On Tuesday, November 6, the St. Gianna Clinic, in collaboration with the Diocese of Green Bay’s Office of Marriage, Family Life and Respect Life, will host its fourth annual gala at the Meyer Theatre in Green Bay.
The evening program will include Mass celebrated by Bishop David L. Ricken, a social reception with appetizers and a bar, and presentations by guest speakers Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla and Dr. Teresa Stanton Collett. The event aims to support the St. Gianna Clinic, a nonprofit Catholic medical clinic located at 1727 Shawano Avenue in Green Bay. Founded in 2015, the clinic provides primary medical care for adults and children, women’s health care, and natural family planning services. All medical services at St. Gianna Clinic are consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church and are available to people of all faiths.
The clinic is named after St. Gianna Beretta Molla, who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2004 and is recognized as the patron saint of mothers, physicians, and unborn children.
St. Gianna, herself a physician, died in 1962 after giving birth to her fourth child, Gianna Emanuela Molla. During her pregnancy, doctors discovered a tumor in her uterus and warned that carrying the child to term could put her life at serious risk. Choosing to prioritize the life of her unborn child, St. Gianna decided to continue the pregnancy and passed away one week after her daughter was born. That daughter, Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, will be a featured speaker at the November 6 gala.
“It is with deep honor and gratitude that we welcome Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla to Green Bay and to our gala,” said Dr. Robin Goldsmith, co-founder, president, and chief physician of St. Gianna Clinic in Green Bay. “She will be able to see firsthand the life-saving and life-changing work our clinic and our dedicated physicians carry out every day in the name and honor of her mother and the Catholic Church.”
Dr. Teresa Stanton Collett, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota who specializes in issues of marriage, religion, and bioethics, will also speak at the gala. Her presentation is titled “Thinking Outside the Pill: Humanae Vitae for the Next Generations.” In addition, Bishop David Ricken will celebrate Mass during the event in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on God’s plan for married love and the transmission of human life.
Gala attendees will also have the opportunity to learn more about the expansion project currently underway at St. Gianna Clinic, which aims to create more space and enhance services for its growing number of patients.
Tickets for the event cost $10 for students and $25 for adults. Registration must be completed by Monday, October 29.