Proverbs 29:18 says, “Without a vision, the people perish…” As a young woman, with a fresh commitment to Faith and a desire to seek God’s purpose for her life, Angela Kristan was encouraged to pray and journal about God’s vision for the future. Having exchanged a thin, romantic version of marriage and family life for one more complete and profound, she dreamt about building a center that would help cultivate and sustain the family. She sketched into a spiral notebook the vision for a family life center. Such a center would include primary care medicine. It would need to have counseling resources and a place to learn methods of fertility appreciation. The center would serve the vast needs of the family, from womb to tomb. Fundamental to the center, would be the recognition that the human person flourishes within the communion of the family. The need for family is intrinsic, stamped into the deep recesses of the human heart. A thriving healthcare center would need to embrace the truth that healing and restoring the person is contingent upon satisfying this need for communion. The medical center would need to take the shape of a medical home.

Angela Kristan’s dream began as a young woman in her native Oklahoma. As it turns out, God had planted a similar dream in the hearts of His children in Rochester, New York. After years of prayer, patience, and faith, the miracle of this center began to take shape in August 2023 with the purchase of the space at 1880 East Ridge Road with the help of faithful benefactors who felt a calling to invest in the mission, making the dream of a Catholic Healthcare Center a reality.