Papal awards honour 21 people for ‘going to great lengths’ to serve the Church

Twenty-one lay people and clergy in the Archdiocese of Vancouver are about to gain papal medals for their remarkable service to the Catholic Church.

Six people will receive the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. Established by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, it is the highest recognition the laity can receive from the Pope. The award is given for distinguished service to the Church by lay people or clergy.

Another 15 people will be given the Benemerenti medal. These awards are given to benemerenti: “the well-deserving,” who have shown lasting and exceptional service to the Catholic Church, family, and community. Pope Gregory XVI instituted this award in 1832 for members of the military and civilians showing extraordinary courage. It was extended to people who go to great lengths to serve the Church in 1925.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, will present the awards at three private events Oct. 9, 16, and 23 at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre to these 21 deserving individuals:

Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice

Vila Nova Carvalho has served the local Church faithfully by his numerous involvements in the Archdiocese and his parish of St. Joseph the Worker in Richmond. In particular, he has been a long-time leader of the Serra Club, an international organization of Catholic lay men and women who promote and support vocations to the ministerial priesthood and consecrated life. He has served not only as President of the Vancouver Serra Club (1997–1999; 2015–present), but also as a trustee and vice-president of the international body.

He is a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and has been a member of its governing council in the Western Canadian Lieutenancy.

Vila Nova has been an executive member and president of the Richmond Right to Life Society and a member of diocesan consultative bodies that assist The B.C. Catholic and the homeless shelter of Catholic Charities. He also serves as advocate at the marriage tribunal and is a member of the board of the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese.

Mark and Barbara Cullen have participated in many works of philanthropy in support of health care and education in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. They have donated more than 200 pieces of medical equipment to St. Paul’s Hospital, along with significant funding for other projects. Health-care professionals at the hospital credit the family with improvements in workflow, accuracy, and efficiency in the laboratory, which Barbara describes as close to her heart. She is also a committed supporter of the Archdiocese’s Anti-Human Trafficking initiative.

Mark is a founding member of the governor’s council of St. Paul’s Hospital. He was a member of the Providence Health Care Residential and Community Care Services Society, which is presently engaged in finding innovative ways to meet the needs of seniors. He has served on the board of directors of St. Mark’s College, the Catholic college at the University of British Columbia.

Other Catholic charitable works supported by Mark and Barbara include Little Flower Academy and L’Arche Vancouver.

Dianne Doyle has served the cause of Catholic health care in the Archdiocese in numerous ways throughout her life, particularly by assisting with the governance of crucial organizations. She has chaired the Catholic Health Association of B.C. and the governing council for the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada and has served as president and member of the board of the Denominational Health Association. In the broader community, she has been president of Canadian Advanced Medical Services International and a board member of Royal Roads University Centre for Health Leadership.

Having begun her career at St. Paul’s Hospital in 1976 as a nurse, she retired 42 years later as president and chief executive officer of Providence Health Care, which she had assisted at its formative stages in the late 1990s. Recently she has extended her gifts in governance in the field of Catholic secondary education, serving as president of St. Thomas More Collegiate.

Daniel Moric has been an important figure in educational leadership for our Catholic schools and has served the Archdiocese in a chief administrative role. After a notable career as a teacher, he became the principal of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the Archdiocese’s regional high schools, assisting it in numerous ways at a time of its growth and transition. From 2007 to 2011, he served as associate superintendent of the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese.

In 2011, he was appointed by the archbishop as the first archbishop’s delegate for administration, a new office in the Curia overseeing the work of its pastoral departments and agencies. He was appointed as Superintendent of Catholic Schools in 2015 and served in that role until taking early retirement in 2018 for health reasons.

He has assisted greatly in the work of the Permanent Diaconate Office as a member of its advisory committee and currently serves as a member of the board of St. John Paul II Academy.

Father José Luis Soria (born Valladolid, Spain 1932) discerned his vocation to Opus Dei in his hometown during his medical studies and moved to Rome in 1953, where he met St. Josemaria Escriva. After obtaining a doctorate in canon law at the Angelicum, Father Soria was ordained to the priesthood in 1956.

