In Defense of Life
When I close my eyes, I can still see all the sights of the March for Life. I see the posters, flags, and banners, but I especially remember the groups that carried them. They traveled from far and wide, many even from different countries, all in the name of life. Some groups made a “joyful noise” like the rapping Franciscan brothers from the Bronx and the college students from the Catholic University of America who chanted, “We love babies, yes we do. We love babies, how ‘bout you?” Of course, many (maybe most) of the participants were praying for the dignity of life, all life, to be recognized by the U.S. government.
The group of youths and their chaperones representing the Diocese of Portland were no different. All fifty-two of us marched down Constitution Ave. in Washington, D.C. next to the above mentioned groups and scores more. We, like many others, had spent the previous day sightseeing in the Capitol, splitting up and going to various monuments and museums. This was followed by the Vigil Mass for Life in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception where 5 cardinals, 40 bishops, 350 priests, and 550 seminarians celebrated mass (that makes for a 35 minute long processional hymn!) for the 8,000 faithful who crammed into the church.
Those 8,000 Catholics added to the estimated 300,000+ participants in the actual March for Life on Friday afternoon. Though the sightseeing was educational and the Mass was beautiful, the most meaningful part for me came at the beginning of the march. Following directly behind the main ‘March for Life” banner and the EWTN news crews were rows of women and men, holding up chilling signs that read, “I regret my abortion” or “I regret my lost fatherhood”. As these men and women passed the Diocese of Portland group, silence enveloped the crowded street. “Here are the people who have actually been through the horrors we are rallying against,” I thought to myself.
Though I doubt any of these brave marchers will ever read this, I’d like to thank each and every one of them for both the warning they give to future men and women who face an untimely pregnancy, and the hope they lend to those who have- God always forgives.