To Contact Us
Write:
PO Box 1603
Lafayette, IN 47902
Phone:
(765) 742-2050
Fax:
(765) 742-7513
E-mail
our office
Happening ... in the Local Church
March for Life 2008
'If this saves one baby's life ...'
 Marchers
stand before the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22.
(Photos by Kevin Cullen) |
||||
 Young
people carry the March for Life banner at the start of the 35th annual
demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22. |
||||
 |
 |
 |
||
| Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Jan. 21 vigil Mass. The Roe decision is “incompatible with human dignity,” he told those attending. | Susan Thompson, a parishioner of St. Patrick, Kokomo, prays during the vigil Mass celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. | Arlene Bowyer, left, of St. Mary Parish, Frankfort, participates in her fourth march. Her daughter, Celeste Chapko, right, of Crown Point, has attended seven times. | ||
 Fifty-five
students from St. Theodore Guerin High School, Noblesville, participated
in this year’s march. “It was very powerful,” senior David Roth said. |
||||
 |
 |
 |
||
| At least 100,000 protesters packed Constitution Avenue to walk from the National Mall to the Supreme Court Building. | From left: Abby Fullenkamp, Katie Link, Cindy Hein, Jessica Carducci and Kimberly Hein, all from Immaculate Conception Parish, Portland, join the March for Life. (Photo provided) | Doug Lowery, Dave Powers, Dr. Bob Spech and Kevin Kiser, all of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Carmel, drove to Washington, D.C., for the pro-life events. (Photo provided) | ||
By Kevin Cullen
The Catholic Moment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — They came from Indiana and Maine, Colorado and Florida, Vermont and Tennessee. Together, Christians, Jews and non-believers formed a surging river of humanity that packed the broad sweep of Constitution Avenue for a mile.
At least 100,000 protesters, including many adults and teenagers from our Local Church, walked up Capitol Hill from the National Mall to the Supreme Court Building in the 35th annual March for Life on Jan. 22. They ignored a cold drizzle to condemn abortion and remember the 50 million unborn babies killed since it was legalized on Jan. 22, 1973.
“If
this saves one baby’s life, it will be worth it,” said Diana Wells, a native
of Atlanta, Ind., near Tipton. She wore a pin that read, “I Regret My
Abortion” as she stood before the white marble steps of the Supreme Court
Building.
The court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision threw out most state restrictions on abortion. The companion Doe vs. Bolton decision, handed down the same day, permitted abortions through all nine months of pregnancy.
As a young unmarried woman, Wells had abortions in 1977 and 1978. They haunted her for years. She was in and out of psychiatric units. She wanted to die.
Counseling and Bible study have brought a sense of forgiveness and “the courage to tell others, ‘You don’t want this to happen to you,’” said Wells, now of Dillsburg, Pa. “When I renounced abortion, I began to get better.”
Several parishes and schools within the Lafayette diocese were represented at the march. Local parishioners and clergy also attended a Jan. 21 vigil Mass at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and heard speakers at an outdoor rally that preceded the march.
The march had an “Onward, Christian Soldiers” energy. Protesters chanted, “We love babies, yes we do; we love babies, how ’bout you?” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho; Roe v. Wade has got to go!” Nuns prayed the rosary. Monks walked along in sandals and hooded brown cloaks. Teenagers carried banners identifying churches, schools and organizations. Placards read, “Defend Life,” “Stop All Abortion,” “Every Child Deserves a Birth Day,” “50 Million Babies Missing” and, simply, “Life.”
Capitol and District of Columbia police provided plenty of security. Some rode horses, mountain bikes and motorcycles.
Fifty-five students from St. Theodore Guerin High School, Noblesville, were part of the historic demonstration, which was televised by EWTN, C-SPAN and other stations.
“I think we can all see what Roe v. Wade has done in the breakdown of the family,” said Deborah Riley, director of campus ministry at Guerin. “… We have a pro-life club (at school). This is all part of the effort to reverse Roe v. Wade.”
“It is really great to see all these people coming together for a cause we all believe in. It was very powerful,” senior David Roth, a member of St. Louis de Montfort Church, Fishers, said as demonstrators chanted slogans and protest banners flapped in the breeze.
“I hope it has a positive impact,” he said. “I hope people see this demonstration and convert to the cause, or at least second-guess what they have been thinking.”
“I think (abortion) is absolutely, 100-percent wrong — a complete tragedy,” said his classmate, Valerie Carnevale, a member of St. Maria Goretti Parish, Westfield. “Once these laws are passed, they are hard to undo.
“I wasn’t alive when this was done, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be alive to get it undone,” she said.
