Last Monday I had the great privilege of joining hundreds of thousands of pro-life individuals in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. The annual march has taken place every year on or near Jan. 22, the date that the Supreme Court issued its infamous abortion rulings (Roe v Wade and Doe v. Bolton).
On the evening prior to the march, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro Life Secretariat sponsors a vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. For Catholics, this Mass serves as an inspirational kick-off to the march, reminding us that at its core the pro-life battle is a spiritual battle.
Every year the enormous Basilica is overflowing, usually several hours before the Mass begins, with mostly young people. This year an estimated 10,000 attended the Mass which began with a massive procession of hundreds of seminarians, deacons and priests followed by 39 bishops and five cardinals.
I’ve had the privilege of attending this vigil Mass many times and it represents Catholic liturgy and culture in all its glory. The opening procession itself took 45 minutes! The homily is typically given by the chairman of the Bishops’ Pro Life Committee, currently Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston.
On the morning of the march, there are several pro-life Masses and youth rallies prior to the march at noon. Years ago, I recall these Masses/rallies being held in several churches around D.C.
These venues were quickly outgrown and a massive Mass/rally has been held at the Verizon Center for several years. Because the crowds continue to grow, this year a second large venue for a Mass and rally was added to the Verizon Center venue.
In addition to these venues a Mass was celebrated at the Basilica with standing room only. Six busloads of high school students and chaperones from the Archdiocese of Omaha, led by Father Damien Cook, attended that Mass, as did I. Archbishop George Lucas concelebrated the Mass.
After the Mass we were bussed down to the National Gallery of Art on the Mall where we waited for the March to begin. During this time, Father Cook fired up the group of more than 300 students with a variety of pro-life cheers that the students produced during the 20-plus hour bus trip from Nebraska.
As the National Mall filled up with marchers, the Omaha group participated in "interactive chanting" with other groups. The most common chant volleyed back and forth between groups was "we love babies, yes we do, we love babies how ‘bout you!"
Another catchy chant that let other marchers know who we were was this: "Who’s on the March? Nebraska’s on the March. And when Nebraska’s on the March we’re gonna de-fend-life, huh!" Great stuff. And it added to the electric environment of the March which was driven by the enthusiasm of the young people who dominated the crowd.
While waiting for the March to begin we were pleased to have Sen. Mike Johanns address the crowd of Nebraskans. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry hosted the Nebraska group in his office building after the March and invited the Nebraska Congressional delegation to address our group. Sen. Johanns was not able to join us after the March so he waded through the massive crowd on the Mall to address our group.
March organizers estimated the crowd at 400,000. Nellie Gray, long-time leader of the March said it was the largest march in her memory. When we consider that the vast majority of the crowd was young people under the age of 25, the pro-life movement has reason to be encouraged and hopeful that the future of our efforts to build a culture of life and love is bright indeed!
You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference,
215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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