For nearly 20 years until St. Josemaria’s death in 1975, Father Soria lived and worked with the future saint in Rome, first as spiritual director of Opus Dei (1956–1961) and then as General Postulator (1961–1976). He was St. Josemaria’s personal physician for many years. Additionally, Father Soria served as Professor of Pastoral Medicine and Catholic Doctrine in the Pontifical Lateran University and as Apostolic Examiner of the Clergy for the Vicariate of Rome. He is a specialist in moral and spiritual theology, as well as author of more than 15 books and booklets and more than 60 articles.

Father Soria moved to Montreal in 1976, where he was spiritual director and later Vicar of Opus Dei for Canada (1977–1984). He began making monthly trips to Vancouver in 1984 before settling here in 1997 to support the Opus Dei apostolates with men and women of the Archdiocese and as a spiritual director to many priests. Since late 2014, he has not exercised his pastoral ministry for health reasons.

Benemerenti

Rufina Amandiz has been a member of the Legion of Mary since 1953. In 1980, she became the first president of the Queen of the Home Praesidium, which she converted into three praesidia as membership grew. She also promoted the Legion of Mary in many parishes.

She was very involved in the Peregrinatio Pro Christo apostolate in Nelson, Prince George, and Fort St. John. A tireless evangelist, she faithfully visits homes, knocking door to door; she also visits nursing homes and hospitals and meets people on the street.

Currently she is the president of the Legion of Mary Praesidium at Guardian Angels Parish, where she invites 50–100 people, including members of the clergy, to her residence to celebrate special events.

Jimmy and Liza Arzadon are key leaders in the Archdiocesan Filipino Ministry. They played a major role in the three consecutive large celebrations in which many couples had their marriages convalidated as part of a pastoral outreach organized by the Archdiocese. They also were an integral part of the organization of the 2018 visit of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to Vancouver.

The couple likewise supports the marriage preparation course run by the Archdiocese’s Office of Life, Marriage and Family.

In addition to their service within the Archdiocese of Vancouver, they are a senior leadership couple of the Couples for Christ Community in Western Canada and serve as mission coordinators for B.C. Beyond our country’s borders, Jimmy and Liza oversee the Couples for Christ missions in Nigeria and Cameroon, Africa.

Susan Dvorak contributes to the life of the Church in numerous ways while being the mother of six children. Among her key accomplishments is sharing the Catholic perspective on sexuality with other parents. She has been an effective and engaging speaker under the auspices of the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese. In 2016, she joined the board of directors of Vancouver College. She now chairs this board and serves on its Education, Mission and Identity Standing Committee.

She graduated from the University of British Columbia School of Rehabilitation Medicine in 1987 and worked as a physiotherapist in acute care, neurological rehabilitation, and geriatrics. She has been a member of the Providence Health Care Society since 2017 and for many years has served on the Archdiocesan Advisory Committee on Clerical Sexual Misconduct.

Robert and Shirley Gemmell have sought to love and serve the poor, both abroad and at home. In the 1980s, they made one year-long trip and eight short-term trips to do missionary work as a family in Mexico. In the 1990s they led 14 other families to form a 19-home townhouse complex, where four units are available for single-mother families, refugees, or missionaries home on furlough.

In 2006, they became involved with refugees, working directly with B.C.’s Immigrant Services Society, in partnership with several Catholic and Protestant churches, to offer affordable, safe, and furnished housing for those in need.

In subsequent years, they continued their work dedicated to social justice, opening their home to the poor as well as parish faith formation groups. They have served as PREP teachers and sat on parish councils. Above all, they have offered the gift of faith through prayer, firmly believing this to be the greatest gift they have to offer. Their own determination to depend on God has allowed them to live with great generosity the corporal works of mercy.

Donal O’Callaghan, a professional architect, has been a pivotal player in the demanding work of renovating Holy Rosary Cathedral, serving on the Cathedral Building Committee with great dedication and generosity for the last three years. Seeking neither compensation nor recognition for his important work, he has volunteered his considerable professional expertise to support the Archdiocese and the Cathedral rector in working with the City of Vancouver and the developer on the development project, which also addresses the need for the seismic upgrading of the Cathedral.

He has made it possible for the complex renovation and upgrade project to proceed according to principles of Christian stewardship and good relations with the numerous parties involved. He has also been of incalculable help to his own parish of Christ the Redeemer in West Vancouver in major redevelopment initiatives.

Dan O’Hara served as the State Deputy for British Columbia and Yukon of the Knights of Columbus between 2007 and 2009. He helped to create the B.C. March for Life, now in its twelfth year as the preeminent public witness event against abortion and euthanasia in the province.

