Local Catholics march for life

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

People of different ages, alone or in groups, from Catholic schools and parishes, anticipated attending the March for Life as they came to the send-off Mass at St. Paul Cathedral Thursday night.

Afterwards they boarded two buses, which the drivers said were full at 56 people each. Marchers from Trivium School in Lancaster filled one of the buses.

Gary Goodell, the lone traveler from St. Roch Parish in Oxford on the diocesan buses, said he’d been wanting to attend the March for years, “but life gets in the way.” Between jobs, with children grown, he could finally do it. He said he was “hoping to be an extra face and an extra voice for life.”

He recalled attending an information session about abortion at St. Roch’s as a teenager around 1980, and, as an adult, being involved with non-Catholic pro-life Christians, some of who were arrested with Catholics trying to stop abortions.

Arsenio Vargas, from St. Anne Parish in Shrewsbury, said he was meeting a friend and fellow-parishioner at the Mass.

“This is my third year in a row” going to the March, he said, adding that he was “trying to make it an annual tradition – until I can’t walk anymore or can’t afford it.”

Asked why he goes, he said, “Just to witness to the beauty and dignity of life. And we need to change how we handle the big problem of abortion. … The fact that people can see the crowds … can help inspire them and show them, through a visible sign, that people care about this.”

Michelle White, coming by herself from of St. Leo Parish in Leominster, showed a sign she’d brought to carry at the March. It depicted an unborn baby curled up in a globe, with the words, “Womb Peace.”

“I think it’ll just be nice to express out loud – ‘support life’” using this poster, she said.

“I just had a strong pull to go,” she said, adding that she tried to attend the March several years ago, but buses were cancelled due to snow.

Sophia Sullivan, a senior at Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School in Worcester, said this was her second March for Life. She seemed excited to hear that President Donald Trump was expected to come.

“I feel like there’s going to be conflict” among pro-lifers because some support him and some don’t, she said. “I feel like even more people are going to come, knowing he’s going to be there. … It’s going to be a fun time. I think it’s still going to be peaceful.”

“I’m hoping it’s going to be a good experience, show people abortion isn’t the right thing to do,” said her classmate Angie Colón.

“I feel like the March is necessary because I think it can influence our society that abortion is wrong,” said Holy Name junior Evelyn Bousbouras. She said she’s done presentations about abortion at school and with her grandmother, Partricia Quintiliani, at her grandmother’s religious shop, Shower of Roses.

Donald Murphy said he was attending his first March for Life – as an adult chaperon with his daughter Anna’s school, St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior/Senior High in Worcester. His daughter Maria was attending with her school, Assumption College. It wasn’t the first time for either of them. He said he was going to make sure the young people were safe; he expected a stronger counter-protest than usual “because the pro-life movement has been making strides, victories.”

Soon the marchers and their supporters were participating in the Mass, where Bishop McManus preached about abortion. He told of a bishop friend of his telling Pope Francis that 63 million babies have been killed since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in the United States. He said silence descended on that gathering, the pope was speechless, then said, “What a sin! What a disgrace!”

Bishop McManus repeated words from the first reading (2 Cor. 4:7-9) and said “we who are committed to the pro-life cause” are facing a grave evil that is destroying the moral character of our country and someday people will ask how a civilized country could kill innocent life in the womb.

He said the Mass was offered for the conversion of those who support abortion and decried Catholic politicians doing so.

“God will not be mocked by the sin of abortion,” he said. He told the young people they will be a witness to the nation, whether the news shows it or not, and they will get their strength from Jesus.

PHOTO ALBUM