It hardly seems like 10 years ago that the Msgr. Richard Ferris Life Center opened. I recall the evening like it was yesterday.

Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello, a friend of the late Msgr. Ferris, opened the dedication ceremonies with a Mass at St. Genevieve’s Church, Roxbury, where the honoree had been pastor. From there, it was only a short ride over to the center located at 204 Beach 116th St. in the heart of Rockaway Park.

The Bishop, accompanied by Jerry Cronin, the Center’s founder and director, blessed the facility and all present were given a tour of the facility that would assist women who are pregnant and in need of help.

Each year, for the past decade, 100 women have reached out to the Ferris Center for help with their new-born babies. Sometimes it was diapers that were needed. Sometimes it was clothes. Sometimes it was hand holding that a youngster required as she contemplated whether or not to have her baby.

For 10 years, Cronin and his dedicated band of volunteers have not faltered. They have been there to answer the bell, walk the walk, and talk the talk with girls who needed a place for support. For 10 years, Cronin has been a one-man fund-raising machine, the principle event being the annual Msgr. Ferris Center Dinner-Dance held at Russo’s-on-the-Bay, Howard Beach, on the last Thursday in September.

This year’s will take place Sept. 27. The cost is minimal, $65 for adults and $30 for teenagers, for a great evening that includes dinner, dancing, and the presentation of the Center’s Defender of the Unborn Award.

This year, however, the financial need is greater than ever, says Cronin, since some of the more generous donors have other commitments to tend to. The truth is that the Knights of Columbus and their sister organization, the Columbiettes, have been the main backers, but they cannot do this alone. More revenue is needed from the dinner-dance and more pro-life supporters must step forward and put their money where their hearts are.

Cronin says his dinner-dance and journal provides revenue for 50% of the Ferris Center’s budget, and frankly he is not sure where the other 50% is coming from for the upcoming year.

Several years ago, a one-time budget surplus was used by Cronin to open a second center in Jackson Heights, in the midst of five very active abortuaries. Many volunteers came forward to staff the center but the promise of more funding never materialized and the center had to close. How many lives were lost because of that closure will never be known.

Despite the great inroads that the anti-abortion movement has made since the horrific Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, pro-life advocates and the life centers they support continue to come under attack from the pro-death crowd.

This year’s dinner-dance will honor the joint Parish Respect Life Committee, coordinated by Florence Maloney of St. Josaphat’s parish, Bayside. With 12 Queens parishes represented the committee meets in St. Josaphat’s rectory conference room to coordinate responses to cultural battles in which the pro-life folks find themselves. They are vocal on legislative issues that deal not only with abortion but also with a full gamut of pro-life issues such as stem-cell research, “reproductive health care for women,” and the legalization of same-sex marriage. The group also publishes the Respect Life News quarterly and has organized a Catholic Speakers Series, “One Nation Under God: the Family and the Culture of Life.”

Besides Maloney, the group consists of Ramona Betancourt and Elizabeth Jane Doocey of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, Jamaica; Angelita Chung and Raquel Walker Okyay of Mary’s Nativity, Flushing; Cathy Donohoe of Holy Family, Flushing; Ann Dundon of St. Andrew Avellino, Flushing; Kevin Flaherty of St. Kevin’s, Flushing; Marion Higgins of St. Robert Bellarmine, Bayside; John Gorman of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Forest Hills; Gerard Hillenbrand and Phil Plasencia of Our Lady of Snows, North Floral Park; Charles Haunss and Madeline Santangelo-Palumbo of Our Lady of Mercy, Forest Hills; Jim McCloskey of St. Luke’s, Whitestone; Boris Musich of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Astoria; and Al Pietrowski of St. Josaphat’s.

Tickets for the event as well as more information about the Msgr. Ferris Center are available from Cronin at 347-613-2773.