2013 – Debra Braun
Debra Braun receives the 2013 Arthur A. Herkenhoff Award
On October 31, 2004, CPO lost a true friend and one of our founding Board members, Art Herkenhoff. Art was a hero to many of us, not in the way our secular society looks at heroes, but a hero in all the areas that truly matter – in Faith, Family and Pro-life involvement. Art had enormous Courage in the face of opposition to proclaim the Truth of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, and he always exhibited true Charity, Humility and Joy!
Each year our Board of Directors presents the Arthur A. Herkenhoff Award to a Catholic person who exhibits the same virtues, principles and qualities which characterized the life and person of Art Herkenhoff.
Throughout this past year we have received nominations for outstanding people, and it was a difficult task to choose one person. The CPO Board of Directors voted on the nominees and the 9th – 2013 Arthur A. Herkenhoff Award was presented to a remarkable woman, Debra Braun.
Debra Braun is committed to building a “Culture of Life”. Debra has been the Education and Counseling Director of Pro-Life Action Ministries in St. Paul, MN, since 1986. Prior to that, she was the assistant to the editor of National Right to Life News in Washington, D.C. She has also worked for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Debra has sidewalk counseled outside abortion centers on a regular basis since 1983… 30 years! She has trained hundreds of people in sidewalk counseling techniques. She is the editor ofPro-Life Action News and Sidewalk Counseling News.
Debra has a B.A. in mass communications and an M.A.in religious studies. She is a parishioner at St. Agnes Catholic Church in St. Paul.
Debra was actually nominated by 2 separate people who had this to say…
“I’ve known Debra for over 20 years. She has been one of the prime and original forces in Pro-Life Action Ministries, formerly, Peace of Minnesota. During that time branches in Duluth and Orlando have opened. Hundreds of children are alive because of her.”
“Debra does marvelous pro-life work outside the abortion clinics: lonely, often discouraging work, in good weather and in bad. I admire her immensely. She is a true “comforter of the afflicted” who charitably admonishes those who would sin. She is a true soldier of Christ.”
Debra Braun received the 9th, 2013 Arthur A. Herkenhoff Award at the CPO annual Luncheon & Fund-raiser held at the Southview Country Club, in St. Paul on October 26, 2013.
For more information about Pro-Life Action Ministries, please visit their website: www.plam.org/
Debra Braun with Herkenhoff family members. Left to Right: Joe Herkenhoff (son), Grace Olund (grand-daughter), Mary Mattheison (daughter), Colleen Perfect, CPO President, Emma Mattheison (grand-daughter), Debra Braun, Meghan Mattheison (grand-daughter), Kathy Herkenhoff (Art’s wife), Meghan Habisch (daughter), Dick Larson (brother-in-law), Liz Larson (sister-in-law).
Emma Mattheison, shared some of her fondest memories of the times spent with her beloved Grandpa Art.
