Detroit — The federal government is pulling back on its conscience protection and medical schools recommend anyone with objections to abortion should not go into obstetrics, says one of the speakers who will take part in a health care conference the end of this month.

Attend it What: Make Straight the pathway-- An Intergrated and Unified Solution for Catholic Healthcare Reform Who: Health care and public policy experts discuss options for reform and obstacles to health care practice according to Catholic teaching When: Thursday-Saturday, March 31 to April 2 Where: St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia, with optional March 31 banquet at Embassy Suites hotel, Livonia How: Conference is $325 for Catholic Medical association members, $350 for non-members; banquet is $75. Request registration form by calling (248)980-8456 or register online.

But Dr. John T. Bruchalski, an obstetrician/gynecologist from Virginia, isn’t just urging action against the impediments to Catholic healthcare professionals following Church teaching, he is also promoting voluntary alternatives to providing care for the poor.

Bruchalski will be one of the speakers at Make Straight the Pathway — An integrated and Unified Solution for Catholic Healthcare Reform, a three-day conference to be held March 31 to April 2 at St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia.

Now a popular pro-life speaker and member of St. Joseph Parish in Herndon, Va., Bruchalski had fallen away from the faith and performed abortions early on during his residency after medical school. But a reconversion experience not only brought him back to the Church, but motivated him to work toward alternatives for young women with problem pregnancies and others who are underserved by the medical system.

His Tepayac Family Center in Fairfax (named for the hill on which Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego) is a group OB/gyn practice that performs more than 700 deliveries a year.

“We have developed a non-profit business model that combines social justice with the Gospel of Life, says Bruchalski of the center, where he and five other doctors work.

It and its parent organization, Divine Mercy Care, which Bruchalski chairs, partner with area problem pregnancy centers.

“We believe we’re not just saving a baby, but transforming a life,” Bruchalski says.

The organizations also reach out to the next generation of physicians through a relationship with Medical Students for Life.

Bruchalski is eager to share his approach with other health care professionals.

“We believe in serving the poor in your community with excellent medicine, and medicine that is congruent with Catholic teaching,” he says.

And he believes that approach is not just good for the poor, but also for the doctors themselves.

“Most doctors are pessimistic, cynical and bitter about what’s happened to their profession,” he says.

“I believe we’ve found a way of recovering the joy that brought them into medicine,” Bruchalski adds.

Fr. Morris is banquet speaker Fr. Jonathan Morris, author and news contributor for Fox News, Fox Business Channel and The Wall Street Journal, will speak at a Friday, April 1, banquet during the three-day Make Straight the Pathway — An integrated and Unified Solution for Catholic Healthcare Reform conference in Livonia. Fr. Morris, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, will speak on “Religious Leaders Validating the Patient Care and Protection Act” at the 6 p.m. banquet at the Embassy Suites hotel, 19525 Victor Parkway in Livonia. Tickets for the banquet are $75, regardless whether one is attending the conference or not, and proceeds will benefit the Christus Medicus Foundation.

The conference will begin at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 31, with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Allen Vigneron in the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel in the Felician Sisters’ motherhouse, followed by a networking reception and welcoming address by David A. Spivey, president and chief executive officer of St. Mary Mercy Hospital.

Besides Bruchalski, among the speakers on Friday, April 1 will be Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, Marie Hilliard of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Paul Long of the Michigan Catholic Conference, Ed Rivet of Right to Life of Michigan, and Sr. Renee Mirkes, OSF, of the Pope Paul VI Institute..

Saturday’s speakers include Gene Diamond, J.D., Northern Indiana  regional chief executive officer for the Sisters of St. Francis Health System; and Leonard J. Nelson III, J.D.,  a professor from the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Ala., among others.