Students attend Mass for Life that honors advocates

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
 
WORCESTER – Bishop McManus told Catholic school students and others who filled St. Paul Cathedral March 24 about the power of prayer – and the need for it.
He was preaching at the Mass for Life that is celebrated on or around the March 25 feast of the Annunciation, which celebrates when Jesus took flesh in Mary’s womb. Students from Catholic schools around the diocese participate in that Mass, at which the bishop presents awards to people active in pro-life work. 
He presented the Mother Teresa Pro-Life Award to Deacon Robert and Irene Connor of St. Cecilia Parish in Leominster and to Ralph and Claire Weirich of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, and the Ruth V.K. Pakaluk Pro-Life Youth Award to Timothy Cody, a graduate student at Assumption University. Maryanna Hiester, of Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in Worcester, received the Gospel of Life Award on behalf of her pastor, Father Richard W. Polek, since he was out of state with visiting religious from Ukraine.
“Allow these people to be witnesses to us, that in our own way” we will be missionary disciples, promoting the dignity of life, Bishop McManus said in his homily.
He said he was delighted that Catholic school students nearly filled the cathedral for this Mass and told them they bring hope, not only for the future, but because of their dynamism now.
Last year he asked students and adults to pray that the United States Supreme Court would overturn its disastrous Roe v. Wade decision that, in legalizing abortion nationwide, allowed 62 million innocent babies to be killed, he said.
Last June the court overturned Roe, he noted.
“That success was … the answer to prayer,” he said.
The Supreme Court decision also sparked violence from people upset with it. The bishop noted that the Problem Pregnancy crisis pregnancy center “five-minutes” away from the cathedral, was defaced. 
Now prayers are needed for the conversion of hearts, the bishop said, adding, “In some ways, that might be more difficult.”
 
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