Episode 21 - Lost Fatherhood, Found Purpose with Sean Corcoran

In a culture searching for answers, who is stepping up to guide the next generation of fathers?

This week on Lifeline for Leaders, Kirk and Linda welcome Sean Corcoran, founder of Men for Life, to discuss one of the most overlooked opportunities in life-affirming ministry: engaging men.

While many pregnancy centers focus on supporting women in crisis pregnancies, Sean believes lasting transformation happens when fathers are invited into the conversation. Through Men for Life, he is helping men discover their purpose, embrace responsibility, and become leaders who strengthen families and communities.

In this conversation, Sean shares why fatherhood programs matter, the role mentorship plays in shaping future generations, and practical ways ministries, churches, and nonprofit leaders can better engage fathers.

🎙 In this episode:
✔ Why fatherhood programs are essential
✔ How men can better support mothers and families
✔ Practical strategies for engaging fathers
✔ The importance of mentorship and leadership development

One powerful reminder from Sean: men don't just want to be spectators—they want to be called into meaningful action.

🤝 Connect with Sean Corcoran:
Learn more about Men for Life and their mission to engage, equip, and empower men to become leaders, mentors, and champions for life.

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If this episode encouraged you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone passionate about strengthening families, developing leaders, and advancing life-affirming care.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

If we can agree that we're in a spiritual war and if we can acknowledge that ninety percent of the people fighting this war on the pro life side are women, then if we as men have consigned ourselves to sit back and write checks to fund a war we send our women off to fight, then we are failing in our masculinity.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to Lifeline for Leaders, a podcast created to strengthen and connect those serving in pregnancy care clinics and pro-life ministries. I'm Linda Thomas.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

And I'm Kirk Thomas. Each week we sit down with leaders, ministry partners, authors, and experts who shape the pro-life landscape, sharing practical insights you can use right away, and inspiring stories that remind you you're not walking this journey alone.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Our mission is to help you serve with confidence and resilience. This is your community, your support, your lifeline. Sean Corcoran is an attorney, the CEO of Men for Life, and the father of five children, three of whom joined his family through adoption. After a successful career practicing family law, Sean stepped away from the legal profession to focus on speaking, writing, and advocating for fathers and families. His passion for this work is deeply personal and rooted in experiences that changed the course of his life. Today, Sean joins us to share his remarkable journey and discuss why fathers matter in building a culture of life. All right, Sean, welcome to Lifeline for Leaders.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Hey, Sean. Hey guys, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

It is truly our pleasure. Well, like always, we're gonna lead off with prayer. Kirk, if you would lead us off.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Well, thank you, Linda. I sure will. Heavenly Father, thank you for the power to redeem even our deepest wounds. Help us support mothers, fathers, and families with compassion, courage, and hope, and remind us that no life is beyond your grace. We pray these things in your precious name. Amen. All right, Sean. So I was getting ready for our interview. I was reading a little bit about your story, and I couldn't help but be captivated as to everything that's gone on in your life. So, from you know, troubles early and then uh an addiction and then recovery and then redemption and then a calling to help others. It's just just read like a real movie. So I would love for our listeners uh to hear your story.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

