April 30, 2024 // Bishop

Evangelium Vitae Medal Recipient Honored for Pro-Life Work

Cathi Kennedy

“Every Mass is a proclamation of Evangelium Vitae – the Gospel of Life,” Bishop Rhoades said in his greeting at the annual Evangelium Vitae Mass, which was held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame on Saturday, April 27.

---

Read Bishop Rhoades’ homily here.

---

During the Mass, Bishop Rhoades recognized this year’s winner of the Evangelium Vitae Medal, Dr. Elvira Parravicini, who has dedicated her career to caring for preborn and newborn children with complex, often life-threatening conditions. In 2008, she founded the Neonatal Comfort Care Program at Columbia University Medical Center, where she is a professor of pediatrics. 

“In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope St. John Paul II in writing about the ‘countless grave threats to life present in the modern world,’ said that ‘at such times, the People of God, and this includes every believer, is called to profess with humility and courage its faith in Jesus Christ, the Word of life,’” Bishop Rhoades said.

The medal, named after Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, is presented annually by the university’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture to an individual whose “outstanding efforts have served to proclaim the Gospel of Life by steadfastly affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its earliest stages.” 

Parravicini lives out her faith in her work in perinatal palliative care by ensuring the sanctity and dignity of the lives of the mothers and infants who come to the Center for care. “The NCCP provides each child with an individualized plan to create ‘a safe and loving space for bonding, attachment, comfort, and joy for them and their families,’” according to a statement released by officials with the de Nicola Center. “Aspects of care typically include a medical evaluation and plan to alleviate pain; comfort measures such as holding, skin-to-skin contact, and feeding; memory-making activities such as handprints, footprints, photographs, and personalized keepsakes; and emotional, psychological, and spiritual care, including both short- and long-term bereavement support.”

In his homily, Bishop Rhoades said, “St. John exhorts us: ‘Children, let us love not (just) in word or speech but in deed and truth.’ Those who are truly the children of God display love in concrete ways. Tonight, we honor a person in the medical profession who has done so in a beautiful way.  Dr. Elvira Parravicini’s care for mothers, their preborn and newborn children, and their families is an inspiration to us all.”

Upon the announcement last fall of Parravicini being named the recipient of the Evangelium Vitae Medal, Dr. O. Carter Snead, professor of law and Director of the de Nicola Center, said: “Dr. Parravicini’s work perfectly embodies the goods of unconditional love, radical hospitality, and misericordia (taking on the suffering of another as your own) that constitutes the foundation of a culture of life. Her care for mothers, babies (born and unborn), and families is a prophetic witness to the self-emptying love that the Evangelium Vitae Medal was created to honor and celebrate.”

According to a release by officials with the de Nicola Center, Parravicini, a native of Milan, Italy, completed her pediatric residency and neonatal fellowship at the University of Milan, as well as a certification in palliative medicine at Harvard University. After moving to the United States in 1994, she established the Neonatal Comfort Care Program (NCCP) at Columbia University Medical Center in 2008 to address the complex medical and non-medical needs of infants affected by life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.

“I think of the love Dr. Parravicini has for the little babies who may only have minutes, hours, or just days or weeks to live after their birth, and the fruits of her love and medical expertise,” said Bishop Rhoades. “Through the Neonatal Comfort Care Program she founded, and its care-giving team, parents and families are able to see and hold their babies and show their love for them – moments or days that they will treasure for the rest of their lives.”

Snead, the outgoing Director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, attended the Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, as did Dr. Jennifer Newsome Martin, a professor at the university’s Program of Liberal Studies and Theology, who will take on her new role as director of the de Nicola Center on July 1. Snead has been the director of the de Nicola Center since 2012. Bishop Rhoades acknowledged Snead and Martin and the Center’s work to honor individuals in the pro-life movement, saying, “I am deeply grateful that the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture here at Notre Dame does so much to proclaim and serve the Gospel of Life.” 

At the dinner and reception following the Mass, the Evangelium Vitae Medal was presented to Parravicini by Snead and Margaret Cabaniss, Senior Associate Director of the de Nicola Center.

In her speech accepting the award, Parravicini thanked her family before offering those in attendance a look into how she came to take on such important work.

“During med school, I was fascinated by the moment of birth,” Parravicini said. “If you think about it, a certain number of people enters the delivery room and then, after birth, there is one more person. Four people entered, and five are coming out. Amazing, the miracle of life. Moreover, I was fascinated by the incredible promise for happiness and the expectation for something great that happens in front of every newborn, regardless of who they are. This promise and expectation are so much more than in other stages of life.

“So, when I realized that there were babies born with severe conditions, I decided right way that I needed to care for them and heal them to sustain that promise and expectation. And for a while, I thought I was going to be able to heal ALL babies; I was going to fight for them, and I would succeed. This sentiment and this decision did not last long, because I learned sooner than later that I am not God, and He – not me – is in charge.”

She continued: “With time, I realized that ‘to save’ their life was ‘to serve’ their destiny as it is. So I started taking care of these babies addressing their special needs with my medical knowledge, my experience, and all the resources available in my hospital. … With help of many friends and supporters … we have been serving hundreds of families, I started with 13 in 2008 and last year we met many families in more than 800 encounters.

“As I always say to parents when I meet them prenatally, my mission is to save your baby’s life, but no matter what, I am walking with your baby, you, and your family, and I will not abandon you, and I make sure that we walk together toward your baby’s destiny.”