Father Hollowell is keynote speaker at Sanctity of Life Dinner, fundraiser

By Natalie Hoefer

Many people desire to assist in the pro-life movement, but they struggle with knowing where to start or with finding time to take action.

The archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry has a solution: the 2013 Sanctity of Life Dinner and fundraiser from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on March 14 at the Riverwalk Banquet Center and Lodge in Indianapolis, featuring Father John Hollowell as the keynote speaker.

Father Hollowell is a fitting choice as speaker of an event designed to help the archdiocese promote the sanctity of life. The pastor of Annunciation Parish in Brazil speaks out for the sanctity of life frequently and publicly in blogs, articles and at www.YouTube.com.

The theme for the Sanctity of Life Dinner is the “Joy of Chastity.”

In regard to chastity, Father Hollowell says, “If we want to start changing the culture, legislation is important, and so is helping people understand the positive sides of chastity.

“We can’t let people tell the world for us that we think chastity simply involves running around telling people ‘no’—Catholicism and chastity is not a ‘no,’ but a ‘yes’!”

During the evening, raffles will raise funds to help the Office for Pro-Life Ministry accomplish its mission in central and southern Indiana.

That mission includes offering pro-life education and evangelization, giving pastoral care to women and men whose lives have been affected by abortions, and operating the Birthline service that provides crisis pregnancy intervention and material assistance to women and babies living in poverty.

“We do want to raise money for the ministry,” says Patty Arthur, administrative assistant for the Office for Pro-Life Ministry, “but a more important aspect is getting high school youths, seminarians and priests to the dinner to educate them about the pro-life cause.

“For this reason, we keep the cost of registration very low and count on our raffle baskets to help bring in funds over and above the actual cost of the dinner.”

The evening will also include an awards program, recognizing those who have provided outstanding service to the pro-life ministry.

Beverly Jones will receive the Birthline Telephone Volunteer award, and Stephanie Hunter will be recognized for her role as Birthline scheduling coordinator.

An award will be given to Pauline Kattady for her work in post-abortion healing, and Steve and Patty Dlugosz will receive an award for their contributions to Helpers of God’s Precious Infants and to Birthline’s Crisis Pregnancy Intervention.

Everyone is invited to attend the event and to sponsor a teenager, seminarian, priest or religious to attend.

Registration and a cash bar will be available starting at 6 p.m. The dinner, speaker, raffles and awards will take place from 7-9 p.m.

Student tickets are $35, single adult tickets are $45 and married couples can attend for $85.

Special discounted table reservations are also available as follows: 10 adults for $425; 10 adults, including one priest, for $375; 10 teenagers for $325; 10 teenagers, including one priest, for $300.
 

(For more information or to make reservations, contact the Office for Pro-Life Ministry at 317-236-1521 or 800-382-9836 ext. 1521, or e-mail Maria Barnes at mbarnes@archindy.org. Donations to sponsor a priest, seminarian, religious or teen can be mailed to the Office for Pro-Life Ministry at 1400 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.) †