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Local woman honored for years of pro-life ministry
By Julie Filby
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Photo by James Baca/DCR |
For more than 20 years Mimi Eckstein has defended the fundamental right to life.
On Aug. 8 at the annual diocesan pro-life directors’ meeting in Atlanta, she was honored for her commitment to the pro-life movement with a 2011 People of Life Award from the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-life Activities.
Eckstein, who has served as director of the Gabriel House crisis pregnancy center in Denver since January, started her pro-life vocation in the Denver Archdiocese in 1989 as director of the Respect Life Office.
“I feel honored and privileged to have received this award,” Eckstein told the Denver Catholic Register. “The staff of the secretariat has been a source of inspiration and guidance to me and to the Archdiocese of Denver during my tenure in the Respect Life Office.”
During her time as director, she led legislative efforts to keep the euthanasia ban in place in Colorado, intervened to redirect a comprehensive sex education bill, worked on a maternal drug abuse bill, developed many educational programs and symposiums—including the annual Gospel of Life conference, and coordinated a 2008 prayer vigil of 5,000 people outside Denver’s Planned Parenthood facility that gained national media attention.
Eckstein also brought Project Rachel, a post-abortive ministry, and the Gabriel Project to the archdiocese—in 1991 and 2001 respectively.
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UPCOMING EVENT: On Sept. 3, Father Felix Medina-Algaba, pastor of St. James Church in Denver, will bless a statue of the Blessed Mother and a Mary Garden at the Gabriel House. All are invited to attend this event in thanksgiving to the Blessed Mother for her guidance and care for mothers, children and volunteers of the Gabriel House.
Date: Sept. 3 |
“The Gabriel House has brought the Church to the most-needed place in caring for vulnerable women and children,” said Eckstein, who is an adoptive mother herself. “It shows the Church says ‘yes’ to life, but can also meet people where they are and assist to sustain families in times of need.”
The ministry has provided material, emotional and spiritual support to more than 800 families this year, and hundreds of others since opening. A second Gabriel House is expected to open at 2885 Aurora Ave. in Boulder in coming months.
Jonathan Reyes, executive director of Social Ministries, the office that oversees the Gabriel House, praised Eckstein’s years of service.
“Mimi is one of those special people in the pro-life movement,” he said. “She’s defended life for a long period of time and is always coming up with unique and creative ways to continue to do so. The Gabriel House is one way, and it’s just one of the many things she’s done.”
Reyes said the award from the bishops is well-earned and called Eckstein a “hero in the pro-life movement.”
“She’s one of those big-hearted people that has compassion for everyone, no matter what their circumstances are,” he said. “There are people alive today because of the work she’s done, and people whose lives are better.”
Eckstein was quick to share the credit for the award.
“I feel this award is not only for me personally, but for all those I have worked alongside the last 20 years,” she said. “I’m grateful to my family, my Catholic education—and most importantly to Archbishop Chaput, the pro-life workers in the parishes, and the staff of the USCCB Pro-life Secretariat in Washington.”
She’s also grateful for their encouragement.
“They’ve provided me the inspiration to stay with the work, especially in difficult times,” she said. “Pro-life work isn’t easy nor will it be easy; therefore my prayer life and trust in God’s will and providence has become much stronger.”
Two others were honored with People of Life Awards this year: Magaly Llaguno of Miami, Fla., and Dr. Joanne Angelo of Boston. Since the program’s inception four years ago, 14 recipients have been honored.
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