Chicago—
Diann Gilmore, executive director of the Downtown Women’s Center, is one of 47 nominees for the annual Lumen Christi (Light of Christ) Award, presented by Catholic Extension.
For more than 40 years, Catholic Extension has asked mission dioceses to nominate their best, brightest and most inspiring people for the annual award.
This year’s group of 47 nominees—pastors, sisters, lay leaders, brothers, deacons and community groups—show the enormous breadth of the Catholic Church across the country. These Catholics are offering their hearts and hands to build Faith, inspire hope and ignite change. In America’s poorest places, they bring the light of Christ to those who struggle.
For more than 30 years, Diann Gilmore has served the homeless, poor and addicted.
A social worker, she is executive director of the Downtown Women’s Center in Amarillo, a place of compassion and hope which offers women and children a chance to stay together and regain their footing. The center currently serves more than 70 women and 65 children in its three homeless shelters, although more than 22,000 have walked through the doors for its services, including sobriety programs, job training and health care.
“This is not a job for us,” she said, “This is a ministry. We serve women who have lost everything—families, employment and even their teeth. Eighty percent have been beaten and abused. These are survivors.”
Gilmore helps these women understand that Christ loves them unconditionally and that they are important and worthy. As a member of St. Mary’s Cathedral, she draws on her Faith to help transform Amarillo’s most vulnerable residents.
Gilmore is one of six nominees from Texas for the Lumen Christi Award. Also nominated from the Lone Star State:
• Linda Domino from the Diocese of Beaumont;
• Dreamers Serving the Church from the Diocese of El Paso;
• Christine Wanjura from the Diocese of Lubbock;
• Monsignor James Bridges from the Diocese of San Angelo; and,
• Deanna Johnston from the Diocese of Tyler.