So uh my story as it pertains to to how I kind of got involved in the pro-life movement and men for life started when I was 19 years old. And I was away at college, and my girlfriend at the time came to my room and said that she was pregnant. And, you know, at that time I knew exactly what that meant, right? That meant that there was a baby coming. And so I started talking about and working through all of the ways that this is going to change our lives, the things we are going to need to do because there's a baby coming, not not necessarily out of excitement and not necessarily because I I knew how we were going to handle it, but I knew there was a baby coming and I knew that would change our lives. And, you know, and she stopped me and she said, Well, I'm not gonna have this baby. I'm going to have an abortion. And, you know, this is this is before the internet was what it is today. Um, this is before social media, this is before shouting your abortion. This is when people still had abortions uh in secret and and in the shadows. And and so, you know, while I knew what abortion was, I didn't know anybody that had ever had one, and I didn't know it was something people actually did. And so, you know, I did the best that I could to convince her that it was not the right thing to do to fight for the life of our child. And, you know, at the in the end, I lost. It didn't really matter what I said or what I felt. She was set, this is what she was going to do. And so that's what I was left with in the beginning. And then she started struggling in school. I started struggling in school. And she went and met with a counselor, explained the situation. The counselor said that they were going to help her waive her classes so that her grades wouldn't be affected and she'd be able to continue in school. And she came and told me this. So I went the very next day and I talked to the same exact counselor, and I told her the same exact story. And I said, you know, this is the person you spoke to yesterday. This is the situation that that happened. Um, this is the resolution you came to, and and and I'm the other part of that, and I am struggling as well. And the counselor at that time just said, no, this doesn't affect you, you know, because you're a man. And and so that's what I was left with was the mother of my child telling me that there was nothing that I could do. And the counselor, who really was in a position of authority over me as a 19-year-old young man, telling me that this didn't affect me. So this must not affect me. And and it did affect me. And I ended up sitting in my dorm room for the rest of the semester, failing out of college, and moved home, failed out of another college two more times, began living a life of destructive behavior, at no time recognizing what it was that was causing the feelings that I was trying to cover up with alcohol, drugs, partying women, because I was told that the abortion didn't affect me, so so it didn't connect that that could be what it was. And eight years after the abortion, I was overdosing in a hotel room at the end of a seven-year methamphetamine addiction, homeless, unemployed, and waiting for the police to come and arrest me. And you know, and and by the grace of God, I made it out of that hotel room. I made it into treatment the next day. And in treatment, the counselor, you know, as she's walking me through my life, stopped me and said, Hey, we we should talk about this abortion. And, you know, and as we talked through it, it became very clear that nothing else happened that precipitated the years of negative behavior. You know, I was on an upward trajectory, the abortion happened and I crashed. But while I was in it, I I didn't recognize that because I was very clearly told that this didn't affect me. And there's no men talking about this, right? There was nobody uh that I could look to to say, well, well, this affected him, so maybe it did affect me. And, you know, the counselor helped me to make that connection, helped me to begin that healing process to name my child. I have a son named Michael to um write letters asking for forgiveness from my younger self, asking for forgiveness from Michael, letters of forgiveness to my younger self and to the mother of my child. And it had just begin to heal. But again, you know, the the thing that she didn't tell me was, you're not the only man that has dealt with this, that has felt this way. And so I still internalized it um for quite some time. I left treatment. I went back to college, um, I went to law school, I married the woman I'd been pursuing for seven years, and uh, we started a family, I started a law firm, and uh we had two children, we adopted three more. And then during that period, it was about another eight years after treatment, that I was on a retreat, and all these men were sharing these stories of just the hardest things that they'd ever gone through, whether it was, you know, by their design or things that had happened to them. And what I noticed in that retreat was that regardless of what they said, they weren't being met with judgment, they were being met with grace. And so I just really felt pulled that I could share my own story and again not be met with judgment, but met with grace. And so I just unloaded everything, you know, all of the negative behaviors, the abortion. I just like let everything out. And I was, I was met with grace, and it was very cathartic and healing. But really, what was the most powerful about that experience was that after I shared, I had three different men come up to me privately and say, I've never told anybody this, but 20 years ago, 30 years ago, you know, I I lost a child to abortion. And whether they fought against it like I did, or whether they they pushed for it or or there was coercion involved, they had this overwhelming sense of grief, of shame, of guilt, of regret, you know, and I think that really stems from the recognition that we as men are designed to protect. You know, we were created by God to protect, to provide, to lead, to serve, and and to leave a legacy that honors God. And the recognition that we failed to protect our own child is incredibly hard. You know, and and I'll get comments sometimes on social media, especially. How could you feel such an overwhelming sense of loss of a child that you never met? Right. And and they're not worded as nicely as that. But that's not the issue, right? The issue is I was completely emasculated at that moment because I knew that my role as a man was to protect my child. And I was told that I couldn't do that. And that is where uh the overwhelming sense of of grief and regret and shame and guilt comes from. And so when I realized that by me sharing, it opened the door for other men to begin healing. I saw that as a call from God to share anytime that I was asked. And so I started sharing, you know, here and there at small pro-life functions. And then in 2021, I looked at my family and realized that that as hard as I worked in my career, it was taking me away from being a present husband and a present father. And those were the only things I ever wanted out of life. And so I saw that as, you know, God saying, Hey, this isn't where I want you right now. And so I didn't really know what I was gonna do next, but I knew that wasn't it. And so I uh stopped taking clients in 21. I stopped practicing I shut down my office in 22. I would say about a week after I shut down my office, I'm I think I posted that on Facebook, Men for Life started asking me if I would come and run the organization. That was not on my radar. You know, I think the the popular way to say it now is that was not on my bingo card. You know, is so I said no, like emphatically, no. There is no way you are going to get me to go run a not go run a not profit because I don't know how to do that, and I have an idea how much you want to pay me, and I've got five little kids, so so that's not where God is calling me. And and and and I fought it for two years before God very clearly showed me that that is exactly where he was calling me. And so in August of 2024, I took over as CEO of of Men for Life. Men for Life's been around since 2018. And I took over as CEO of Men for Life in August of 2024.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Why is it that men are being ignored?

