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Standing up for life
Prayer and processions planned to mark Roe v. Wade anniversary
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
January 17, 2008
Americans across the country will once again bring life issues to the forefront this weekend as they march and pray to mark the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision to legalize abortion.
Locally, Arizona Right to Life and Life Education Corporation are sponsoring an annual rally and march Jan. 20, two days before the Roe v. Wade anniversary. This year, the rally will take place at Wesley Bolin Park in central Phoenix with a march planned to reach the steps of the state Capitol.
Because the rally falls so closely to Martin Luther King Day this year, organizers have chosen “Living the Dream: Right to Life for All” as the event’s theme.
“We’re really focusing around people who are helping to secure this dream for all of us,” said Melanie Pritchard, of the Life Education Corporation and an organizer for the rally.
“We’re going to have Bishop [Thomas J.] Olmsted leading us in prayer and we have Alan Sears from the Alliance Defense Fund who’s fighting for the dream through the court systems,” she said.
Bishop Olmsted will celebrate an 11:15 a.m. Mass at nearby St. Matthew Parish before the event.
Cathi Herrod will emcee the rally. She’s the president of the Center for Arizona Policy, which promotes moral principles in public policy as well as through the broader culture.
There will also be a speaker who works with the production company Metanoia Films, which recently made the pro-life movie “Bella.”
“We have these different aspects in the political sphere and through the media,” Pritchard said.
These are two important arenas in the fight for life, which she hopes will be emphasized this coming year.
“I want to use the Internet. I want to use YouTube,” Pritchard said, referencing the popular video-sharing Web site. “I want to use things people are watching to get the message out there. We need to get the correct information out.”
Getting solid information out to youth and young adults is especially important, Mike Phelan said. As director of the diocesan Marriage and Respect Life Office, he co-sponsors a pro-life vigil for youth and young adults at the All Saints Newman Center in Tempe each year.
This year the vigil will be held on Jan. 18 and will include talks, praise and worship music, adoration and a eucharistic procession led by the bishop up “A” mountain. There, the group will offer a pro-life prayer written by John Paul II for the city stretching out below them.
Last year about 300 people attended and Phelan expects the event to draw even more this year. In fact, nearly every aspect of the pro-life movement in the Valley is expanding and flourishing, Phelan said.
Many parishes will be holding a focused hour of adoration on Jan. 22 for reparation of sins committed against the unborn and a number of parishes will be hosting other events.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has set Jan. 22 apart as “a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life,” according to the conference’s Web site.
Bishop Olmsted is calling on local Catholics to fast on bread and water for at least one meal, to seek the sacrament of reconciliation and to spend extra time in prayer and adoration on Jan. 22.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Scottsdale will host a candlelight procession Jan. 22 to commemorate the Roe v. Wade decision. The event will feature hymns, Benediction, the rosary and a potluck.
The parish’s sanctity of life group hosts pro-life events throughout the year, all with an eye toward “educating the parish and leading the parish in prayer on the importance life,” said Kathy Gabrielson, a member of the group.
Getting the pro-life message out at the parish level is critical, Phelan said, since that is where most Catholics encounter the Church.
“It’s very important that people hear that abortion is an unspeakable crime against humanity from their priest, their deacons and from those that serve, because otherwise they may not hear it at all,” Phelan said.
And when everyday people get involved in fighting for life, great things can happen, Pritchard said.
“In order to secure this dream, we all need to become active in it. We all need to do our part,” she said. “It’s a statement to the rest of Arizona and the rest of the country that we’re willing to fight for this.”
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