He has been a remarkably dedicated participant in ministry to prisoners, serving on the Interfaith Prison Chaplaincy Committee for six years. He is a founding member of the Elders Medicine Wheel Society, which brings people of all walks of life together through spiritual teachings and healing. In addition to his community service he is an active parishioner at St. Mary’s Parish in Chilliwack.

Analyn Perez has been involved in most of the major initiatives of the Archdiocese of Vancouver for more than three decades. A nurse by profession, she has tirelessly volunteered for youth ministry and young adult ministry at the Archdiocesan level. She was instrumental in creating Spirit Day, the annual Archdiocesan rally for Grade 7 students, which has since become the largest annual Catholic youth rally in Canada.

Analyn also spearheaded the Archdiocesan World Youth Day pilgrimages in 2000, 2002, and 2005. She coordinated local efforts to host over a thousand pilgrims as part of the Days in the Diocese during World Youth Day 2002. 

Since 2013, she has served on event committees for every major event in the Archdiocese, including Spirit Day, the Upper Room Conference, anniversary celebrations, ordinations, conventions, and more. She currently is a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

Stan and Marilyn Pidsadny have shared their time, wisdom, faith, and service in multiple ministries both in the Archdiocese and in the broader community. They participate in many parish activities and welcome and invite new people to the faith and parish community. 

Stan has been on the board of directors for Columbus Residence, an assisted living facility operated by the Knights of Columbus, and a generous supporter of its residents. Within the Knights of Columbus, he has been honoured several times for bringing the most new members into his Council.

Stan and Marilyn have been married for more than 60 years, providing a true example of Christian family love and devotion to their faith, each other, and their children. In a newspaper profile, they credited their involvement in the Archdiocesan prison ministry program, in which they have volunteered for more than 15 years, as one reason for the strength of their marriage. They are known for their generous support of individual religious and priests.

Neo Regala is a key local leader of Bukas-Loob sa Diyos (Open in Spirit to God), a Catholic Charismatic covenant community approved by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines as a private association of Christ’s faithful vested with juridic personality in accord with canon law. Neo serves some 160–180 members of BLD by leading a rigorous discipleship and outreach program.

Working closely with the Archdiocesan Service and Justice Office, he and his fellow members care for migrants, temporary workers, prisoners, and the clientele of the Archdiocesan drop-in centre, The Door Is Open.

Evelyn Rigby is a Life Member of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada. She served as Archdiocesan president of the League from 2007 to 2009 and as B.C. and Yukon Provincial President from 2016 to 2018. In her parish of Church of Church of the Assumption in Powell River she has been involved in welcoming two refugee families in the past five years, from Syria and the Congo.

She plays an important role in the Catholic Women’s League’s efforts to influence legislators by advocating for laws and policies based on Catholic social teaching. She has been a tireless defender of the unborn. She personally began the successful lobbying effort to convince the government of Canada to bring back Christian-themed postage stamps at Christmas.

Evelyn Vollet heads the Anti-Human Trafficking Committee of the Archdiocese, providing very capable leadership in this area of deep concern to Canadian society and beyond. She has developed a network of persons, dioceses, and organizations across Canada and locally that are collaborating with her to maintain legal protection of sex-trade workers in Canada.

She has also served as the Archdiocesan coordinator for social justice issues and in that role played an important part in promoting the sponsorship of Syrian refugees by Catholic groups during a period of crisis.

Her faith, grounded in Gospel values and the social justice teaching of the Church, motivates her to put her goals into action. She is an active member of the Catholic Women’s League and a key volunteer in her parish of St. Augustine.

Dr. Gerry Della Mattia was the first coordinator of the Permanent Diaconate Program in the Archdiocese of Vancouver and has chaired its advisory board for many years. He spent 38 years in post-secondary education in British Columbia, working at the former Notre Dame University in Nelson, B.C., before joining Douglas College in 1970 as director of admissions. He was appointed dean of student services in 1980 after completing studies for a Doctor of Philosophy degree. He took a two-year leave of absence in 1988 to work in the Middle East. Returning to Douglas College, he was appointed dean of human resources and college development. In 1993 he joined the Advanced Education Council of B.C. as its chief executive officer until his retirement.

He has been an active volunteer in seniors care in Surrey, where he lives with his wife Lorraine. They have four adult children and five grandchildren.