PROVIDENCE — While the format for this year’s Human Life Guild Day will be different from the daylong events of previous years as the pandemic continues, it promises to be a very impactful event for all in attendance.
“Instead of a day of speakers we have combined the annual Human Life Guild Mass with the diocese’s 150th anniversary program, which features pro-life speaker Gloria Purvis at McVinney Auditorium immediately afterward, which I think makes a for beautiful day,” said Lisa Cooley, coordinator of the diocesan Office of Life and Family.
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin will celebrate the 9:30 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul and will also serve as homilist.
Four individuals will be honored with the Human Life Guild Award following the Mass: Joseph Lofgren, of St. Luke Parish; Caroline Dooley, of St. Barnabas; Zofia Grzegorzewsa, of St. Philip; and Mia Biagetti, of St. Luke.
“It is important for people to attend this Life Mass not only to pray for Life, but to also recognize people who over the past year, even with the Covid pandemic ongoing, who have continued to build a Culture of Life here in Rhode Island,” Cooley said.
Following the Mass, at McVinney Auditorium, Purvis will deliver a talk on “Born and Unborn: The Integrity of the Human Person in the Womb and Society.”
Purvis, a graduate of Cornell University, is now a full time stay-at-home mother and consultant for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty, having previously worked for nearly two decades in the mortgage industry before becoming a risk management director at a major financial services company.
She is currently the creator, host and executive producer of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast” in collaboration with America Media. The podcast discusses current news and complex issues at the intersection of church and society and creates space for those voices and perspectives not often given a platform.
She is dedicated to promoting the sanctity of human life, marriage, and the dignity of the human person.
She is the creator and host of the EWTN TV series, “Authentically Free at Last,” which deals with the modern challenges to the expression and understanding of authentic human freedom, and has appeared in various media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, PBS Newshour, Catholic Answers Live, and EWTN News Nightly, and hosted Morning Glory, an international radio show. She is Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic of the Year for 2020.
Purvis served on the National Black Catholic Congress’ Leadership Commission on Social Justice, and as an Advisory Board member on the Maryland Catholic Conference’s Respect for Life Department as well as the Archdiocese of Washington’s Pastoral Council.
Purvis has also taught Natural Family Planning and helped prepare engaged couples for marriage as a member of a Pre-Cana team in the Archdiocese of Washington.
She can be followed on Twitter @Gloria_Purvis and Instagram @iamgloriapurvis and her podcast is available on Apple, Amazon, Google, Spotify, among other outlets.
For more information, or to register for Purvis’ presentation, visit www.dioceseofprovidence.org/events/gloria-purvis.
