Change in March for Life tone is a happy surprise

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A sister from the Sisters of Life, founded in 1991 by Cardinal John O’Connor, prayed after Communion at the Vigil Mass of the National Prayer for Life. States.

When the opportunity to help chaperone my son's pro-life club at St. Louis Priory School to the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. came along, I realized how many years had passed since I had last walked the streets of our nation's capital in witness to the cause for life.

I was a college student at Syracuse University in upstate New York studying journalism. My studies required me to cover and investigate the world at large as I prepared for my future career as a photojournalist. When I learned of the March for Life, I hastily made plans with some fellow students to head south and investigate.

My main motivation for going to the march was to photograph it as an assignment for one of my classes, not because I was so overwhelmingly committed to the life cause.

I don't think I had ever seen such a large gathering of people as I saw that day at the March for Life. In fact, my poor brain could hardly take in the emotions enkindled that day in my soul. I vividly remember the large number of pro-choice advocates who caused much turmoil and disruption during the day.

At that time, the pro-life movement faced quite a gritty and tough battle. Admittedly it is still very much that way today, but the overall tone and demeanor of many pro-life advocates have changed. My first experience of the march consisted of many mean-spirited words and hateful speech, shouted in rage by both sides of the protest. This upset me greatly. I was quite shocked to witness such violent behavior (especially by those whose position for embracing life should have caused them to witness in what I thought should be a more Christian manner).

On the rally day in 1988, President Ronald Reagan spoke to Nellie Gray, the woman credited with founding the first March for Life in 1974.

The president addressed the participants in the rally via a telephone call to Gray and said, "America was founded on a moral proposition that human life — all human life — is sacred." He continued, "This proposition is the bedrock of our national life, the foundation of our laws. It's the wellspring of our Constitution. Courts may ignore it, and they have," he said, adding, "When we begin to take some life casually, we threaten all life."

I was certainly glad when my first March for Life day was over. I recall that my friends and I pointedly avoided talking about what we had seen during the day. Our only remarks to each other were at having been astounded by the great numbers of protesters and the virulent opposiing viewpoints on the value of human life contained within a woman's womb.

This year my soul was so happily surprised to witness that the March for Life was nothing like my experience two decades ago. Instead of angry mobs of protesters swarming the streets looking to battle one another, I found only young, hopeful faces who were enthusiastically bearing witness to life from the moment of conception. Their countenance was much more composed and sincere than I recall the pro-life advocates at my first march. Their tactic greatly reminded me of the words from St. James who wrote, "The harvest of justice is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace." Truly I see that we are now showing compassion and not anger, and that fact has changed the tone of the whole movement.

The physical make-up of this March for Life has changed and it was overwhelmingly young! I sometimes felt I had come to World Youth Day instead of the March for Life! There were certainly more than a few gray-haired heads in the crowd, but this was by far a testament to the amazing number of youth who are growing up with minds and hearts committed to growing a culture of life.

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To begin energizing and fortifying themselves for their march, these young pro-lifers met for Masses and spirit rallies all over the Washington, D.C., area.

Over 1,600 youth from St. Louis' Office of Youth Ministry pilgrimage witnessed together at their hotel, where Archbishop Robert J. Carlson celebrated Mass for them on the day of the march. Another 1,000 young people from the St. Louis Archdiocese came with their parish youth groups and schools.

My group ventured along with over 10,000 other people who crammed into the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the campus of Catholic University of America. At the shrine we celebrated Mass with Cardinals Daniel DiNardo, Sean O'Malley, Francis George and Donald Wuerl, along with dozens of other bishops, hundreds of priests and seminarians as well as huge numbers of women religious.

Most of the congregants at the shrine had come before noontime in order to be certain of obtaining either a cherished pew, or at the very least, some floor space for the early evening Mass. Each and every side altar and aisle were filled with those praying the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet or simply having a quiet rest.

Many of these pilgrims stayed at the basilica for the entire night as they were invited to pray and adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in eucharistic adoration. They slept there too, refreshing their bodies for the march on the next day.

Our group was fortunate to stay at St. Anselm Monastery where the most hospitable monks took care of us. Their kindness in allowing us (10 young men from Priory School, two monks and myself) to pray Lauds, Mass and Vespers, helped to establish a prayerful countenance within our group. In fact, it was heartwarming to see how Father Ralph Wright and Father Dominic Lenk (Benedictine monks from St. Louis Abbey) taught the boys to pray the "Litany in Response to Abortion." The litany calls upon God to show His mercy in praying for all those involved in the abortion and pro-life cause. It begs God to help in their efforts to promote the sacredness of life.

For many of the pro-life protesters, I am sure the day was almost like a giant group therapy session. Standing together with over 400,000 others, you feel not quite so alone in your desire to promote the value of human life. In fact, it can certainly inspire enthusiasm you didn't have previously.

As we walked along the route we were met with exuberant youth from Chicago who sported bright yellow shirts with big black letters spelling out LIFE. They led the crowd in joyful song and chants and even some fancy dance moves, all trying to promote a culture of life. We walked past a fancily clad drum corps and bagpipe brigade who made music as they processed along with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, and also many who looked quite like us — ordinary souls who want nothing more than to be prayerful witnesses. As the young men from Priory walked together with the monks, they too lifted up their voices in prayer as they recited the Rosary together.

When I questioned the students after the March for Life, they noted what made the biggest impression upon them during the day. It was when they had finished processing along Constitution Avenue and were standing at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. They were in the first rows of onlookers/listeners to hear the personal testimonies of those men and women in the Silent No More Awareness Campaign who aim to reach out to people who have been hurt through abortion.

None of the boys previously were aware of the abortion story of rock star Steven Tyler from the band Aerosmith. They learned how many years ago, Tyler pressured then-fiancee Julia Holcomb, then aged 17, into enduring a saline abortion on her almost 5-month-old pre-born child. Holcomb spoke with much emotion and gruesome description of her experience. Her words made a tremendous impression on the young men.

On the airplane ride back to St. Louis, I had the chance to talk for a few minutes with my son. I asked him what it meant to have taken part in the March for Life.

"Mom," he said, "being with that huge crowd really made me realize just how important it is to stand up and speak for the unborn. I don't think I realized before just how much murder has actually been happening."

I took hold of his hand in a feeble attempt to show him a little comfort when he looked back at me and said, "I can't help but think that there are 50 million little babies who could have been my friend but never got the chance."

I was too staggered by his most sincere response to correct him that the number of abortions performed in the United States since 1973 is now estimated to be over 54 million.