Winning pro-life posters

By Tanya Connor  
The Catholic Free Press

Local students’ March for Life signs were appreciated by pro-lifers around the country, and five students are being awarded prizes for their work, according to Allison LeDoux, director of the Worcester Diocese’s Respect Life Office.
Due to concerns about the coronavirus, the January bus trip from the diocese to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., was cancelled this year. In its place, locally, Mrs. LeDoux organized a “virtual March for Life” – a contest encouraging students to make signs against abortion, like those usually carried in the March. There were more than 300  entries, Mrs. LeDoux said in a letter to schools. 
“We were also able to post a number of our virtual March for Life signs on our Twitter page the day of the March for Life, where they were appreciated by many in the pro-life community throughout the country,” she added.
She said the winners are: Carolyn Towne, grade 7 category, and Agnes Sales, grade 8 category, both from Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Still River; Keziah Danso, grade 9 and 10 category, and Annmarie Hugget, grade 11 and 12 category, both from St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School in Worcester, and Madi Doyle, from Assumption University in Worcester.
Each winner will receive a free bus trip to the March for Life and a copy of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”).
A token of appreciation will be sent to all students who participated “in gratitude for their wonderful efforts and enthusiasm for defending life,” Mrs. LeDoux said.
Jan. 22 marked the 48th anniversary of U.S. Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion. The Washington March and related activities were scaled back or held virtually.
“We went big … Big in what we did,” said Megan Capurso, a campus minster and theology teacher at St. Paul’s in Worcester.
Students made posters addressing various life issues and there were prayers at Masses, at a day of adoration and during announcements, she said.
Ms. Capurso said Deacon Peter Nguyen, also a theology teacher and campus minister, made a video of the posters, which was shown at school Masses.
“I think it was important for them to be able to see the importance of life, and pro-life issues within the Church. … Our students really do care about the way in which others are treated,” she said.
At Trinity Catholic Academy in Southbridge, besides making posters, students in grades 7 and 8 helped with a living rosary on Jan. 22, which the rest of the school participated in via a Zoom call, said teacher Colleen Casey.

The winning posters are here: catholicfreepress.org
The online slide show of all the entries can be seen at www.worcesterdiocese.org/january-events-links.