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Well, you know, I think it's I think it's by design. You know, you know, I think it's by design of the enemy. I think that an attack on the family is an attack on God, right? And in the how do we attack the family? We separate the union between God and man and woman, and it goes all the way back to the garden. You know, that was the very first thing when we encounter Satan in the garden. The very first thing he does is separate the union between God and man and woman. And so, you know, if we just go back to um versus Wade, you know, we've had for 53 years very strong messaging from the opposition that this is a women's issue, men need to sit down, meaning men need to shut up. This we don't have anything to say about this. This is about bodily autonomy, women's health, you know, all the things that it's not about. And at the same time, the pro-life movement was so hyper-focused on babies and on mothers, you know, as it should have been, uh, that we've got one side saying, sit down and shut up, the other side not saying anything. And so men just sat down and shut up. And and look, that's a failure of masculinity, you know, to see evil that is affecting society and to accept silence and passivity in the face of that evil. So I'm not blaming, you know, it was never up to the women who were running the pro-life movement for 53 years to call men to action. It was up to the men to see that evil and to stand up and fight. But that is what happened, you know, and we even see it today in the pro-life movement or on the pro-life side, you know, there's a there's a Gallup poll from from June of last year that that showed that 54% of men in America identify as pro-life. You know, but where are they? Right, they're they're not actively pro-life, you know, and I think that what's happened is that men, by and large, who who identify as pro-life, who can easily say, I don't believe that it's right to kill an innocent baby, you know, and can easily say, this isn't a women's issue. This is about saving babies and not killing innocent babies, have allowed it to become a women's fight. And so that is that is really where I feel like God is leading me and leading men for life is to get those men up, you know, off the sidelines, because this isn't a women's fight. This is a societal fight. This is a human fight. This is a spiritual war. And so it is more than necessary for men to stand up and and to do something. But to your question, I think that it's just the messaging was very effective. You know, the messaging against men was very effective. And you can see it today in anger and hate and vitriol towards men who speak for life. And honestly, I think a lot of men have kind of decided, hey, you know, I'll just write the checks to support the pro-life movement. But I don't really want to be standing somewhere and have people tell me that I just want to force 10-year-old rape victims to have birth, right? And because that's a hard conversation to have. And again, taking the easy route is not masculinity. Like taking the easy route, like being being a human is hard. I don't want to separate men and women right now, but being a man is hard. Like you have to do hard things. You know, you have to do what's right because it's right when it's right, regardless of the strongest opposition. And I think, you know, we have lost because of the fatherlessness epidemic. We have lost the drive in so many men and the understanding, the mentorship that is required for young men to know that, that men have just lost that sense of drive and that sense of, I am gonna do the right thing because it's the right thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Maybe to switch gears a little bit, Sean, just to talk about, you know, there's a lot of pregnancy care center leaders that are listening to this podcast. And when I work with a new prospect, a pregnancy care center, we, you know, we talk about their services and their programs they offer. And we get down to, you know, you offer a fatherhood program. And, you know, some of them will say, you know, you know, most of them will say yes, but we're having a hard time getting it off the ground. What would you suggest to them on how they can improve that program and bring more people into it and make it a success, you know, just as much as the other parts of their services they offer?

