Diocese plans trips to March for Life

WORCESTER  - With prayers for warmer weather this year, the diocesan Respect Life Office is accepting reservations on a first-come, first-serve basis for the trip to Washington D.C.  to attend the Jan. 22 March for Life.
Last year’s bus trips to the March for Life were cancelled when a snowstorm up and down the East coast disrupted travel. The Respect Life office  usually sends two buses with a total of about 100 people to the nation’s capital, according to Allison LeDoux, director. She said a third bus will be added if there is enough demand.
She said St. Bernadette Parish in Northborough, St. Paul and St. Stanislaus parishes in Warren and West Warren, St. Joseph Parish in Charlton and the Students for Life group at the College of the Holy Cross have sent buses in the past and are expected to do so this year.
There will be a Mass at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 in St. Paul Catherdal open to everyone, including those who will not be making the trip, she said. After Mass, the buses will leave the cathedral  for  Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., arriving the morning of Jan. 22.
There will be a Mass in the Basilica, after which the travelers will have  some free time for breakfast, Mrs. LeDoux said. They then will proceed to the Washington Monument and join the march along the Mall past the Capital to the Supreme Court building, where the marchers will disperse and return to the buses  for the trip back home.
This is the 42nd anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision which, in effect, legalized abortion on demand, and trips by people from the Worcester Diocese to Washington for the March for Life has become a tradition, she said.
The cost is $85 per person, according to information from the Respect for Life office. Information, itinerary and registration forms are available at www.worcesterdiocese.org/respectlife. Respect Life office also will accept donations to defray expenses for the trip, Mrs. LeDoux said.
Diocesan faith formation leaders who never have been to the March for Life and want to experience it before bringing teenage groups may go free of charge on the Respect Life buses by contacting Liz Cotrupi, director of the diocesan New Evangelization Worcester for Youth & Young Adults at Liz@NEWorcester.org.