Diocesan pro-life award recipients announced

The Diocese of Worcester’s annual Mass for Life will be celebrated by Bishop McManus on April 8 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul Cathedral, Worcester. The liturgy will celebrate the feast 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. All are invited.

The Mother Teresa Pro-Life Award, the Ruth Pakaluk Pro-Life Youth 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 Pro-Life Award

Catherine North-Erickson has shown tremendous dedication to the cause of life for many years. She has been a faithful presence at numerous pro-life activities and events including many diocesan sponsored Masses, Pro-Life Mornings of Reflection, and training programs, and her gift of intercessory prayer is offered regularly at 40 Days for Life prayer vigils. Being called to do more to share the Gospel of Life at the local parish level, Mrs. North-Erickson established a Respect Life Ministry at her parish, St. Francis of Assisi in Fitchburg, and brought together people from neighboring parishes for a diocesan-sponsored training to foster a deeper sense of unity and solidarity in engaging in pro-life efforts together in the greater Fitchburg area. Within a short period of time, thanks to her leadership, the group has organized fundraisers for pregnancy help services, coordinated a pro-life table at the St. Francis Festival and shared resources to raise awareness of the Church’s teaching on respect for human life with parishioners. Mrs. North-Erickson’s full-time job as a social worker also demonstrates her love for those most vulnerable where she has been a diligent advocate for the elderly and disabled for many years. She is active in many aspects of parish life including service as a lector, a member of the RCIA team, and a regular participant in Eucharistic adoration. She is a long-time member of the Serra Club North, helping to pray for and accompany seminarians on their journey to priesthood. Like Mother Teresa of Kolkata, she demonstrates heroic witness to human life by “doing little things with great love.”

Deacon David F. Vaillancourt has been a strong pro-life presence for many years, both in his personal commitment and in his diaconal ministry. Most notably, his special heart for the protection of the unborn and their mothers moved Deacon Vaillancourt to attend the March for Life bus trip annually for over 15 years, where he has faithfully served as “bus captain,” uniting the attendees and offering particular assistance to first-time marchers in navigating the trip. He has been a prayerful presence at 40 Days for Life prayer vigils and is a member of the Knights of Columbus assisting in providing ultrasound machines to pregnancy help centers. Ordained a permanent deacon in 2003, his assignments have included many years at St. Stephen Parish, Worcester and currently at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Milford. His ministry of service faithfully demonstrates his witness to life through preaching, teaching, presiding at holy hours, assisting at Mass and bringing holy Communion to the homebound, which are but a few examples of his daily living out of the Gospel call to build a culture of life and a civilization of love to all those in need.

Ruth V.K. Pakaluk Pro-Life Youth Award

Tommy Lamar is a senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, double majoring in aerospace engineering and computer science. He served as the third president of WPI’s Students for Life club and also serves as the Catholic Newman Club president. He is known among his peers as someone with a kind, genuine and self-giving nature that elicits contagious joy. His deep commitment to safeguarding all human life is lived out in many ways. Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Lamar has organized pro-life tables at school events, invited guest speakers to campus, organized fundraisers for local pregnancy help centers and prayer efforts outside of Planned Parenthood, planned the group’s March for Life trip, and led the club’s weekly meetings. He also runs Bible studies, attends daily Mass, helped to introduce overnight adoration for the WPI faith community and is part of the campus Commissioned Discipleship group.

Gospel of Life Award
   
Father Miguel Pagán was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Worcester on June 5, 2004 by Bishop McManus at St. Paul Cathedral. His priestly assignments have included serving as associate pastor of St. Peter Parish, Worcester; St. John, Guardian of Our Lady Parish, Clinton; St. Cecilia Parish, Leominster; Annunciation Parish, Gardner; and St. George Parish, Worcester, as well as administrative and ministerial services to the Spanish Catholic communities at the Holy Trinity Evangelization Center in Leominster and St. Louis in Webster. He has served as director of the diocesan Spanish Apostolate and assistant chaplain at St. Vincent Hospital. He has been pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish, Worcester and St. Denis Parish in Douglas, his current assignment. Father Pagán has been a faithful advocate for life throughout the entirety of his priestly ministry. During his childhood in Puerto Rico, the importance of respect for human life was a central part of family and community life, and as a young man he was deeply influenced by the ministry of St. John Paul II, recognizing that the Holy Father was preparing the faithful to build a culture of life in the face of increasing threats to vulnerable human life. He witnessed the beauty of the imperative to defend life when he first attended the March for Life in Washington, DC during his seminary years. As a priest and pastor of twenty years, Father Pagán has fostered a culture of life and a greater respect for the dignity of the human person throughout many aspects of ministry including in his preaching, teaching, special prayer and devotional efforts for life, ministry to the sick and dying, and much more. He is a faithful witness of living and proclaiming the Gospel of Life with kindness and truth, pastoral sensitivity, and holy zeal.