August 25, 2010

Serra Club to honor Father Lally, Sister Panisko

Denver Catholic Register

This year’s honorees for the annual Serra Salute for Vocations will be a parish pastor and a former school principal.

The popular annual Serra Salute is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Pinehurst Country Club in Denver.  Honorees will be Father Martin Lally, pastor of Queen of Peace Parish in Aurora, and Sister Jean Panisko, S.C.L., former principal of Annunciation School in Denver. 

Father Patrick Dolan, pastor of Most Precious Blood Parish in Denver, will be the master of ceremonies. The evening will include a reception followed by dinner and program. 

The event benefits the Serra Trust Fund for Vocations, which aids men in priesthood formation at the Denver Archdiocese’s two seminaries—St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary—along with women in formation for religious life, via grants for medical and dental work, emergency airline fares, books and priestly clothing.  Serra International is recognized by the Holy See as the global lay apostolate for vocations in the Catholic Church.

Father Lally is a native of Denver. He likes to say he grew up “in a small town in the middle of a big city,” to describe his childhood experience of being surrounded by family.  He credits his family with helping him to understand the Church—the community of the children of God—as a family.

Ordained for the Archdiocese of Denver in 1978, Father Lally served as assistant pastor at the Denver parishes of Presentation of Our Lady and later at St. Catherine of Siena.

Pastoral duties have taken him to the parishes of Cure d’Ars in Denver, Holy Cross in Thornton, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Northglenn and since 2001, Queen of Peace in Aurora.

For nearly three decades, Sister Jean Panisko, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., oversaw Annunciation School as principal. Under her leadership, the inner-city school provided quality Catholic education to high risk students at an affordable price through philanthropic support. When she left this spring, she told the Denver Catholic Register that she would miss the students greatly but was also looking forward to her new role as treasurer for her order.

“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “But I am excited about the new and different challenge.”

A native of Butte, Mont., Sister Panisko began her career in education teaching third graders in Chicago, Ill.  She moved to Grand Junction, Colo., in 1974 where she taught first grade. In 1981 she moved to Denver to take over as Annunciation principal. She assumed her new position with her order in Leavenworth last month.

The Pinehurst Country Club is located at 6255 W. Quincy Ave.  Reception begins at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m.  Tickets for the event are $75 per person. Table sponsorships are available for $1,200 for a table of 10.  Reservation deadline is Sept. 15. Call 303-671-3012 for more information.

SERRA SALUTE FOR VOCATIONS

What: annual benefit dinner
When: 6 p.m. Sept. 24
Where: Pinehurst Country Club
Tickets: $75 per person
Information: call 303-671-3012