Standing up for life

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

“Everyone should have the choice to live and it’s important to stand up for that.”
That’s why Emily Johnson said she went on the March for Life in  Washington, D.C., Friday.
“I’m here to fight for kids who don’t have a voice and I think it’s wrong to take their life,” said Valarie Mensah.
“I’ve always wanted to (go); I’ve just never had the opportunity,” said Bryan Crue, as he waited for the send-off Mass Jan. 17 at St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester. “My mother passed away when I was in eighth grade. I realized God gave us life to live. Through abortion, they’re putting an end to what God gave us. My mom died at a very young age. She didn’t get to experience everything out of life. And that’s what abortion prevents.”
These young people from St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School in Worcester were among 19 students who went to the march from their school, with four chaperons, according to their campus ministry director, Megan Capurso. She collected their comments after the march.
    They were among more than 100 people, mostly from schools and parishes in the diocese, who boarded two buses to the Jan. 18 march after the Mass at St. Paul’s, said Allison LeDoux, director of the diocesan Respect Life Office. Other local groups took their own transportation.
People prayed here too. Mrs. LeDoux said an email from Adam Cormier, principal of  St. Mary Junior/Senior High School in Worcester, informed her that they had Mass, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction and Stations of the Cross for Life on Jan. 18, in union with those going to the March.
“I was very touched to hear this,” she said.
“It was also edifying to see that at least a few parishes,” from various areas in the diocese, “were offering various prayer opportunities” for the Jan. 22 Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, she said.
Jan. 22 is the date of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy in all states. The annual march and accompanying events are ways of speaking out against that.
“The issue of abortion and the pro-life movement are things that deserve more attention than they get, so the more people that come to the march, the better,”said Cassie Tomczak, another St. Peter-Marian student.
“Many of us were committed to why we were there,” Corinna Soares, one of the leaders of St. Peter-Marian’s Guardians for Life, told The Catholic Free Press. “We were there to defend life.” She said it was her fourth time going.
“I’m excited because it’ll show the faith,” said Elsi Ojanen, a junior at St. Bernard Central Catholic High School in Fitchburg, before boarding a bus to go for the first time. She said the faith is what’s most important to her and “it’s important to show our morals still stand in the world we live in today.”
“It’s a way to feel like I’m doing something” to help the pro-life cause, said Rebecca Scheurer, who graduated from Trivium School in Lancaster last year, and was headed for the march again with her father and siblings.
“It’s a super good witness, because there are so many people and they’re so alive in their faith – Washington, D.C., is crawling with Catholics,” added her sister Emma, a Trivium student. Even though not all marchers are Catholics, “we’re all doing the same thing, so we’re all connected.”
“It was really fun because we got everything done,” said Jeet Patel, a St. Peter-Marian senior. “We got to sight see and go to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, but we also got to go to the march and show our support.”
His classmate Giordana Sena said the march was a great success.
“We got to see people come be united together as one, we got to sight see, and overall have an amazing time,” she said.
Kaitlin Sundstrom said she’d highly recommend it to a friend.
Michael Clark, another St. Peter-Marian student, said he loves Ben Shapiro and “getting to see him speak was life changing.” The popular conservative podcast host spoke about why abortion is not the answer, Miss Capurso said.
Father Richard F. Reidy, vicar general of the diocese, connected abortion with other issues in his homily at the send-off Mass.      
“Fifty-six years ago something was very wrong with our country,”  he said. Too many people were neglected and unwelcome. Governmental leaders needed to hear and see a witness. So tens of thousands boarded buses to Washington, D.C., to march for jobs and hear Martin Luther King speak of his dream.
“And that march touched the conscience of a nation” and helped with the securing of human rights, Father Reidy said.
Fifty-six years later something is very wrong, he continued. Rights were denied in the past because of people’s color, and now the right to life is denied because of Roe v. Wade.
“We board buses ... to provide a prayerful, powerful, peaceful witness” for respect for life from conception to natural death, he said.
“We are compelled” – by Scripture, where God calls for choosing life; by science, which shows an unborn child’s life is distinct from his or her mother’s; by our heritage, which says all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain rights, including the right to life, he said.
Father Reidy asked marchers to look at Catholic saints and American heroes and “remember their courage … conviction … sacrifices; remember and imitate.”
He continued: “May the March for Life touch the conscience of our nation … prompt a change of heart of our citizens … and a change of law.”