REJOICE IN HOPE!
Annual Benefit Event
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS, BENEFACTORS & ATTENDEES – WE SURPASSED OUR GOAL!
Deborah Knapp
Deborah Knapp is an Emmy award-winning anchor who has been inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. She was awarded the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award in Washington D.C. for her years of community involvement and leadership in San Antonio.
Deborah anchors KENS 5 Eyewitness News at 5 p.m.
In 1999, she helped launch the KENS 5 Excel Award, recognizing an outstanding public school teacher from every local district. Education and community service are important to Deborah and in 1994 she established a scholarship at her Alma Mater, The University of Texas at Austin. Each year a San Antonio student who has demonstrated a commitment to community is awarded the Deborah Knapp Scholarship to help pay for his or her education.
Active in the community, Deborah is currently serving on the boards of Las Misiones, which works to restore and preserve San Antonio’s historic Mission churches and the Boy Scouts of America. Deborah is the mother of two children and 4 grandchildren.
Barrie M. Schwortz
Barrie Schwortz was the Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project, the team that conducted the first in-depth scientific examination of the Shroud in 1978. Today, he plays an influential role in Shroud research as editor and publisher of the internationally recognized Shroud of Turin Website shroud.com. Schwortz has conducted Shroud lectures around the world and is frequently called upon as a leading imaging expert. He has participated in programs on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, CNN, CBS, NBC, PBS, the BBC and Vatican Radio. His photographs have appeared in hundreds of books and publications including Time, Life, Newsweek and National Geographic and in countless television documentaries. He co-authored a book with Ian Wilson titled, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence."
Schwortz operated an award winning commercial photographic studio specializing in product, food, advertising, technical and editorial illustration for fifteen years and founded his first video production company, Educational Video, Inc., in May of 1978.
After moving to Los Angeles, Schwortz became more involved in the entertainment field. He was the editor and post-production supervisor for the best-selling “Rocky and Bullwinkle” series for Buena Vista Home Video (Disney), which garnered a Silver Medal at the International Film and Video Festival. He co-produced, directed and edited “Money, History In Your Hands,” starring James Earl Jones, which won the Parent’s Choice Video of the Year award as well as two Silver Screen Awards at the International Film and Video Festival. The program was broadcast on PBS in 1999.
From 1987 to 2001, Schwortz was an independent imaging consultant to the Laser Research and Technology Development Laboratory at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In 1998, he developed two digital imaging protocols that were accepted and approved for use in clinical trials by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. His company served as Core Laboratory and provided all digital imaging services for one of these trials. His clients include many of the largest corporations in the world and his presentations have been shown at major medical and scientific conferences worldwide and to the FDA, U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Most Rev. Gary Janak
Most Reverend Gary Janak serves as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, for which he also serves as Chancellor. He is a licensed professional counselor supervisor in the state of Texas (LPC-S).
Janak was raised in Palacios, a multi-lingual and multi-ethnic community. In 1982, he entered Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Santa Fe, N.M., as one of the first five seminarians for the newly formed Diocese of Victoria. In 1983 he received his bachelor’s degree in History and began his theological formation at San Antonio’s Assumption Seminary in 1984. He later obtained his Master of Divinity Degree from Oblate School of Theology in 1998.
Father Janak was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Victoria on May 14, 1988. He later earned his Licentiate in Canonical Jurisprudence (JCL) from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; his master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Victoria-Houston, and has been licensed by the state of Texas as a professional counselor supervisor since 2000.
In addition to his pastoral ministry as priest, he has served in positions related to marriage and family, vocations and seminarians, pastoral care and outreach, finance, and Canon Law.
He is a member of the Canon Law Society of America and the American Counseling Society.
His community involvement has encompassed a myriad of organizations including the Board of Hospice of South Texas, the Czech Catholic Union of Texas (KJT), Knights of Columbus councils; Victoria Police Department, and St. Joseph Catholic High School in Victoria.
In addition to his parish and chancery ministry, Bishop Janak has served on a number of occasions since 1988 at a mission in Nicaragua and with the Faith in Practice Medical Mission team in Guatemala.
Bishop Janak has a keen interest in assisting married couples and has been a presenting priest for the Retrouvaille ministry since 2006. He also designed a marriage retreat for couples. In 2016, he assisted in the founding of The Emmaus Center, a diocesan-sponsored counseling and spiritual direction center, where he practiced professional and pastoral counseling.
David and Janet Pollock
David and Janet Pollock are longtime supporters of Pilgrim Center of Hope’s mission. We look forward to celebrating their dedication during this event.
