Three women honored by US bishops' 'People of Life' award
Washington D.C., 6 August 2013: Three leaders from diverse fields in the pro-life
movement in the U.S were recognized for their contributions to the movement, receiving
the 2013 People of Life Award for their lifelong dedication.
Frances X. Hogan,
Sister Jane Marie Klein, and Barbara Thorp received the award Aug. 4 at the Diocesan
Pro-Life Leadership Conference, sponsored by the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat on Pro-Life
Activities.
The awards were presented by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop
of Boston. Cardinal O'Malley also serves as chair of the bishops' conference's pro-life
committee.
The award is given annually since 2007 to persons who demonstrate
Blessed John Paul II’s call in his letter “Evangelium Vitae” for the faithful to be
“people of life and for life.”
One of this year's recipients, Frances Hogan,
has upheld the dignity of life through her work as a lawyer and advocate against euthanasia.
Hogan is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and is a co-founder of Women
Affirming Life, a group of Catholic women who displace the dignity of all human life
in their careers, personal lives, and communities.
She has also been a board
member and consultant for various pro-life organizations, including the Pro-Life Legal
Defense Fund, the Value of Life Committee, and the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee.
In
2012, Hogan also helped to guide the Massachusetts Catholic Conference in its defeat
of the 2012 ballot initiative to allow physician-assisted suicide.
Sr. Jane
Marie Klein, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, was recognized
for her health care work and her advocacy for conscience protections. She is a member
of the Board of Trustees for the Franciscan Alliance, a group of Catholic hospitals
and health care facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, and has previously served
as the group’s president.
Sr. Klein has also spoken on the importance of conscience
protections, most notably during her March 2013 presentation on Capitol Hill on the
Health Care Conscience Rights Act, during a press conference on the legislation’s
introduction.
Barbara Thorp has worked in social work and pro-life advocacy
in the Boston area and with the Archdiocese of Boston for 35 years. With the archdiocese,
she helped to start and direct Project Rachel, a post-abortion healing ministry, and
aided pregnant women in crisis situations by managing the Cardinal’s Fund for the
Unborn.
Thorp has also worked on developing end-of-life information for parishes
in the Boston area, and helped organize counseling and support for students and staff
at The Newman School in Boston in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings in April. Source:
CNA/EWTN News