Annual pro-life rally moves to Tempe

By Andrew Junker | January 15, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

While millions of men and women across the country prepare to mark the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade this Jan. 22, pro-life supporters from across Arizona will gather in Tempe for three days of marching, prayer and education.

This year’s events are a departure for the annual life rally, which in the past has centered on a march to the state Capitol in downtown Phoenix.

“Tempe is the cultural center in our town. It’s the place young people go. It’s a place of vibrancy and enthusiasm and art and education,” said Mike Phelan, director of the diocesan office of Marriage and Respect Life Issues. “Our needs are education, inspiration and culture change where we can do it.”

And one group that desperately needs that education is college-age women, said Melanie Pritchard, director of education for Life Educational Corporation.

“We wanted to focus our attention on a group of people choosing these abortions and be right there on their campus,” she said. “We’re in a place where young women need to hear this message, those who wouldn’t otherwise come to our rallies.”

The three-day event will begin with a Jan. 21 Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Tempe celebrated by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted at 7 p.m.

The following day — which is the actual anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion — will begin with a 5 p.m. prayer demonstration in front of the Planned Parenthood on Apache Boulevard in Tempe.

“It’s a way to surround Planned Parenthood with our prayers and our words, to let people know that there is a Planned Parenthood here and that babies are being aborted right here on this street,” Pritchard said.

At 6 p.m., participants are invited to make their way to Arizona State University’s Hayden Lawn for a concert, presentation and prayer vigil. They can either walk the short distance to the university, take the new light rail or ride a bus leaving from Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s parking lot.

Once they arrive at Hayden Lawn, participants will be treated to a concert and testimony from pro-life advocates. One of the speakers will be Kim Schmidt, who founded With Child, a pregnancy center that seeks to convince women to choose adoption over abortion and matches them with adoptive parents.

“Kim will talk along with a woman who chose adoption along with her child’s adoptive family,” Pritchard said. “It’s a powerful testimony.”

A prayer litany will close the evening.

Friday, Jan. 23, will see the annual youth and young adult rally at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. The bishop will lead everyone in a eucharistic procession up “A” Mountain for adoration.

Culture and politics

The election of an abortion-rights supporting president along with pro-abortion majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives has many pro-life Catholics worried.

Phelan mentioned an important political initiative that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has recently devised to show their opposition to any abortion-promoting legislation.

It’s a campaign to fight against the Freedom of Choice Act, a piece of federal legislation that has come forward in several forms over the past decade and a half.

“Basically, it’s goal is to place abortion at the level of a fundamental right,” Phelan said. “The bill has been resurrected. It’s something that our president-elect has said he’ll sign as one of his first acts as president, and both houses of the federal legislatures are pro-choice majorities.”

So, dioceses across the country will be distributing a set of three post-cards — one for each senator and one for each Catholic’s particular representative — at Masses during the weekend of Jan. 24-25. Priests are being asked to explain the initiative during Masses the previous weekend.

“The goal is really to flood Washington, D.C., with the message that Catholics won’t stand for knocking down every bit of pro-life legislation that we’ve passed in the past 30 years,” Phelan said.

The Diocese of Phoenix has ordered 200,000 postcards to distribute.

But the move to a college campus from the state Capitol also carries some rich symbolism with it, Phelan said. While fighting for pro-life causes in the political realm is of great importance, fighting to create a culture of life is equally important.

College students — whom Phelan described as often suffering from a sort of “radical boredom” — are good indicators of the prevailing culture.

“There’s a tremendously blasé and bored sense of life that young people have today,” he said. “I have tremendous hope when the propaganda can be cut through and students can be confronted with the facts. Young people have a nose for lies and it’s a matter of being sure we’re clear enough and can be heard.”

Phelan said college students often exemplify the larger trend many people have of refusing to take a stand on abortion.

“It’s much easier to just take whatever seems to be the most common opinion,” he said. “In the ’60s, people thought they were dealing with real lies and they were motivated to stand up to them. There’s a real tug of war with this generation.”

And while confronting passers-by with the ugly truth about abortion is important, it’s also pivotal to show them that pro-lifers care for the wellbeing of pregnant women, Pritchard said.

“I hope the students see that we have compassion for all women in crisis pregnancies. We have compassion for the mothers, the fathers and the babies,” she said. “I hope they see that we’re people who are coming together because we honestly care about the wellbeing of every life involved.”

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Coming to a parish near you

The U.S. Catholic bishops hope to send a pro-life message to the newly convened 111th Congress. And they’re asking the laity to help.

As part of the USCCB’s pro-life efforts, the conference is distributing millions of postcards in churches across the country for parishioners to send to their senators and state representatives.

Each postcard expresses concern and displeasure over the Freedom of Choice Act, a piece of legislation that would create a “fundamental right” to abortion and repeal many existing laws that regulate abortions.

“Please oppose FOCA or any similar measure, and retain laws against federal funding and promotion of abortion,” the postcards read. “As your constituent, I would appreciate a written response telling me how you would vote on these matters.”

A space follows for the sender’s name and address.

Catholics across the Valley will hear about this initiative during Jan. 17-18 Masses, and will receive the postcards at Masses Jan. 24-25.