Matt Birk, a 15-Year NFL Veteran, Spoke at Right to Life Banquet in Decatur At its fourth annual Spring Banquet on Saturday, April 12, officials and supporters of Right to Life of Northeast Indiana celebrated 51 years of living out the organization’s mission to defend innocent human life. Leaders also made a call to action to those in attendance at the Mirage Banquet Hall in Decatur.  The sold-out event began with a private reception with the evening’s keynote speaker, Matt Birk, a Super Bowl champion and 15-year veteran of the National Football League. Birk, a Minnesota native, was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 1998, acquired in the offseason by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009, and retired in 2013. The six-time NFL Pro Bowl selection and two-time All-Pro was also named the sixth smartest athlete by Sporting News. During his playing days, the Harvard graduate was known for being a leader on and off the field. Birk, the recipient of the 2011 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, has established a foundation to emphasize the importance of education, launched a reading program in Baltimore that helped more than 100,000 students read at home through an incentive system, and launched a school to offer a faith-based education to students in an underserved area of Minnesota. Birk, a Catholic, also developed 4HG (For His Glory) to create a healthy sports culture in elementary schools that combines having fun and improving while keeping a Christian focus on athletics. Birk, a father of eight, including two adopted children, told Today’s Catholic that the right to life is “the issue” of today. “It’s from a political point of view, but also a cultural point of view,” he said. “Until we can all agree that every life has dignity, then we are going to have discrimination, racism, sexism, all these things, and a lot of times people don’t see the connection.” Photos by Nicole HahnA sold-out crowd listens as keynote speaker Matt Birk talks about defending life at the fourth annual Right to Life of Northeast Indiana Spring Banquet on Saturday, April 12, at the Mirage Banquet Hall in Decatur. He continued: “Anybody involved in the pro-life movements, I think, would tell you that part of the reason that we do what we do is because the unborn can’t speak for themselves. With the way that our world and country and our culture is today, I think the pro-life side isn’t heard as much as the other side, so it is good to be at events like this to support each other.” Marking the second time Birk has spoken at this event, he said his job was not only to inspire people but ultimately raise money for Right to Life of Northeast Indiana. “When I was here three years ago, I was really impressed with how pro-life Indiana was, how they really built this culture of life,” Birk said. “It’s a lot different than where I come from, and I left feeling like Indiana has the blueprint for how it’s done.” Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the singing of “God Bless America,” opening prayer, and dinner, Birk took the stage to share his message with supporters, donors, and several Indiana legislators, including Representative Marlin Stutzman, Senator Liz Brown, Senator Travis Holdman, Senator Todd Young, and Senator Andy Zay. Birk said he was happy to see so many political leaders supporting the right to life from conception to natural death. Super Bowl Champion, father of eight, and Catholic Matt Birk speaks to the audience about the issue of life from conception to natural death at the fourth annual Right to Life of Northeast Indiana Spring Banquet on Saturday, April 12, at the Mirage Banquet Hall in Decatur. Following Birk’s speech, Right to Life of Northeast Indiana Chief Executive Office Zach Rodgers took the stage to talk about what is happening at the organization, including the addition of a staff member, record-breaking attendance at last year’s fall banquet, and several new sidewalk advocates, who stand outside Planned Parenthood locations counseling women in vulnerable situations and directing them to more life-affirming centers. “In fact, to go off script, in the last two weeks, we have had two different sidewalk advocates minister to women and were able to walk them next door to the Women’s Care Center and not choose abortion,” Rodgers said. Rodgers told the crowd that the organization has added more right to life workshops to the calendar, which help teach church and community members how to defend their position on the sanctity of life in a simplified and non-confrontational way, and how to be an ambassador for life using truth from science and philosophy. Attendees watched a video about the workshops and what they entail. Rodgers then invited everyone to attend one of the workshops and to get their church to host a workshop. Dates and times of upcoming workshops can be found on their website at ichooselife.org. Rodgers said the organization also broke a record this year for the Mother’s Day Carnation Project with more churches being involved and the most carnations ever purchased, with 22,500 carnations going out into the communities. Then it was time for the big news of the evening. Rodgers announced: “We were able to book an amazing speaker for this year’s fall banquet. I grew up watching him on television, watched movies he has been in, movies he has directed, and read his children’s book series. He is the filmmaker, actor, and champion of children and families, Kirk Cameron.” Rodgers told everyone to mark their calendars for October 14 and look for the “save the date” cards coming soon to mailboxes. Rodgers then announced that they are searching for an executive director to take his place in direct day-to-day operations of the office since he shifted to CEO earlier this year, as well as serving as executive vice president for Indiana Right to Life. He said the addition of that role, as well as expanding services into more northeast Indiana counties and expanding programming, comes with a need for additional financial support. In explaining that what they do is a ministry, Rodgers asked those in attendance to make a donation or a monthly pledge to ensure they can continue to fight for life by changing hearts and minds. He said the evening’s goal was to raise $38,000. After a prayer to close the program, Rodgers answered a question from Today’s Catholic about the one thing he would say to our readers. He said: “The fight for the right to life is not over. Just because of the Dobbs decision, and just because of the life bill in Indiana, which we are very thankful for, as it eliminated 98.5 percent of abortions, that doesn’t mean the fight for life is over. Conception to natural death is going to continuously be a battle.” Nicole Hahn is Secretary of Communications for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The post Right to Life Is ‘the Issue,’ Super Bowl Champion Says appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less