MERRILLVILLE – Adoption was shown to be the “loving option,” through prayer, story and musical performances on April 19 at the Annual Lake County Right to Life hosted at the Avalon Manor Banquet Center.
More than 500 people attended the fundraising dinner, a crowd that reflected a wide range of ages and backgrounds and had an ecumenical composition, with Catholic and Protestant Christians uniting to advocate for the Gospel of Life and faithful citizenship.
Father Richard Holy, diocesan director for the Office of Pro-Life Activities, offered the invocation. Later, the priest advocated for increased support for women, and children, born and unborn, knowing that the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court of the United States Dobbs decision did not end abortion, but made its regulation a state-by-state issue.
“Women and families facing an unexpected or very challenging pregnancy deserve a much, much better option than abortion, and there are better options that can be chosen, especially when we walk with those facing these kinds of pregnancies,” said Father Holy, pastor of St. Edward in Lowell. “Adoption is such a beautiful option and choice.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R-Munster) spoke about upholding the sanctity of every human life and promised to carefully examine all legal avenues to protect the unborn.
“I’m a practicing pro-life Catholic,” said the St. Thomas More School alumnus. “As your attorney general, I’m not a lawmaker, but I defend these laws. I’m so proud to tell you that we have upheld that first-in-the-nation (post-Dobbs) pro-life law.”
Len Reynolds, Lake County Right to Life president, cautioned the faithful to not become complacent, but instead defend a culture of life. “People think there’s not an issue with abortion anymore and they’re not volunteering or giving as much as they have,” Reynolds said of LCRTL. “It’s kind of like the Church during the pandemic.”
LCRTL oratory contest winner Noah Hollihan, 18, a senior at Hammond Baptist Schools, was on hand to see the video of his speech played to an appreciative audience. “Choose to save a life, not discard one,” he concluded in his passionate presentation.
Keynote speaker Jason Upton delivered remarks from near the keyboard set on stage. Soft-spoken, he began to draw the banquet-goers into his life-affirming personal story.
“As I was just sitting and listening, I thought it would be important to say that this is my 51st year,” Upton said to the applause of the audience.
The inspirational recording artist joked about being the “product of evangelism gone bad,” explaining that during his biological mother’s quest to be part of the “Jesus Movement” of the 1970s, she slept with his biological father, then her boyfriend, who she met while evangelizing.
His mother, who regretted an abortion she previously had, was considering aborting him, but her boyfriend’s mother (who he said lived to be 101) said she “would work three jobs if we could keep the baby.”
Yet soon his 19-year-old mother realized her baby needed the kind of care it would be difficult for her to provide. “I was born in 1973, Dec. 15, and I was adopted on March 13, 1974,” Upton explained.
Bob and Bonnie Upton were “amazing” parents. “We created a family through adoption,” he said, recalling fond memories of his parents and adoptive brother enjoying times at the kitchen table.
As a child, Upton would tell people at church and around his Minnesota town, “I’m adopted!” Replies from “church ladies” would typically include the pinching of his cheeks and a “You’re so adorable!”
Upton spoke of the milestones of his youth and the pianist summarized his musical career moves by saying, “I made up my own songs, went off and got married and wrote music.”
At around 30, he said his wife was “healed of barrenness” and the couple has since raised four natural-born children.
Upton became an advocate for the unborn, and he praised the people who were his and his mom’s lifeline – Catholics and Lutherans who “prayed for her and loved on her” and helped secure him a home. He retold the words of St. Mother Teresa that inspired him, “How could anyone believe that a child is not a child? Jesus’ presence in his mother’s womb ministered to John the Baptist’s presence in his mother’s womb.”
He also was devoted to the cause of one day reuniting with his biological mother, with the encouragement of his adoptive parents. He soon learned from the original adoption agency that his natural mom had been calling to ask about him for years.
He was given his birth mother’s phone number and when he got the courage to call, she answered, bursting into tears and laughter. She had to call him back because she was so overwhelmed.
On the phone, his mother talked about how for years she has been comforted by her attendance at a St. Paul, Minn. church. “My depression would lift up when they prayed for me,” he retold her saying.
Upton said she explained what a parishioner said to her when she asked why she felt so comforted in the church. “Well, it might be the prayers, but you know it might be the music we play – there’s this artist, you may not know of him, but his name is Jason Upton.”
Then the artist, with a deep and peaceful tone, performed vocal numbers on his keyboard.
Gary resident Vanessa Velez accompanied her son Pedro Gonzalez, 29. As she pushed his wheelchair along, making her way to the exit, she stopped to talk to other guests. She asked for prayers for her son, Efrain “Nathaniel” Velez, 20, who is in critical care at a Chicago hospital.
Efrain Velez was struck by a vehicle while he was riding his bicycle. Sensing the fragility of life, she was comforted by the thoughtfulness of others she met at the banquet.
“Here there was beautiful music, beautiful words and beautiful prayers,” Vanessa Velez said.
For more information, or to contribute to Lake County Right to Life and its affiliated programs such as the Moms and Tots Resale Shop and the Women’s Care Center, call 838-1138.
Caption: Members of the St. Paul Respect Life group are seated at their table during the Lake County Right to Life’s annual fundraiser banquet at Avalon Manor Banquet Center in Merrillville on April 19. The event featured talks by local pro-life leaders and state politicians with the keynote presentation delivered by singer and inspirational speaker Jason Upton, who shared his “Divine Adoption Story.” (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)