Diocese recognizes three for promoting life with Pro-Vita Awards

METUCHEN — “Thank God for those who work so hard for life,” said Bishop James F. Checchio to a congregation of pro-life advocates at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi Jan. 14. “We see the effects of the brokenness of the world in so many ways: the immigrant, the hungry, the poor, the unborn. We see it in the women who contemplate abortion.”
 

The bishop presided at a Mass in thanksgiving for the gift of human life and presented three of the faithful with the diocesan Pro-Vita Award for their work for the unborn and downtrodden.
 

Reflecting on the Gospel (Mark 2:1-12), where four men lowered a paralytic through a rooftop to Jesus for his healing touch, Bishop Checchio continued, “They were emboldened by their faith of God’s infinite love. They bore the symbol of brokenness before Jesus, and Jesus healed their wounds.
 

“This evening, we thank God for people in our day that do the same thing that these four men in the Gospel do on behalf of the paralytic, people that help those in need,” he said. “We pray that God raises up more men and women like this, to champion love in our day. As we heard in our Gospel today, everyone went away astounded at what the four men and Jesus did. We likewise are so grateful for what you do, and praise God for it.”
 

The diocesan Pro-Vita awards were established in 1998 to recognize the efforts of persons and organizations instrumental in pro-life agencies, groups or causes. Jennifer A. Ruggiero, secretary, Secretariat for Family and Pastoral Life, presented the 2022 awards to Rosanda Grau, a member of Our Lady of Victories Parish, Sayreville, and Deacon Bob and Elaine Yunker, members of the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Helena Parish, Edison, where Deacon Yunker exercises his ministry.
 

Grau, described by Ruggiero as a “very faith-filled woman with a compassionate heart,” has been active in the pro-life movement for more than two decades. She has served as parish pro-life representative; organized the annual Middlesex County Life Chain; was a former officer for that county’s Chapter of New Jersey Right to Life; spoken at the annual Rally for Life in Trenton, and counseled women with unplanned pregnancies at Metuchen’s Life Choices Resource Center. Grau is a co-founder and the executive director of Inspire Family Life Center, Warren, a new pregnancy help facility. She and her husband, Michael, have two adult daughters.
 

“They are true blessings to the diocese,” remarked Ruggiero about the Yunkers, who have two adult children and four grandchildren. At the Life Choices Resource Center, the Yunkers have served as counselors to men and pregnant and post-abortive women, aiding them in gaining resources for housing and other social concerns. The deacon, a former teacher and coach at Saint Joseph High School, Metuchen, ministers to the sick and terminally ill, and with his wife have run the bus trip to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
 

Bishop Checchio noted, “We face great challenges, but have made progress, too,” likening the current legislative challenges as being “on a roller coaster ride. There are good signs in some ways. Keep plugging away,” he urged the congregation “on behalf of those we love.”