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Yeah, I think I think it's two different levels. I I think the first level is how do we, how do we design a program that is appealing to the young men, right? That competes against the world for for their attention. And then the second is how do we get them in our community to facilitate this program and to mentor these young men? And so to the first question, you know, I think that look, and there's great, great people doing great work in this, but if we go historically, I I think that fatherhood programs were designed for pregnancy centers by the women, you know, who were running the pregnancy centers and running the other private life organizations that were serving the pregnancy centers. And they were created almost as uh parenting classes, right? And look, all that's important. Learning how to change a diaper is important, learning how to bottle feed and swaddle is important. None of it's hard. You know, I learned how to change a diaper on a moving baby in a hospital, you know, while he was peeing on me. Like it, and so you then you have to change it again. And and I was capable of doing that. But that's what we need to hit is that capability, the confidence issue, how to be a man. And I think that if what you're selling, and and and I I use the word sell uh often because I think that that everything that we're doing is is selling in in the sense that we're trying to sell this to gain the attention of the the client over whatever it is that he has on his mind right now. You know, if what you're selling is how to change a diaper on a doll for a baby that's gonna be here in 26 weeks with a woman you're not in a relationship with to a 19-year-old man, you're not gonna get his attention. Like that that is not gonna compete with video games and you know, and I don't know, whatever else he might be doing. So I would say that where we can look at at what's going on in this country, especially, and really see the data outside of just me saying this is young men are hungry for something more, right? They are hungry for a greater purpose, you know. That is also a product of of the fatherlessness epidemic, you know, and whether that means dad wasn't present or dad was just like not mentally present, right? Wasn't intentional. And so they just don't know how to be a man. They don't know what their purpose is. They don't, and they hear people like Andrew Tate and Dan Bill Jerry and, you know, and these guys that came out on the forefront of the masculinity conversation, but in a way that was in many cases anti-woman, in many cases very self-serving masculinity and and hedonistic, right? And in and all about what can I do for myself to make myself appear a certain way and acquire certain things, so that people who like that appearance and those things will then like me, which is all fake, right? But the way that they did it spoke to that desire of these young men for something greater. And so they became super popular, you know, and they get they they built these huge followings. And what we can take from that is that the hunger was there and the drive to find it was there. And so if we can fill that need with authentic masculinity, if we can fill that need with helping them to find a greater purpose than themselves and giving them the confidence in life to be a man, and sometimes it just takes um mentorship, you know, and look, the qualification to be um a mentor for for a young man who's never had that is is not like super high. You don't have to go to classes. Like you take your own wins and and losses in life and share them and how you have prevailed. Share what it is that you're doing to serve, you know, the greater good or serve your family. And that's where it all starts. And so I think that is where pregnancy centers who have struggled to get client engagement, like to get the client engaged, are missing the boat. And I don't put it on them because they were, they were taking the resources that existed. And women, from the conversations that I've had with with hundreds of pregnancy centers at this time, the women who are running these pregnancy centers are very, very well aware that they are not best positioned to teach young men how to be men. And so that kind of goes to the second point, which is, you know, we need men from the community to mentor these young men. And look, it's not as hard as I think people are making it. And I know this now because I have yet to speak at a pregnancy center banquet where where they did not then have a dozen men volunteer to help them with a with a fatherhood program, whether they had one or not. I had one pregnancy center that uh I didn't even know I was speaking. I wasn't invited to speak, I was invited to come as a to attend. And then she said, uh, hey, I'm gonna give you three minutes to get up there and talk about men for life. So three minutes. Like I said two things. Sixteen men went to her and volunteered for a fatherhood program that didn't exist yet. Like good men want to do stuff, like they want to help. Men have been going to pregnancy center banquets for decades and not being called to action. Right? They've been they've just been showing up and writing the checks, you know, and and look, and one of the things that I say all the time is, you know, if we can agree that we're in a spiritual war and if we can acknowledge that 90% of the people fighting this war on the pro-life side are women, then if we as men have consigned ourselves to sit back and write checks to fund a war, we send our women off to fight, then we are failing in our masculinity. And I think that that is a big calling. And I think that men, that's not like men don't want to just write checks. They've only been asked to write checks. And so I think that that calling them to action, but calling them to action based upon a deeper sense of purpose in themselves, to relay that deeper sense of purpose to the next generation really gets to the heart of something that that calls. To men. I think all men want to help build other men. That's why, you know, dad's coach, right? Like we want to help teach the next generation how to be. And so it may be just a function of having the right message, you know, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that now is the time. Like, like even if five years ago before I was involved in this, maybe it wasn't, I don't know, maybe it wasn't the right time to call men to action in this, but now for sure is. I think that there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that I can give to support that. I think that you you just have to ask, but I think you have to have something, you know. And I'll be honest, that is something that I found. Um I I had no idea how effective the messaging was going to be when I started doing this. And after several banquets, and like I said, dozens of men coming up and saying, What can I do? I recognized that I was doing a really good job of calling men to action without give without giving them something, you know, and you lose that momentum. And so I think that there should be a framework at least of a fatherhood program. You know, I'm working really hard, and I'll be honest, it's way harder than I expected it to be to create a fatherhood program for pregnancy centers. And when I say it's hard, it's just, you know, I've got five kids, I've got a wife, and I've got as of now, I'm speaking to 12,000 people this year at different events. So so the travel and all that has just made it time consuming as far as putting this together, but it is coming and it is based upon the foundations of biblical masculinity. So there are things that currently exist. You know, I know you guys have interviewed Andrew. I think that that even a fatherhood program based, you know, in the beginning just on his book, um, Hero, Ghost, Villain, is an amazing start. You know, if you were to take that book and it's an easy book and uh and it's got it's got questions already built in at the end, you know, the chapters are short, but direct and effective. And so even if you took those, I think there's nine chapters, and said, Hey, we're gonna do a nine-week fatherhood program based upon this, you know, that that's an easy way to pull someone in and say, Hey, come help us with this. And and I think the other thing is, you know, we know from the Vitay Foundation that 97% of men who see an ultrasound and complete a fatherhood program choose life. And and to my knowledge, that's higher than any number of women. And so I think that fatherhood program is is immensely important and it doesn't have to be overwhelming, you know. But if the issue is, hey, I've got a couple of men who want to help, but they don't know what to do, I think Andrew's book is a great place to start.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

