Locals to march for life in D.C.

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Catholics from the Archdiocese of St. Louis will once again converge in Washington, D.C., for the 36th annual March for Life later this month.

The march, held this year on Thursday, Jan. 22, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people united by one pro-life voice. The event commemorates the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

Archdiocesan Administrator Bishop Robert J. Hermann will celebrate the archdiocese’s annual commemorative Mass at 8 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Lindell Boulevard and Newstead Avenue in the Central West End.

The offertory collection will benefit the LifeLine Coalition, a group of social service agencies that provide financial and emotional support to tens of thousands of local women facing crisis pregnancies.

After the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Bishop Hermann will lead a Rosary procession to the nearby Planned Parenthood abortion facility. The vigil will conclude with Benediction at 10:30 a.m. back at the cathedral basilica.

This year, the March for Life will come on the heels of the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony of president-elect Barack Obama. Obama, a staunch supporter of abortion on demand in the United States, has noted that if given the chance, he would sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act, which seeks to override state laws that regulate abortions.

The march "is a critical sign of solidarity for people who believe in the sanctity of life," said Christina Heddell, director of the archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate. And it’s "even more crucial at the beginning of a pro-choice administration. It’s good for the new administration to see the faces of people who believe in the sanctity of human life."

The deadline to register for the Missouri Life Caravan, one of the area’s largest contingents going to the march, has been extended, but applications need to be turned in as soon as possible, according to spokeswoman Ellie Dillon.

At least eight buses are expected to travel to Washington on the caravan, which is organized by Missouri Right to Life. This year, the group is organizing the trip just for Missouri pilgrims; last year, the group included participants from Illinois.

Reflecting on Obama’s new presidency in 2009, Dillon said "we hope to make an impression on the legislators, since this is a president with pro-abortion views. Our main emphasis is going to be stopping the Freedom of Choice Act, which (Obama) has pledged to sign into law."

All buses going on the caravan will meet at the St. Louis Gateway Arch for a prayer rally and press conference before leaving on the overnight trip to Washington. Upon their arrival the next morning, the group will meet with members of Congress and listen to speakers in the morning before heading to the noon march and rally near the Washington Monument. Later in the afternoon, they will attend appointments with senators and representatives and their aides.

For more information on the Missouri Life Caravan or to register for the trip, call (314) 434-4900 or visit www.missourilife.org. Registration forms are available at the website.

Bishop Hermann plans on participating in several activities while in Washington for the march. On Jan. 21, he will be one of numerous concelebrants at the annual National Vigil Mass for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass and National Prayer Vigil for Life are sponsored by the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.

On Jan. 22, Bishop Hermann will celebrate a 7 a.m. Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Washington for St. Louis pilgrims attending the march. Last year, more than 350 people attended the Mass.

After the midday march, Bishop Hermann will head to the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in nearby Arlington, Va., to speak to a sold-out crowd of 1,000 St. Louis teens participating in the annual Life Really Matters trip.

The Jan. 21-25 trip, coordinated by a group of local youth ministers and volunteers, will begin with an opening session at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Ill. The group will stay at the Marriott during their time in Washington.

Even after filling the trip, "we turned away about 450 kids," said Greg Robeson, event coordinator and regional director of Southside Youth Ministry. "Last year we had 860, and we knew we were going to grow."

Robeson said he wasn’t sure what the growth could be attributed to, but "we’re grateful a lot of kids want to go. You can see the power of the Holy Spirit in the young people."

Keynote speaker will be Michael James Mette, music minister for Southside Youth Ministry. Catholic rap artist and national speaker Bob "Righteous B" Lesnefsky is emceeing, and music will be provided by Karl Zimmermann and his House Band.

"The theme is ‘hope,’ and one of the musical themes is ‘We are the hands and feet’" of God, said Robeson. "We have a duty to rise up to our political leaders and nation, for them to know we are in it for the long haul. The truth of the dignity of human life will prevail."

Nearly 60 individuals from St. Joseph Parish in Farmington, including three different sets of three-family generations, plan on attending this year’s march, according to pastor Father Rickey Valleroy.

The group raised funds for the trip throughout the year, he said, by holding two barbecues and a chicken fry.

"The trip to march is much more like a spiritual retreat for our people," he said. "This year, our patronness will be Our Lady of the Miraculous medal and we will have nine novenas throughout the trip. We also have Mass each day."

Other highlights for the group will include participating in the laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, and a day at Monticello, once the home of President Thomas Jefferson.

Students for Life at St. Louis University is sending a busload of 56 for this year’s march, according to staff adviser and SLU campus minister Steve Fowler.

Students are planning to attend the annual Students for Life of America conference, hosted on the campus of Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Several SLU students also are expected to attend an inaugural reception for the Life Prizes Award, given to individuals or groups who have made significant contributions to upholding the sanctity of human life. The award is sponsored by the Gerard Health Foundation. Fowler noted that Students for Life was nominated for the award, but was not one of this year’s recipients.

The morning of the march, Students for Life will join with students from other U.S. Jesuit high schools and universities at Gonzaga College High School in Washington for a Mass. While in Washington, SLU students are primarily staying with families from Gonzaga, said Fowler.

About two dozen teens with Vincentian Marian Youth in Perryville will make the most of their Jan. 20-25 trip to the march by helping out at a maternity home in the D.C. area, according to VMY co-director Cathy Peirick.

The teens, who hail from Perryville and nearby areas of Oak Ridge, Jackson, Apple Creek, Ste. Genevieve and Bloomsdale, will stay at St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home in Hyattsville, Md., run by the Daughters of Charity
Last year’s visit there proved "very sad, but wonderful for the kids to see," said Peirick. The home "teaches (clients) the mothering skills to take care of their kids."

On the day of the march, the group will attend the annual Youth Rally and Mass for Life at the Verizon Center, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington. After the march, teens will head to a local park to provide food to the homeless.

"We make sandwiches and we go to the park," said Peirick. "That’s quite an awesome experience for the kids."

Eighth-graders from St. Gertrude School in Krakow will be making the school’s fourth pilgrimage to the march. Fifty-three students and adults will be going on the Jan. 20-25 trip, said eighth-grade religion teacher Clem Genteman.

Pastor Father Richard Coerver will preside at a prayer service for the group before their departure.

The trip will doubly serve as a lesson in life issues as well as a history lesson, said Genteman.

"We will visit the historical places in D.C. relative to their history classes," he said, including the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, the World War II Memorial, The Holocaust Memorial Museum, Arlington National Cemetery and several of the Smithsonian Institution museums.

"The kids see so much, and come back with so much," said Genteman. "They have a good trip, even if it takes 16-18 hours. It’s something they’re going to remember, especially for the pro-life march. It has a visual impact."