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Belleville diocese adds to numbers at march for life in nation's capital

In addition to Belleville diocesan parish groups who joined neighboring diocesan trips to the March for Life, a group of 33 teens through seniors made a three-day bus trip departing from Our Lady of the Snows.

Arriving in Washington, D.C., they began the anniversary of Roe vs Wade with 20,000 others for a Youth Rally and Mass.

The homily was woven around the words “protect, purity and prayer.”

Noting that it would require 2,500 filled stadiums to accommodate the 50 million lives lost to abortion in the United States since 1973, the youth were challenged to engage the culture in ife from the instant of conception to natural death.

Next, they were reminded that their own dignity too needs to be protected with lives of purity of thought and deed.
Finally they were reminded that even with the necessary advocacy and care, the defense of life could only ultimately come through prayer and fasting.

Along with the March, during the bus ride there were times for both prayer and education. Coupling truth with love, the two came together as the group considered the woman in crisis who may be distraught confronting the reality of the child whose life was taken. The prayer continues to be that her conviction turns her towards the welcoming embrace of Christ and the Church where she may find and experience hope, reconciliation and healing.