So here's another the promotion. I just want to make sure that the listeners who want to get his book available on Amazon. It's a hero ghost villain by Andrew Woods.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

I was actually talking to Jenny at ABBA Center in Maine, and she was raving about how you're, you know, I mean, that you presented at their annual banquet and how well it went and how well you received.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

I get really excited when I found out that we raised, you know, 150% of last year. Like, like that is a goal that I have for every event. And and I don't know, that might be an ego thing that I need to deal with, but it's just fun. I like that because it's not me. Like, you know, I started this in in August of 24 and did nothing. I had no opportunity for the first year and a half, you know, and God, so God, and I'm not special, like God is just working, you know, there's no way I should be speaking to 12,000 people this year. And, you know, because it's not my message, right? It's God's message at the time that He is ready for people to receive it. And and so it's it's exciting to see how well it is received and how um how excited the men are, man. Like, like men just for for so long have from what they tell me, you know, it's usually just hey, thank you for speaking to the men. I've been coming, you know, since I married my wife, and and nobody's ever spoken to the men. And it's because they they want more. And when I say they want more, I mean they want to do more, but they just have to be asked.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

All right, Sean. So if you could offer one lifeline to our listeners, some practical takeaway that they might be able to put to practice this week, something something simple. What do you think it might be?

SPEAKER_02 26:54

I think I think it would be Joshua 1-9. I think it would be uh, you know, be strong and courageous, have no fear, you know, because I am with you. I think that a lot of times in the pro-life movement and arguments, especially or the debate, you know, we are met with such strong opposition. And to the point of, I saw something that Lydia, Lydia Taylor Davis put out yesterday, um, where she was speaking on a campus, and they literally surrounded her, yelling at her and and throwing water at her. And it's easy to say, man, I don't want to put up with that. And most of us will never have to deal with that, but just, you know, in our workplace, in a normal conversation, to not hide our belief, you know, and I think that's the the most simple place that most of us are going to encounter that is when we hear someone expressing their belief for why abortion is acceptable or okay or even um or even a great thing, to avoid it is not courageous, you know, to avoid it comes from fear. And I think that we should be bold and we should be strong and we should be courageous and speak the truth, you know, and that's the thing. Because we're grounded in the truth with God at our backs, it it doesn't matter what the opposition says. And so that would be the one thing that I would call on the listeners uh to do as we move forward, you know, through this week is you know, if you have an opportunity to share why you're pro-life, um, don't be scared. You know, share it because that is leading everyone that hears you, even if they don't agree with you. And, you know, and especially the next generation, especially our kids, you know, if we are silent in the face of evil, in the face of opposition, they see that silence, and that is what they are going to do next. But if we are bold and if we are willing to speak truth, then they see that and they will be willing to do the same. And so, so that's what I would call people to do.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Sean, thank you so much for being with us today. Your story reminds us that fathers matter, that healing is possible, and that God can bring purpose from even the deepest loss. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us today. And till the next time, keep leading with courage and compassion. Thanks for joining us today on Lifeline for Leaders. If today's episode was meaningful, feel free to share it with someone who might benefit. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Remember, you don't have to walk this mission alone. We're honored to walk alongside you.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

See you next time.