St. Joseph’s Centre of Hope for Women has officially moved in just one door down from its previous location, taking up the space previously held by Cabbagetown Women's Clinic, an abortion clinic the centre shared a wall with since early 2023.

Now looking to continue its work of providing non-judgmental, compassionate care to women facing unwanted pregnancies and other difficult situations, Frank E. D’Angelo, president of the non-profit centre, hopes the new space is more than a mere change of address but rather an act of reclamation for hope, healing and life. 

“ When the abortion clinic moved at the tail end of January, one full-time volunteer asked me, ‘Frank, what are we going to do?’ I knew that the only constant is change, and that we were going to have to adapt,” he said. 

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“ I had this thought that we should move into the building next door, and if we move into the abortion room, where somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 babies were killed over the 41 years that different abortionists were there, the least we could do is have a memorial for those babies.” 

D'Angelo shared hopes of hosting a  small daycare in some capacity in the new  centre of life, likely on the first floor. He envisions the site's future, albeit still in its early planning stages, as further creating a renewed spiritual atmosphere in what was a place of despair just a few short months ago. 

“Imagine the beautiful shouts of joy and laughter of the children in the daycare replacing the 50,000 silent screams that happened in that building,” he said. “ We also now do post-abortion counselling, and we hope that some of the mothers who were victims will come back and be guided towards healing, both psychologically and spiritually. 

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"A lot of times, the devil scores an innocent life, and he separates a mother’s soul from their faith. If we can get a mother to come back, go through the post-abortion counselling and get in contact with her faith again, that's a good score.” 

An active pro-lifer for over 40 years, D’Angelo also shared his plans of acquiring a used motor home, which he plans to park in the vicinity of the new abortion clinic in the Coxwell Avenue and Queen Street East vicinity. The motor home, adorned with pro-life signage, is envisioned as a mobile outreach to engage mothers with positive options, as they are now separated by distance from St. Joseph’s. 

In the meantime, D’Angelo told The Catholic Register staff will work to redecorate both the interior and exterior of the centre’s newest location  to make it look more inviting while continuing with the non-profit's post-abortion counselling. 

Even in the mundanity of renovations, his continued and renewed passion for the pro-life message in meeting people where they are with understanding and a solution-driven approach makes the newest stage of the St. Joseph’s Centre, he said, the most meaningful of his four-decade commitment to service.

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“It is, as it has always been, a  privilege to be at the centre no matter the location and to see the goodness in people. This (new stage and model) comes from my heart and soul, and I have honestly never felt this fulfilled in anything that I have done before,” he said. 

“In Matthew 25:40, Jesus is quoted as saying: ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  So I am going to continue to do my best for the least of us, for the preborn.”