Calling the annual conference of Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women a providential event on the eve of this week's special election, Cardinal Roger Mahoney encouraged attendees to express their pro-life agenda in the voting booth and society at large.
"We believe in the gospel of life, and we are willing to step forward to help make sure the value of human life is understood, accepted and not violated," said Cardinal Mahony to more than 700 ACCW members gathered Nov. 7 for the 58th annual conference titled "A Time for Awakening" at the Wilshire Grand Hotel & Centre.
"There are many special interest groups that would like the Catholic Church out of anything in which we bring ethical and moral values," said the cardinal. "We are members of society and we have the right to shape those values. And so, we need all of you.
"If we're going to be disciples of Jesus, we need to be courageous, heroic and fearless in bringing God's revealed principles and values to our society and our culture. Otherwise, by default, we slowly lose them all."
The audience clapped their approval when he likened ACCW to the "vanguard" of a big army assembling in support of Proposition 73, the parental notification initiative for minors. The proposition, endorsed by the California Catholic bishops, was one of eight Californians voted on in a special election Nov. 8.
Keynote speaker Lorna Kelly, a British-born Catholic who was Sotheby's first female fine art auctioneer in the U.S., recounted her spiritual awakening after sobriety and highlights of her long friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa.
Raised Catholic in England during the '50s, Kelly said she was aware of church law but didn't have a grasp of what having a relationship with Jesus meant. She experienced an epiphany when a fellow recovering alcoholic and former nun said Jesus must have had to walk in faith --- as we all do --- one step at a time.
In the early '80s, Kelly flew to Calcutta, India, to meet a "living saint," Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charity. "She was so simple, so unassuming," said Kelly, who spent three weeks of her vacation helping out the sisters in their homes for the dying. Mother Teresa, according to Kelly, was intrigued with the stylish westerner and her recovery from alcohol addiction.
Kelly and Mother Teresa struck up a friendship that lasted until the nun's death in 1997. In 2003, Kelly traveled to Rome for Mother Teresa's beatification and has been called as a witness for the nun's canonization. "Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking at a witness to a saint. It's such a privilege to be a small cog in a very big [canonization] wheel," said Kelly.
"I had tears listening to Kelly," said Connie Perales, who was installed as a new ACCW officer at the event. "She talked about so many things, like the virtues of patience."
Outgoing ACCW president Nancy Glenn, who encouraged daily rosary recitation during her term, said it's been a privilege going to all the ACCW district meetings. "It's been two of the most exciting years of my life," said Glenn. |