Record-breaking Crowd Attends Dinner for Life

Abortion and vocation crises are linked, says guest speaker Kimberly Hahn.

With 425 satisfied dinner-goers attending this year's Dinner for Life, February 6, Sacred Heart's seminarians beat last year's attendance by over one hundred. The annual event is organized entirely by seminarians who also do all the cooking and serving. It is now in its sixth year with ticket sales rising with each year.

All donations to the Dinner for Life go to support pro-life charities. This year's dinner raised over $11,000, which will be donated by the seminarians to Project Hope, a right-to-life outreach of Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan.

The event opened with a Mass at 6:00 PM, celebrated by Archbishop Allen Vigneron in Sacred Heart's main chapel. Guest then moved into the gymnasium where seminarians served a fish and pasta dinner. After dinner, attendees enjoyed an address by noted Catholic apologist, author, and conference speaker Kimberly Hahn.

Ms. Hahn spoke with conviction about our culture's ignorance of how easily abortion could be avoided and about the failure to understand what joy each new life brings. She called on attendees to join their prayers for vocations to prayers for life. We have helped to create a vocation crisis, she said, linking the two issues, because statistically the culture has aborted many potential priests and religious.

Seminarians John Carlin (Archdiocese of Detroit) and Bryan Kassa (Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas) spoke about how the pro-life movement has bolstered their vocations to the priesthood. Carlin said that even without legal abortion there still would be a purpose for having the March for Life in Washington, D.C., each year. The march would continue to be a way to celebrate life and glorify God.