HOMEPAGE for this issue: September 7, 2011 // Download PDF Version // Click to install/update Adobe Reader on your computer

Faithful invited to groundbreaking for Lighthouse Pregnancy Center

By Roxanne King

It aims to bring Christ’s light and life to women considering an abortion, offering them help and hope to bring their pregnancy to term.

Called Lighthouse Pregnancy Center – A Beacon of Hope for Women, the privately operated and funded Catholic pregnancy center will be located across the street from Planned Parenthood of the Rockies headquarters in Denver. Planned Parenthood is the leading provider of abortion in the United States. The Denver headquarters is the organization’s second largest facility.

A ceremonial groundbreaking for Lighthouse Pregnancy Center, located at 3895 N. Pontiac St. in Denver, is slated for noon Sept. 8. Everyone is invited to attend.

“The location for the Lighthouse Pregnancy Center was carefully considered and chosen because of its proximity to Denver’s Planned Parenthood facility,” explained Laura Salvato, chair of the Lighthouse board of directors and wife of Deacon Mark Salvato.

“Building within view of that facility is a way of offering a very direct and visible alternative to a woman considering abortion and thinking that this is her only option.”

Salvato will emcee the ceremony. Father John Paul Leyba, Lighthouse spiritual director, will lead prayers assisted by Deacon John Neal. Jane Brennan, author of “Motherhood Interrupted,” which recounts women’s experiences with abortion, will deliver remarks as will Rosalinda Lozano, Lighthouse executive director. Special guests include architect Jim Paull, who designed the center, and businessman Greg Gerken, Lighthouse board member.

“The groundbreaking is intended to generate more interest and awareness and to motivate the pro-life community, especially our fellow Catholics, to become involved in the Lighthouse Pregnancy Center project,” Salvato said.

Organizers are elated that the $67,000 center, which has been in the works for the last two years, is becoming a reality. Initially, Lighthouse will consist of a temporary modular structure to include a reception area, office, counseling rooms, ultrasound room and a eucharistic adoration chapel.  Eventually, when renovations to a 100-year-old brick house on the property are completed, services will operate from there.

“The mission of Lighthouse is to provide women in crisis pregnancies with emotional, physical and spiritual support while respecting her dignity and that of her unborn child, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church,” Salvato said.

“While this is not an archdiocesan facility,” she emphasized, “Lighthouse has provided continual updates and progress to Archbishop Charles Chaput, and has received his support and blessing, as well as that of Auxiliary Bishop James Conley and that of other archdiocesan entities including Catholic Charities, The Catholic Foundation and the Diaconate Office.”

Bishop Conley affirmed his support.

“With Archbishop Chaput I think the Lighthouse project is an important Catholic initiative,” he said. “I pray for its success.”

The center, which is slated to open in November, will offer pregnancy testing, ultrasound imaging, counseling, adoption referrals and life-skills education, Salvato said. Deacon-Dr. John Volk, a family practice physician in Greeley, will serve as medical director.

“I hope to wear the hats of both deacon and physician to help provide medical and spiritual direction to the project,” he said. “During diaconal formation I received some additional training in bioethics through the National Catholic Bioethics Center and I have also served on the medical advisory board of the Pregnancy Resource Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Greeley. So I hope to bring some of that experience to the project as well.”

The project is being funded through grants, and donations from individuals and parishes. Cost to operate the facility will be $150,000 a year.

“There are several donors who have committed to funding operational costs of the facility,” Salvato said.

This spring, armed with trash bags and rubber gloves, Salvato and volunteers did preliminary clean-up to begin transforming the weedy, unsightly property into a hospitable pregnancy center. Organizers have set the groundbreaking for a fitting Marian feast: the Birth of the Virgin Mary. They eagerly invite both those who have helped the effort and new supporters to the joyful event.

“It will be a celebration of the fruits of the efforts of many wonderful, faithful people who have been involved in the process,” Salvato said. “The journey has had some frustrations, but many more blessings. 

“I envision a beautiful, welcoming building,” she added, “that will stand there as a beacon of hope for those in need of our assistance, love and compassion.”