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March 18, 2021The Diocese of Worcester’s annual Mass for Life will be celebrated by Bishop McManus on Thursday, March 25, at 12:10 p.m. at St. Paul Cathedral, Worcester. The liturgy will celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, a feast day with special theological significance for the pro-life cause, since it celebrates the moment when God the Son assumed human nature in Mary’s womb.
The Mother Teresa Pro-Life Award and the Gospel of Life Award, given annually to individuals who have shown heroic witness to the intrinsic value of each human life, will be presented at this liturgy.
Mother Teresa Awards
The recipients of the Mother Teresa Pro-Life Award for 2021 are Deacon Kevin and Michelle Deignan and Mary Jo Kriz.
Deacon Kevin and Michelle Deignan have been strong advocates for life for decades. They became involved in the pro-life cause in the 1990s when Planned Parenthood attempted to relocate their abortion clinic from downtown Worcester to Lincoln Street. Thanks to the efforts and leadership of the Deignans,and then-pastor Father Joseph Nally, the parishioners of St. Joan of Arc Parish were mobilized to form the “Lincoln Street Neighbors for Life.” They were joined by the nearby First Assembly of God church in their efforts. Even though Planned Parenthood did eventually move to Lincoln Street, the Deignans and their parish community continued their prayer and witness outside the abortion clinic for many years.
The Deignans have attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C., and participate every year in the national Life Chain on Respect Life Sunday. Deacon Deignan was instrumental in the statewide efforts to bring the Massachusetts Choose Life license plates to fruition. The Deignans’ pro-life convictions extend throughout the life spectrum, as evidenced by their care for their elderly family members, neighbors, and parishioners. Following his ordination to the permanent diaconate in 2011, Deacon Deignan was assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish in Worcester, where his ministry offers “a living witness to the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of human life in his preaching and in so many aspects of parish life,” said Allison LeDoux, director of the diocesan Respect Life Office.
“Through building trusting relationships, Mary Jo has brought hope to many. Even through the difficulties of the pandemic, she has continued to find ways to assist women and their babies, helping them to know they are not alone,” Mrs. LeDoux said.
She has also been a longtime volunteer at Framingham Correctional Institute. As a spiritual counselor, using her knowledge and compassion she has helped many female inmates through the challenges of turning their lives around.
From 2011 to 2017 Mrs. Kriz served as executive assistant to the rector at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, and previously held several positions in the Archdiocese of Boston. She has spent many years working in faith formation and youth ministry, including service at Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Jasna Gora parishes in Clinton, Immaculate Conception Parish in Marlborough, and currently serves as administrator of religious education at her home parish of St. Joseph the Good Provider in Berlin. Her Theology of the Body presentations have been offered in numerous schools and churches in both the Boston and Worcester dioceses.
Mrs. Kriz has organized and traveled with young adults to the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the board of directors for Pure in Heart, an international ministry for pro-life young adults.
Gospel of Life Award
The Gospel of Life Award, presented annually to a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, was inaugurated in 2006 and named with the English title of St. John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, which was issued on the feast of the Annunciation in 1995. The Gospel of Life is known as one of the Church’s most definitive works on the dignity of the human person and on the intrinsic value of each and every human life from conception to natural death.
Msgr. James P. Moroney was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Worcester on June 28, 1980. In addition to his many years of priestly ministry in the diocese, as associate pastor, pastor, and currently as cathedral rector and director of the Office for Divine Worship, Msgr. Moroney has simultaneously held significant positions in the Church both nationally and internationally. In 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed him as a consultor for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He was later appointed by the Holy Father as an adviser to and then executive director of the Vox Clara committee, which advises the Holy See on English translations of liturgical texts.
For 13 years, as executive director of the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., Msgr. Moroney served as author and editor of national resources for the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. He also originated the monthly Intercessions for Life and the Word of Life resources.
During his years as rector of St. John’s Seminary he led an annual pilgrimage of the entire seminary to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
As the current rector of St. Paul Cathedral, Msgr. Moroney integrates the pro-life mission of the Church into all aspects of his ministry and parish life. “He has generously offered annual Pro-Life Mornings of Reflection, helping to foster the most important pillar of pro-life ministry – prayer - as the foundation of all apostolic action,” said Mrs. LeDoux.