Being part of such a massive, spiritual expression of solidarity thrilled Reid Brewster, a Guerin senior and parishioner at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Carmel.
“I came last year. Each year, the number seems to surge,” he said. “Just to see this whole thing come together has been incredible. It’s a collective effort to overturn a decision that kills millions. I have seen kids 4 years old and the elderly, all fighting for this one thing.”
The solemn vigil Mass, at the Catholic University of America, featured scores of priests, more than 40 bishops and several cardinals. The church seats 6,000 and approximately 4,000 more people sat or stood in the aisles. Thousands watched via closed-circuit TV in the basement “Crypt Church” and in side chapels.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, was the principal celebrant and homilist. He is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The Roe decision, he said, “is incompatible with human dignity. It must not stand. It cannot stand. It will not stand.
“Instead of choosing great or impressive people in the eyes of the world,” Cardinal Rigali said, “God uses the humble, the foolish, the weak and ‘those counting for nothing’ to accomplish his purposes … it is when we least expect it that the tiniest among us can humble the powerful.”
He told the marchers that they were following the will of God, and “contributing mightily to that kingdom we all long for, where there will be no more crying or pain or death. Certainly no abortion. No euthanasia. No assisted suicide.”
A concert and Mass at Washington’s Verizon Center drew more than 20,000 youth early on Jan. 22.
There, a message from Pope Benedict XVI was read, thanking young Americans for “promoting respect for the dignity and inalienable rights of every human being, including the smallest and most defenseless members of our human family.”
A two-hour outdoor rally was staged on the National Mall just before the marchers took to the streets.
It featured an appearance by Republican presidential hopeful Dr. Ron Paul, an obstetrician and congressman from Texas; and the airing of a talk taped in the White House that morning by President George W. Bush.
Paul, who has delivered more than 4,000 babies, said that the debate about when life begins “should not be a debate. Let me assure you that all life begins at conception.”
Bush, who invited march organizers to breakfast, said, “Thirty-five years ago today, the United States Supreme Court declared and decided that under the law an unborn child is not considered a person. Biology confirms that, from the start, each unborn child is a separate individual with his or her own genetic code.”
The abortion rate is lower than it has been in 30 years, but, he said, more than one in five pregnancies still ends in abortion.
“America is better than this, so we will continue to work for a culture of life” where mothers and their children are supported, honored and cherished, he said.
“Building a culture of life requires more than law; it requires changing hearts,” Bush said. “… As you give voice to the voiceless I ask you to take comfort in this: The hearts of the American people are good. Their minds are open to persuasion. And our history shows that a cause rooted in human dignity and appealing to the best instincts of the American people cannot fail.”
The first March for Life was staged on Jan. 22, 1974.
“We were so full of enthusiasm,” march founder Nellie Gray told the crowd. “We felt we reached the heart of the Supreme Court and the executive department. We thought we’d never need another march.”
Today, 35 years later, 3,000 babies are being aborted each day. So the march goes on.
“We march for life, to save lives,” Gray said. “The American way is to save lives by not killing innocent children.”
The 2008 event was the fourth for Arlene Bowyer, of St. Mary Church, Frankfort. She said she was energized by the sea of youth — “not jaded, with such a strong sense of justice.”
“I strongly believe that God is still in control,” she said. “This (stopping abortion) is one of the challenges he has given to democracy, to be one nation under God … it’s a challenge to our culture, a social justice issue.
“We have to be everything God wants us to be — intelligent, informed, and willing to make it an act of conversion. It is truly an act of conversion,” Bowyer said.
Her daughter, Celeste Chapko, of Crown Point, has attended the March for Life seven times, starting in high school. For many young people, she said, it is the start of their “pro-life journey.”
“The adrenalin is here,” she said. “… Some of these kids are here because it’s cool; it’s the thing to do. They’re in Catholic schools and a trip to D.C. is the cool thing to do.
“Then they start getting educated about what abortion is,” Chapko said. “They come to understand that it’s killing babies, and that’s not good … they know abortion is wrong, and they will know why it is wrong.”
Participation is “empowering,” she said. “You know you’re not here by yourself. This gives people enough push to get them through the year. It renews your spirit.”
The 2008 march was the first for Guerin Catholic student Megan Bowers, a parishioner at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Carmel.
“I’m still kind of taking it all in,” she said. “There were a lot more people here than I expected. It’s unbelievable.
“I think that with the election coming, it matters what the views of the people are on abortion,” Bowers said. “We’re people fighting abortion. It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not — we’re just against killing babies.”
“We need to keep doing this.”