NFL Super Bowl champion and pro-life advocate Matt Birk accepts a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a thank you from MiraVia for serving as keynote speaker at its “Leading the Way to Life” banquet Oct. 20.CHARLOTTE — It was a moment to remember when more than 1,200 joy-filled pro-life advocates rose to their feet to applaud the reversal of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision during the “Leading the Way to Life” fundraiser for MiraVia Oct. 20 at the Charlotte Convention Center. MiraVia has helped more than 11,000 women and children since 1994.
“I will always remember (June 24),” said Debbie Capen, executive director of MiraVia, during her remarks. “I went to the chapel immediately at MiraVia and knelt in front of Our Lord (in the tabernacle) and thanked Him. So many of us said we’d never live to see the day and here it was. I didn’t know how to express that gratitude,” she said.
Capen explained her prayers of thanksgiving quickly switched to prayers of petition after learning from law enforcement there might be organizations out there that wished MiraVia harm. She and her staff immediately went to work to make sure their facilities, clients and staff were protected.
“I was actually a little bit irked because I had waited so long for that day. I couldn’t celebrate. We had to get right to work. I told myself we’d celebrate together at the banquet. So here we are, all 1,200 of us, to celebrate together!” Capen said to thundering applause.
Capen made the stark point that, although abortion is not protected at the Supreme Court level, the States have the power, and North Carolina has become a destination for those seeking abortion. Now, more than ever, “We need to be a destination for women seeking life,” she said.
She emphasized that MiraVia’s two programs – the residential facility at Belmont Abbey College for pregnant college women and their children, and the outreach center which provides material and emotional support as well as life skills classes in English and Spanish to pregnant mothers – will be crucial in the fight to change hearts and minds and help meet women’s needs.
Capen announced that MiraVia expects to expand its services by 25% in the upcoming year to meet the increased demand of women seeking to choose life in wake of the Dobbs decision. She also shared the great news that MiraVia has moved to a larger facility off Tyvola Road to allow for more meeting space for life skills classes for clients, and storage space for donations of clothing, diapers, toys and baby supplies.
Keynote speaker Matt Birk, retired NFL Super Bowl champion and practicing Catholic, toured the residential facility before attending the banquet. A husband and father of eight children, two of whom are adopted, he is running for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and publicly espouses his pro-life values.
“If you’re a Catholic or a Christian, your purpose here is to serve God. We all have different talents and roles. Everybody has a platform; some may be more public than others. At the end of the day that is what we are supposed to do, to serve God and the people,” he said in an interview with the Catholic News Herald.
Birk said he tells people the focus of the pro-life movement can’t be to just make abortion illegal. “We have to create a system where abortion is not necessary, where women are supported in every way – medically, emotionally, financially – so women don’t feel like they are forced to have an abortion. Basically, we need to love on women.”
He added that if you take time to see all of the work that is going on at places like MiraVia and other pro-life pregnancy centers throughout the country, “They are not hating women, they are loving on women in their greatest time of vulnerability.”
— SueAnn Howell. Photos by SueAnn Howell and provided
Learn more
To volunteer or donate, visit their website, www.miravia.org.
