The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 2025 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal — the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement — to Anthony J. and Phyllis W. Lauinger of Tulsa, Oklahoma, at a Mass and dinner attended by more than 400 guests on May 3, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame.

“Both in the intimacy of their family life and in their respective professional lives — Tony with his tireless defense of the unborn through legislative efforts in his home state of Oklahoma, and Phyllis as a volunteer physician at St. Francis Xavier Clinic, which offers medical care at no charge to women, children and men who are uninsured or underserved in their community — the Lauingers model pro-life values with sincerity, generosity and humility,” said Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the de Nicola Center and associate professor in the Program of Liberal Studies with a joint appointment in the Department of Theology.

Tony and Phyllis Lauinger, together with a small group of close friends, co-founded Tulsans for Life in 1973. Tony has served as president and chairman of Oklahomans for Life since 1978 and vice president of the National Right to Life Committee since 1995, which seeks to defend human life through education, legislation and public policy. As a physician, Phyllis has dedicated her medical expertise to providing free health care to Tulsa’s uninsured and has delivered pro-life lectures to various audiences. They are the parents of eight children, all Notre Dame alumni, and grandparents to 19.

“Phyllis and I would like to dedicate these cherished medals to all the unsung, unheralded heroes of the pro-life movement who have never been recognized, honored or thanked,” Lauinger said in his remarks. “Those who have labored in the vineyard this past half century without any acclaim, following their consciences and the call that the Good Lord put on their hearts to do as the Book of Proverbs counsels, and rescue those being led to slaughter.”

Turning to address the 150 students attending the dinner, many of them Sorin Fellows at the de Nicola Center, Lauinger continued, “The torch will pass to you young people, you Sorin Fellows and other Notre Dame students, to ensure that God’s ‘will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’... There is no more urgent cause than defending the sanctity of innocent human life — protecting the youngest and most vulnerable little members of the human family.”

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend celebrated Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart prior to the medal ceremony and dinner. “Anthony and Phyllis, like our past honorees and so many who are active in the pro-life movement, share the conviction expressed by Peter and the apostles when questioned by the Sanhedrin about their apostolic activity: ‘We must obey God rather than men,’” he said in his homily. “We pray for them at this Mass and also for their family and all whose lives they have touched in their service of life, in their home state of Oklahoma and beyond.”

University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., offered brief remarks before imparting the blessing before dinner, saying, “It’s wonderful to come together tonight to celebrate the great gift of life and to rededicate ourselves to promoting respect for life, from conception to natural death.

“I’m grateful for the wonderful work of the de Nicola Center," Father Dowd continued, which he said is “at the forefront of our efforts here at Notre Dame to promote respect for the dignity of human life and the human person.”

The Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, named after Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, is the nation’s most important lifetime achievement award for heroes of the pro-life movement, honoring individuals whose efforts have advanced the Gospel of Life by steadfastly affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its earliest stages.

Previous recipients of the medal include Dr. Elvira Parravicini, founding director of the Neonatal Comfort Care Program and professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center; Robert P. George, legal philosopher and political theorist; Dr. John Bruchalski, founder of Tepeyac OB/GYN; Vicki Thorn, founder of Project Rachel post-abortion healing ministry; the Women’s Care Center Foundation; Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law School professor emerita; the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation; the Little Sisters of the Poor; Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and the Knights of Columbus; Congressman Chris Smith, co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, and his wife, Marie Smith, director of the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues; Mother Agnes Mary Donovan and the Sisters of Life; Helen Alvaré, Robert A. Levy Endowed Chair in Law and Liberty at the Antonin Scalia School of Law, George Mason University; and Richard Doerflinger, former associate director of the secretariat for pro-life activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Announced annually on Respect Life Sunday, the first Sunday of October, the Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae award consists of a specially commissioned medal and $10,000 prize presented at a banquet following a celebratory Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Visit the de Nicola Center website for more information about the Evangelium Vitae Medal.

Originally published by Kenneth Hallenius at ethicscenter.nd.edu.