"This is My Body" wins national awards

The pro-life song, "This is My Body," inspired by the writing and preaching of Fr. Frank Pavone and Priests for Life, has won two more national awards from the United Catholic Music and Video Association.

At an awards ceremony on December 1, 2001, at Hartke Theater at the Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), Dana, the famous Irish Catholic singer, won "Songwriter of the Year" award for this particular song.

In the same ceremony, the song was awarded "Pop Contemporary Song of the Year."

At last year's UCMVA awards, the music video of "This is My Body" won the "Music Video of the Year" award. Jody Copeland, of EWTN, was honored for the work he did in producing the video, in which Dana, Gretchen Harris, and Mark Girardin perform.

"This is My Body" was inspired through a conversation that Fr. Pavone had with Dana about the comparison between the words "This is My Body" as used by Jesus to give us eternal life, and as used by abortion supporters to defend the taking of life. Fr. Pavone gave Dana the brochure that he had written about this comparison, and suggested that a song should be written to convey this powerful message. Within a few hours, Dana called him back and said that she had the song basically written! After subsequent meetings and sitting together at the piano, Fr. Frank and Dana were satisfied that the finished product would inspire pro-life people worldwide.

And so it has.

In the song, Dana plays the role of a woman who has had an abortion. Gretchen sings as a woman who believes in the "right to choose." And Mark plays the role of Jesus, who teaches us to sacrifice ourselves for others. They each do this using the same words, "This is My Body."

The video, the audio, and the CD can be obtained through Priests for Life at our online store.