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April 1, 2019By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – Some people who have the right to make laws think some lives are more valuable than others, Bishop McManus told a cathedral full of students Monday.
“We’re here in this church to say, ‘That is a lie,’” he said. “Life is a gift from God.” He urged listeners to treat each other as precious creatures of God whose right to life is always celebrated.
He was preaching at the diocese’s annual Mass for Life on the Feast of the Annunciation, which celebrates the announcement the Archangel Gabriel made to the Virgin Mary, saying she was chosen to be Jesus’ mother. Bishop McManus quizzed students about that moment of conception – of Jesus – who brought about our salvation.
Students and adult leaders from 19 Catholic schools filled St. Paul Cathedral for the Mass, along with some other worshippers. Students served at the Mass. The diocesan Respect Life Office sponsors the annual Mass and diocesan pro-life awards.
Bishop McManus told the congregation to look around and see that there were older and younger people, laity and priests, present, having in common their belief in Jesus.
“All of us … must be committed to the protection of human life,” he said. The annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., draws thousands of people, most of them young, he said.
During the Mass he presented the awards.
Helena Petroff, founding president of the Students for Life group at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she is a freshman, received the Ruth V.K. Pakaluk Pro-Life Youth Award.
Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Parish and a founding member of Witness for Life, received the Gospel of Life Award.
Adam Cormier, principal of St. Mary Elementary and St. Mary Junior/Senior High School, and Raymond and Joyce Aucoin, pro-life activists from St. Bernard Parish in Fitchburg, received the Mother Teresa Pro-Life Award.
