CHARLOTTE — Women seeking support for unplanned pregnancies have a new resource in Charlotte offering a listening ear and concrete help for anything a new mother may need. Birthright of Charlotte is set to officially open its doors with a ribbon-cutting and house blessing from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at 4435 Monroe Road in Charlotte.
Established in Toronto in 1968, Birthright International has more than 230 chapters worldwide offering confidential support, a free pregnancy test, personal care items, and baby and maternity clothes. The organization also provides referrals for prenatal care, medical assistance, education and housing. Services are free and available for both the mother and the father.
“We’re there in a loving, non-judgmental attempt to convey assistance,” said Hank Chardos, executive director of Birthright of Charlotte. “We let them know that we’ll walk with them through the pregnancy and beyond.”
Chardos and his wife, Sally, set out to open a chapter in Charlotte after learning of the increasingly high number of abortions in the area after the reversal of Roe v. Wade last year made North Carolina a destination for women seeking abortion. The couple opened a Birthright chapter in Columbia, S.C., in 1980, and Chardos served as the executive director for 41 years.
He encourages those interested in helping at Birthright of Charlotte to attend one of four volunteer trainings that will be offered on Dec. 4 and 7, with sessions at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Chardos said volunteers have an enormous impact on the women who come through the door.
“Whether you talk with someone over the phone or it’s somebody who came in, the ability for you to have that interaction is what’s so important,” he said. “Because without knowing that there are alternatives, an individual is going to say, ‘Well, abortion is legal, so it must be OK.’ But… the office volunteer has that loving, non-judgmental approach to let them know that life is the most precious gift that God can give us.”
For more information, go to www.birthrightofcharlotte.org or call 803-543-8144. For the 24-hour hotline, call 800-550-4900.
— Annie Ferguson
CHARLOTTE — This Nov. 5-11 marks the annual celebration of National Vocations Awareness Week across the United States.
The annual celebration is dedicated to promoting vocations of priests, deacons and consecrated men and women religious (nuns and brothers) through prayer and education, and to renewing our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.
Currently, the Diocese of Charlotte has 51 seminarians discerning a call to the priesthood.
National Vocations Awareness Week began in 1976 when the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year for special recognition of those discerning vocations.
In 1997, this celebration was moved to coincide with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which fell on Jan. 13 in 2013.
Beginning in 2014, National Vocations Awareness Week was moved to the first full week of November.
For more information, visit www.usccb.org/vocations.
Prayer for vocations
God our Father, we thank You for calling men and women to serve in Your Son’s Kingdom as priests, deacons and consecrated persons.
Send Your Holy Spirit to help others to respond generously and courageously to Your call.
May our community of faith support vocations of sacrificial love in our youth and young adults. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
Amen.