Thank You for Your Support of the 2023 Bishop's Pro-Life Rose Dinner

2023 Bishop’s Pro-Life Rose Dinner Held with Sold-Out Crowd

     
     The 2023 Bishop's Pro-Life Rose Dinner was held August 19th and welcomed a sold-out crowd of over 300 people to the Dream Castle Event Venue in Broussard. Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel spoke about the importance of seeing the dignity in every human life. He also thanked the Champion of Life award recipients and everyone present for their work in the pro-life movement. The 2023 Champion of Life award recipients were: Suzanne Babineaux, Penny Chavis, Lynette Fontenot (award accepted by her husband Matthew), and David & Robin Roy. Bishop Deshotel expressed the importance of continuing pro-life efforts.
      "I know we all rejoiced and were very hopeful with the Dobbs decision and overturning of the laws of abortion nationally. All they did really was return it to the states and let the states make the decision. So, we still have a lot of work to do to keep up the theme and really the gospel of life in our society today. We see tragically every day attacks on human life, mass shootings at schools, shopping malls, churches. We can make laws every day, and there are laws already to prevent these things, but until we change the mentality and the realization of the sacredness of human life these atrocities will keep going on in our society. So that's where we come in to be promoters of the sanctity of human life, but also to be supporters of women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies...My favorite quote from St. John Paul II is that when human life at its most vulnerable stages, at the womb of the mother and also at the end of life, becomes threatened it's not long before life at every stage is threatened. How prophetic he was... So keep up the good work. Keep up the prayers."
     Lake Charles native, Sean Corcoran, shared his testimony of losing his son, Michael, to abortion when he was 19 years old.
     "It is necessary for men and fathers who have been impacted by abortion to be empowered to speak out and share their stories," Corcoran said. "These may be men like me who have lost a child of their own. They may be grandfathers of aborted children, uncles, or current husbands of women who have felt the pain of abortion in their own lives. I hope to empower men to speak out."
      Sean went on to encouraged fathers to make fatherhood a priority in their lives and he shared his family's story of adopting three children.
   "All pro-life men and women have some degree of obligation to support adoption. Certainly not everyone is in a position to adopt, but everyone in this room is in a position to support adoption in some way."
       The evening continued with speeches from Rachel Washington, a client advocate from A Pregnancy Center & Clinic and the 2023 Pro-Life Oratory Contest winner, Court Keeton. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors and supporters of the Bishop's Pro-Life Rose Dinner, all six pregnancy centers in the diocese, as well as, the Pro-Life Apostolate, will receive funds to continue their life-saving services.
       To be placed on the email list for sponsorships and tickets for the 2024 Bishop’s Pro-Life Rose Dinner & Awards, please email bishopsdinner@diolaf.org.