or euthanasia, to someone who thought euthanasia was a country somewhere.”

“Definitely conversations worth having,” she said.

“The Expo 4 Life was a very good learning experience for me,” one student told organizers. “It was a nice experience to meet different people who are also passionately pro-life and hear their stories and arguments. The games and joyful attitudes of the leaders also really made the event very uplifting.”

“I not only learned advice about civil disobedience and lots of new facts, but also about new perspectives and how they are derived from the pro-life position,” wrote the student. “I may not have agreed with everything said, despite being pro-life myself, but it was still interesting to learn about different pro-life perspectives.”

Elisha May Gloanec, the expo’s creative director, told The B.C. Catholic, “Our goal was not to convince every kid to be pro-life. We are not trying to indoctrinate; we are trying to create dialogue. The goal is that they leave this expo with their perspective broadened.”

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