GREENSBORO — Eight hundred supporters gathered Oct. 13 at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro to celebrate Room at the Inn of the Triad’s 17th annual banquet, raising a record-breaking $150,000 in sponsorships and donations to support the charity for women in need in the Triad area.
Room at the Inn of the Triad provides mercy and refuge for homeless pregnant women with food, shelter, clothing, life skills education, health care and spiritual care. The maternity home provides transportation and helps women find work and get back into school. Over the past year, nine babies were born to women being served by the charity.
“Thank you for making Jesus’ mercy and presence real to our mothers and thank you for making Room at the Inn,” said Albert Hodges, president of Room at the Inn of the Triad. Sisters of the Mother of God of Pennybyrn at Maryfield in High Point, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Charlotte, Room at the Inn of the Triad staff and clergy, and the Knights of Columbus were all honored for their support over the past year.
“If the Knights of Columbus had been in Bethlehem years ago, Jesus would not have been born in a manger,” Hodges said in deep gratitude for the Knights of Columbus’ support.
But the greatest thanks of all was due to the mothers of Room at the Inn, he said. “They are my heroes.”
Volunteer awards were presented to special supporters. The Kirk Church was the recipient of the James and Elizabeth Hedgecock Volunteer Award. The Father Conrad Kimbrough Pro-Life Leadership Award was given to three people: Jim Hoyng, Paul Klosterman and Diane Rzewnicki. St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem and St. Pius X Church in Greensboro were among the top sponsors for this year’s banquet.
“I am so happy for this organization,” said Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza, who gave the keynote address. “Thank you for what you do and thank you for the support you are giving to this organization. It is so needed.”
“In my country,” she said, a mother garners the highest level of respect. And when a child is born, everyone brings a gift to “pay homage for the new person, the new member of the village.”
During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Ilibagiza hid in a tiny bathroom for 91 days in a pastor’s home with seven other women, while most of her family and neighbors were murdered. Despite losing everything and everyone she loved, prayer saved her life, she said. Ilibagiza recalled how she endured the fear and trauma by praying the rosary, sometimes 27 times a day.
Prayer sustained her, filling her with hope and faith, she said. God’s mercy, poured out on her through the kindness of others, propelled her forward and compelled her to live.
“I think of you guys as the pastor who took me in, as the woman who gave me a home to live in after the genocide,” she said.
— Georgianna Penn, Correspondent
Pictured: Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza gave the keynote address at Room at the Inn of the Triad’s 17th annual banquet, which a record-breaking $150,000 in donations and sponsorships, for the charity which assists homeless pregnant women in the Triad. (Georgianna Penn | Catholic News Herald)
ARDEN — Father Adrian Porras knew since he was in the 11th grade that God was calling him to the priesthood.
Born in El Paso, Texas, he moved to Greensboro with his family at the age of 8 when his father transferred jobs.
After graduating from Page High School, he attended Brevard College and then Belmont Abbey College in Belmont during which time he was confirmed by the third bishop of Charlotte, William G. Curlin. During his time in Belmont, he majored in theology.
Father Porras then attended seminary in Washington, D.C., Bishop Curlin’s former home, receiving his Master of Divinity from the Dominican House of Studies, which is directly across the street from the Catholic University of America. He desired to serve in a religious community at that time.
“I started out as a brother for the Marians of the Immaculate Conception,” Father Porras says. “I was with the order for six years, then decided that I was being called to the diocesan priesthood.”
He served as a transitional deacon at St. Mark Church in Huntersville before his ordination to the priesthood for the Diocese of Charlotte by Bishop Curlin in December 2001 at St. Patrick Cathedral
Over the past 15 years Father Porras has served as parochial vicar of Holy Family Church in Clemmons, and pastor of St. Andrew Church in Mars Hill and Sacred Heart Mission in Burnsville. He is now pastor of St. Barnabas Church in Arden, where he has served since 2008.
“What I enjoy most about my priestly ministry is the privilege of offering the Holy Mass,” Father Porras says.
“That is the essential role of the priest. The many wonderful people that I have gotten to know for the past 15 years has also been a blessing. Ministering to them and being a part of their lives has really enhanced my ministry as a priest in many ways.”
Father Porras explains that being a pastor obviously means being a leader. “This is a role not to be taken lightly. What I take to heart is what we hear in 1 Peter 5:1-4:
‘So I exhort the presbyters among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. Tend the flock of God in your midst, (overseeing) not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.’”
He says he appreciates having had the opportunity to serve in different parish settings. “I grew up in a big suburban parish, Our Lady of Grace Church (in Greensboro), so I am used to that size of parish. I also served for four years in Mars Hill, which is in Madison County, a mainly rural setting.”
Father Porras advises young men discerning a call to the priesthood to maintain a strong personal prayer life. He offers some words of wisdom for them and for those newly ordained:
“In parish ministry, love the Mass and celebrate it with reverence, be available to the people you serve and practice what you preach. A devotion to our Blessed Mother always helps, and some wise words from a cardinal have always brought me some needed perspective: ‘Take God seriously, take your vocation seriously, but do not take yourself too seriously.’”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter