my acceptance speech

People have asked me to share with them the speech I gave today in acceptance of the Arthur A. Herkenhoff Award from Catholic Parents Online. Here it is. I always try to be poignant, thought-provoking and funny when I give a speech. In other words, if I make them laugh and cry, I've done my job!

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This award is special to me because I, too, had a father who stood courageously for life--all of his life. He taught his children that people, not things, are important. He would take us on his daily rounds through St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth. It was his mission every day to visit people he knew and those he didn’t. He would pass out Louis L'Amour western novels that he had found in garage sales or used bookstores. I told him once that women might not like western novels but he just shrugged and kept doing it. Years later, I met a woman who had received one of these books and she told me how much she'd enjoyed reading it. Dad was right. He was ALWAYS right! And, he walked around the abortion clinic in Duluth for years and years, praying the Holy Rosary, entreating women not to go in. And at 80 years old, he was still doing it but it came at great cost to him because of terrible pain due to an infirmity in his feet. Still, he persevered. His example inspires my work at the life care center.

I’ve been blessed to be able to do many things in my life. I will always be grateful because they have been opportunities to grow spiritually. They have also opened doors to meeting wonderful, faith-filled people.

I loved being a participant in new life as I was having and raising my children. Each one of them has taught me unique lessons in love, faith AND a couple of them taught me great patience! And, now, my grandchildren—-my awesome, adorable, magnificent grandchildren!...I doubt I’ve ever known such joy as they bring to me. I tell my daughter-in-law that I TRY to follow the house rules but it’s tough. I have to fight every fiber of my being not to spoil them rotten. I play with them at least one morning every week and one day I brought sugar cookies I’d made and they came running, Nana’s here, Nana...then they saw what was in my hand and cried, “Cookies!” Of course, I gave them each one. Brendan, who was home on vacation that day, chastised me with, “MOTHER, they haven’t had breakfast yet!” I replied, “Oh, Brendan, these are breakfast cookies. Do you want one?” There’s more than one way to get around the parents when you’re the Nana!

To entice whole congregations to pray more fully and sing praises to our dear Lord is my heart’s delight! I think about how the angels surround us at Mass and resolve to always do the very best I can for God’s glory. Now, I’m not perfect at this. An elderly Sister told me that I command people to sing. I told her I didn't think that was necessarily a good thing. I might have to change my approach! AND, I HAVE been known to teach a hymn wrong to entire congregations and have had to re-teach it to them when I realized what I’d done! A lesson in humility! Still, it's awesome to look out into the congregation and see everyone with their hymnals open, ready to sing the next hymn.

Our work at the crisis center can be very challenging. We are fighting a great spiritual war! We work together, we pray together, all to help our clients see the truth about their babies. And, a beautiful thing is men now come to our classes. They, too, want to be good parents.

Recently, a client came for a pg test. It was positive. A few days later, she came in for an ultrasound. A few days after that, the sonographer called her to follow up. Everything seemed fine. She said she had prenatal care lined up. Then, 2 weeks after that, she called after hours and talked with the after hours counselor for an hour, sobbing the entire time. She said everyone in her life wanted her to have an abortion and she just didn’t want to do it. In the end, she promised she wouldn’t have the abortion, which was scheduled the next morning. I called her the next afternoon, praying that she would answer. She did and told me that she had gone to her abortion appointment. She’d walked around for a long time, not going in. Her sister finally told her just to go in, so she did. As she was filling out the paperwork, she knew that she couldn’t go through with it. She walked out and, as soon as she was outside, she looked up and saw a life care center, Highland LifeCare Center. She decided to go in. There, she met with a counselor who told her, as we had, they would help her any way they could. She thanked me for calling and told me she would come in for prenatal classes. I so look forward to meeting her precious child in a few months!

I ask that you pray for us. One Hail Mary each day is all I ask! We need prayer support surrounding us as we fight this battle.

Thank you for this lovely honor. I gratefully accept it for the glory of God. And, I promise I will try very hard to live by the spirit of it all the rest of my life.