Masses celebrated for March for Life

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press 

Seminarians from the Worcester Diocese participated in a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., before the Jan. 21 March for Life.  

And WPI students unable to go to the March in Washington attended a Mass in Worcester which Bishop McManus offered for the intention that the U.S. Supreme Court would render a decision ending legalized abortion. 

A Worcester Office for Vocations Facebook posting showed transitional Deacons Derek Mobilio and James Boulette vested for the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life the evening of Jan. 20. 

And Allison LeDoux, director of the Worcester Diocese’s Respect Life Office, was excited to see Deacon Mobilio on television serving the closing Mass of the vigil on the morning of Jan. 21 for Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., of Boston.  

“When Derek was a teacher at St. Mary’s,” a now-closed high school in Worcester, before he entered seminary, he organized bringing St. Mary’s students to the March for Life, Mrs. LeDoux recalled. “They would come on our (diocesan) buses. They would always have a good, strong presence.” 

About a dozen young adults from Worcester Polytechnic Institute were among approximately four dozen worshippers at the annual pre-March Mass that Bishop McManus celebrated Jan. 20 at St. Paul Cathedral. WPI chaplain, Father Alfredo Porras, master of ceremonies, had some of the students serve the Mass, at which seven priests concelebrated and three deacons assisted. People came to pray even though no buses were leaving afterwards for the March.  

The March has been held annually since the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision on Jan. 22, 1973, that legalized abortion for virtually any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Mrs. LeDoux organizes the local Mass and bus trip that usually draw students from Catholic high schools and colleges in the diocese. Buses were canceled because of COVID. 

“We were all set to go and we were going to bring WPI students, and Assumption students,” Jesuit Father James Hayes told The Catholic Free Press earlier. He is associate chaplain and adviser to Students for Life at the College of the Holy Cross. “The bus was full,” he said. “Then they (organizers at Georgetown University) decided to make the Cardinal O’Connor (Conference on Life) virtual, and WPI had to drop out, then Assumption, so we decided to cancel. … We’re very disappointed.”  

Helena Petroff, founder and vice-president of WPI Students for Life, said they couldn’t go to the March because of COVID guidelines that kept the school from funding overnight student trips. Members of Students for Life and the Newman Club plan to watch the Cardinal O’Connor conference virtually, and to pray outside the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Worcester on Jan. 22, she said.  

“The pro-life Mass (in St. Paul’s) was beautiful as always,” commented Benjamin Slattery, a WPI senior.  “It's such a blessing to have the support of the bishop in such an important battle.” 

In his homily the bishop recounted part of the Gospel  - Jesus responded to the disciples’ question about who is the greatest by calling a child over and saying, “Whoever receives a little child like this in my name, receives me.” (Mt 18:1-5) 

In the 49 years since the “morally disastrous” Roe v. Wade decision, nearly 64 million children have been aborted, Bishop McManus said. 

“That is staggering; it’s unacceptable,” Catherine North-Erickson, of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Fitchburg, said after Mass. She said there is much work to do, and people must not let COVID stop them from doing it. 

Bishop McManus had preached about continuing the work. He said he was offering the Mass for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which could overturn Roe v. Wade.  

But even if the earlier decision is overturned in June we must continue to march, pray and work for pro-life legislation and the conversion of American culture, he said. He said that for 50 years American youth have been taught a lie: “If something … is legal, how can it possibly be immoral?” 

The Catholic Church has been a leader in opposing abortion, the bishop noted, saying that thousands of people, many of them young people, have marched, prayed, sung and demanded that Congress end this moral evil.  

A nation that promotes abortion as a constitutional right is a morally sick nation, he said. He said legalized abortion has crippled families, destroyed marriages, made politics divisive, and, like any deadly virus, spread to other countries in what Pope Francis has called the establishment of a throw-away culture. 

But Jesus won the victory over sin and death, evil can be rooted out by the power of love and God will answer our prayers, the bishop said. 

Editor’s note: The Mass can be watched online at www.worcesterdiocese.org/january-events.  

Those who want to “publicly witness to the sanctity of life” locally can join others in a rosary rally at noon Jan. 22 across from the Planned Parenthood abortion facility at 470 Pleasant St., Worcester, pro-life organizers announced.