Catholic Life Network fundraiser
set for March 4

By Mary Ann Wyand

“The Triumph of Mary’s Pro-Life Heart” is the topic of Father Thomas Euteneuer’s keynote address for the second annual Catholic Life Network dinner on March 4 in downtown Indianapolis.

Father Euteneuer is the president of Human Life International, the world’s largest pro-life and pro-family organization, which is based in Front Royal, Va.

He will discuss the Marian core of the pro-life movement and how people can cooperate with Mary in defeating the culture of death in contemporary society.

Servants of the Gospel of Life Sister Diane Carollo, director of the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry, said proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit the Catholic Life Network’s mission of promoting the sanctity of life and the teaching mission of the Catholic Church in central and southern Indiana.

Sister Diane said the archdiocesan pro-life office, Gabriel Project and Catholics United for the Faith (CUFF) formed the Catholic Life Network two years ago.

Father Frank Pavone of Staten Island, N.Y., the founder and president of Priests for Life, was the keynote speaker for the network’s first pro-life fundraisers held in Indianapolis and Columbus last year.

The fundraiser begins at 6 p.m. on March 4 with a reception at the Radisson Hotel, 31 W. Ohio St., in Indianapolis. Dinner starts at 7 p.m.

During the program, Catholic Life Network awards will be presented to five women and one family from parishes in central Indiana for their distinguished volunteer service to the cause of life.

Award recipients include St. Monica parishioner Jeannette Andrews of Indianapolis, who will be honored for her years of post-abortion reconciliation ministry as a Rachel’s Companions facilitator, as well as longtime Birthline volunteers Rosalind Mitchel, a member of Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis, and Libby Thomas, a member of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis.

Receiving awards for their longtime volunteer service to the Gabriel Project in Indiana, which helps mothers experiencing difficult pregnancies, are St. Joseph parishioner Gloria Lieb of Indianapolis, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner Michele Neely of Carmel, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, and Michael and Lourdes Padilla and their children, Mikey, Mariel and Daniel, who are members of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus.

During a pro-life seminar on Oct. 15 at the Marian Center in Indianapolis, Father Euteneuer noted that “the greatest power that we have in the Church is our spiritual and moral authority.”

Father Euteneuer said “theologians say that all grace … comes from the death of Jesus Christ. It flows out of Calvary. And our Lady is standing there at the foot of the cross. She has often been called the mediatrix of all graces, not because she is the source of grace, but because she is standing there from which all the graces flow—the font—and she mediates that grace to us.

“So from the center of the world, the center of all history, the center of all time, flows all that grace from the summit of a mountain called Calvary,” he said, “and it is to Calvary that we must go if we are members of the pro-life movement.”

(For more information or to purchase tickets, call the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry at 317-236-1569 or 800-382-9836, ext. 1569, by Feb. 23. Tickets for the dinner are $35 a person. Tables for 10 are available. Parishes may purchase nine tickets and receive one free ticket for their pastor or associate pastor.) †