Newest St. Gianna Molla Center opens in Holley with Gianna Emanuela Molla attending

On a beautiful summer day, a late afternoon Mass was celebrated at St. Mary Church in Holley, to honor and bless the eighth St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center opened in the church’s parish center.

The special guest at the Mass was Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, who is the patron saint of mothers, physicians and unborn children.  St. Gianna was beatified in April 1994 by Pope John Paul II, and was the pope’s final canonization in May 2004. 

A young seminarian in the crowd at St. Peter’s Square at Vatican City that day was Father Mark Noonan, now pastor of Family 11 known as ONE Catholic, who heard the inspirational story of St. Gianna firsthand from the pope. Father Noonan was the celebrant for this special Mass. 

In his homily, he explained, “The Lord often does the most beautiful things in the littlest places. A family is a little unique place with a mother, a father and children.  And we as a church are like a family. I’m sometimes invited to people’s homes and they welcome me as part of the family.”

So, today in this small town, we will dedicate a remarkable center that will assist expectant moms, and new mothers and fathers and their families. 

“We want to treasure each child in the same way that St. Gianna Beretta Molla treasured her own children, that is to say that we want to treasure each child with the love that Jesus called us to in today’s Gospel saying it is worth the costs of anything received.”

“What should we give for the welfare of a single child?  We should give everything,” he said.

Following Communion, Cheryl Calire, director of Life Ministries for the diocese, explained Gianna Emanuela’s path to the Buffalo Diocese and then Gianna herself spoke of the love of her parents and read letters of her father Pietro’s experience of his first trip to America in the late 1950s as his plane flew over the mid-West.

The church then processed to the adjacent parish center where the new St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center was formally blessed by Father Noonan. The center, housed on the second floor, features a well-stocked room with baby goods and supplies as well as a large room that will serve as a gathering and respite area.

Guests were then treated to a reception hosted by parish staff where the attendees had an opportunity to meet Dr. Molla.