WASHINGTON, DC – The Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life, one of the largest student-run pro-life conferences in America, will host prominent religious leaders, academics, and activists to discuss life issues at Georgetown University on January 23, 2011.

The highlight of the conference will be the panel "Building a Culture of Life Today: Learning from the Life and Legacy of Cardinal O'Connor," moderated by the Rev. Joseph Koterski, S.J., a member of University Faculty for Life's Board of Directors and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University.

The panel will include Professor Helen Alvaré of George Mason University School of Law, former Director of Planning and Information for the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities; Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, S.V., Superior General of the Sisters of Life; Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus; and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore.

Another highlight of the conference will be a breakout session entitled, "The Cardinal's Mind on Abortion: As Seen in the Major Events of the Episcopacy of John Cardinal O'Connor," led by the Rev. Charles Connor, Assistant Professor of History and Theology at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Other breakout session speakers include the following: Thomas Brejcha, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society; Cat Clark of Feminists for Life; Catherine T. Coyle, Co-Director of the Alliance for Post-Abortion Research and Training; the Rev. Stephen Fields, S.J., Associate Professor of Theology at Georgetown University; the Rev. Kevin T. FitzGerald, S.J., the David Lauler Chair for Catholic Health Care Ethics at Georgetown University; Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor-at-large of National Review Online; Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute; Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland, Vice President for Catholic Identity and Mission and Professor of Christian Ethics at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

In the afternoon, Lila Rose, Founder and President of Live Action, will deliver the keynote address.

His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, will celebrate the annual Mass for Life in the Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart at 6:30 p.m. the evening before the conference.

The first conference took place in 2000 and was later renamed in honor of Georgetown graduate John Cardinal O'Connor, the late Archbishop of New York. Cardinal O'Connor was renowned for his courage as a champion of the unborn. The conference seeks to continue his defense of the sanctity of life. It is sponsored by Georgetown University Right to Life and the Georgetown chapters of the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters of the Americas, and University Faculty for Life.

Additional information and online registration is available on the conference's website, www.cardinaloconnorconference.com.