SCHERERVILLE – The setting was the tumultuous 1970s and the topic of individual prerogative versus the sanctity of life was another issue that landed with a thunderclap across the nation. The Lake County Right to Life, there since the struggle to protect human life ramped up, continues to engage concerned citizens, helping them to connect the issues of the day with the values of their faith.
When the Supreme Court of the United States delivered its Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973, Christians, particularly Catholics, civic groups and concerned individuals, reacted with prayer, activism and support for alternatives to abortion. The organization founded by the late local physician Dr. John Kelly continues to promote a Respect Life message and brings impactful activists and national speakers to events such as the LCRTL banquet, hosted on April 4 at the Halls of St. George.
More than 500 area residents gathered for the not-for-profit organization’s annual fundraising event. Providing legislative updates, Lake County councilman Randy Niemeyer (R-Cedar Lake) and Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith added enthusiastic remarks encouraging the pro-life mission.
Kept a closely guarded secret until she was whisked to the stage by a youth usher, 89-year-old Clementine “Tina” Kerr, was presented with the Dr. John Kelly Founder’s Award by LCRTL president Len Reynolds. Each year, the honor is given for “the work and dedication” shown by a leader in local pro-life advocacy.
Inspired by parishioners at the churches she has attended, including Our Lady of Grace in Highland, Our Lady of Consolation in Merrillville, and Living Stones in Crown Point, Kerr’s sometimes behind-the-scenes and other times front-and-center ministry has been a labor of love for five decades.
“I’ve met a lot of people from a lot of churches,” Kerr said of her pro-life volunteerism. “People are so kind, especially when it comes to kids.”
For decades, Kerr has been a fixture among Northwest Indiana pro-life activists. She has stood in prayer before little pink-and-blue lawn chairs representing lives ended through abortion at the Planned Parenthood facility in Merrillville. In a side room at the Mom and Tots Resale Shop in Griffith, she has ironed countless articles of donated clothing.
Her advancing age hasn’t dampened Kerr’s spirits, though she adjusts to the physical limitations including her activities during the winter, “when it is very difficult.”
Kerr tips her hat to past Kelly Award recipients including former Birthright manager Diane Kilarski, and past Knights of Columbus Pro-Life Director Mike Velasco. She also cited St. Paul, Valparaiso, Respect Life leader Tom Jessen as someone who has inspired and supported her activism in recent years.
Ultimately, it has been a higher calling that has led her to be an advocate for the unborn.
“This is all because of the Lord,” said Kerr. “We’re here for a purpose. Our Lord is so good. He works behind the scenes. He lets you know (the way) somehow.”
Keynote speaker Mark Houck received a hardy welcome as many among those gathered had witnessed he and his family become the central characters in a drama that played out in the national news. The Kintnersville, Penn. father of seven (his wife Ryan-Marie Houck is expecting their eighth child), former college football All-American, and high school teacher and coach became a symbol of political and religious persecution – and vindication in the courts.
In 2022, Houck was arrested at gunpoint before his entire family in a scene that he described as being greeted at dawn by a SWAT team beating on his door with automatic weapons drawn. The apprehension by the FBI stemmed from a charge that alleged he shoved a Planned Parenthood escort who was harassing his then 12-year-old son.
At the time, Houck’s senior counsel, Peter Breen, executive director of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society which specializes in representing those involved in religious liberty cases, said, “Rather than accepting Mark Houck’s offer to appear voluntarily, the Biden Department of Justice chose to make an unnecessary show of potentially deadly force, sending 20 armed federal agents to the Houck residence at dawn.”
Houck, who presented to the LCRTL crowd from the stage where Breen sat until he would deliver his own remarks, described the extreme measures to secure him. He said the potential sentence of 11 years in prison and $350,000 in fines hung over his head until a federal grand jury acquitted him of the charges in January 2023, coming to that decision in less than an hour.
With the jury rendering a “not guilty” verdict to the lesser charge, Houck sat awaiting his fate and turned to the Word of God. “I was really starting to get nervous, so I opened the Scriptures … I looked and it read, ‘Under the shadow of God’s wings you will be protected,’” Houck recalled. “That’s Psalm 57, and the Early Church believed that the shadow of God’s wings were the arms of the cross. And I looked at the time and it was 3 p.m., the hour of divine mercy.
“I had peace restored instantly!” he concluded.
Houck is the founder of The King’s Men, a men’s ministry, and in 2022 was awarded the Cardinal John O’Connor Defender of Life Award and the Catholic Vote Catholic Hero of the Year Award.
Civic duty is an important part of faith in action, according to some clergymen who were guests at the banquet.
“This is a great opportunity to be here to represent, especially the Catholic Church in Merrillville, that the issue of the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death is very important,” said Father Steven Caraher, associate pastor, joined by fellow priest and pastor of Holy Martyrs Parish, Father Ted Mauch, who delivered an invocation. “It was a blessing to hear the witness and testimony of a fellow Catholic who has been working to defend life, especially those who haven’t yet been born, and the willingness to suffer the consequences of defending that life and to propagate that belief to his children.”
The next generation of women were represented by, among others at the banquet, a table of American Heritage Girls. Members of the traditional, values-based scouting crew enjoyed the meal, presentations and conversation. “I think it’s important to help the babies, the unborn,” said Saoirse McShane, 16. “They should have a chance in life to do God’s will.
McShane continued, “I feel kind of sad for (the Houck family) and I feel bad for the people who attacked them, because they don’t know better, or they don’t realize that all life should be protected no matter what.”
Caption: Valparaiso University professor emeritus Richard Stith (left) and his wife artist Rosemarie Stith are seated at the 52nd annual Lake County Right to Life banquet at the Halls of St. George in Schererville on April 4. The not-for-profit organization's event functions as an informational, social and fundraising gathering to support the activism, education and charity of the group that "exists to promote concern for the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death." (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)
