Washington D.C., Jan 29, 2021 / 10:32 am (CNA).- Although the national March for Life is closed to the public this year, dozens of young adults gathered for a pro-life prayer vigil in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night.
While practicing social distancing and wearing masks, members of the group endured the January cold as they kept an all-night prayer vigil outside the U.S. Supreme Court building.
Organizers of the vigil told CNA that despite the Jan. 29 March for Life being closed to the public, they still wanted to take action for life.
As Thomas Hackett of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the co-founder of the Catholic worker organization Tradistae, had announced the vigil prior to the decision of the March for Life to be a virtual event, he decided to continue with his plans.
Hackett told CNA he wanted to embrace the “penitential tradition” of an all-night prayer vigil, to “emphasize the more radical nature” of how to respond to legalized abortion.
“I’m certainly supportive of [the March for Life], but it does often come across more as like a youth rally, like something fun to bus parish kids out to,” he said, explaining that there’s a need to take “seriously the certain gravity of what abortion is and what it means to live in a country where millions have been killed and continue to be killed in the womb.”
Preceding the vigil was a Votive Mass of the Holy Innocents at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill. Attendees then made a short procession to the U.S. Supreme Court building about two blocks away.
As the night continued and temperatures dropped into the mid 20s, the size of the group dwindled from roughly 30 people at the beginning to approximately eight people at dawn. Throughout the night, they prayed the Liturgy of the Hours and the rosary, and sang hymns.
Hackett told CNA that he had no major issues with the police or members of the military posted outside the Supreme Court, and that the vigil was peaceful the entire time.
“We told them we weren’t trying to cause any trouble,” said Hackett. “And so they didn’t bother us after that.”
Other people journeyed from near and far to stand for life.
Mickey Kelly took the train from Philadelphia to come to the Mass and vigil, partly because he views the annual March for Life as a tradition that he wanted to continue. He had been attending the March for Life nearly every year for the past 12 years.
“Even though it would be a small crowd, I just thought that I still wanted to make a difference,” Kelly said. He described his beliefs as supportive of “all stages of life, from womb to tomb.”
Attending the vigil in person “also gives me a chance to recommit to the cause for life,” he said. Kelly told CNA that he would also attempt to walk the traditional route of the March for Life on Friday, from the National Mall eastward down Constitution Avenue and to the Supreme Court.
“I just do my best to put what God wants me to do first, and what the world wants me to do last,” he said.
Valerie Hart, who traveled to D.C. for the vigil from Orlando, Florida, told CNA on Thursday night that she had booked her flights and accommodations for the March for Life “a few months ago.”
The organizers of the March for Life announced Jan. 15 that the 2021 event would be virtual. Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, cited both the pandemic and “the heightened pressures that law enforcement officers and others are currently facing in and around the Capitol” as reasons for the decision.
Mancini asked pro-lifers to “stay home” and watch a live-stream of the event, as a “small group of pro-life leaders” would still march in D.C.
Hart came to D.C. anyway, as she has every year since 2017. She said she was “heartbroken” when she found out the March was closed to the public.
“I just couldn’t understand,” she said. “Because all the protests that have been going on in D.C., and ours is getting canceled, basically.”
Hart said it was important for pro-lifers to go to D.C. to “get their voices heard.”
She told CNA that she planned on attending a pro-life rally Friday morning, one not organized by March for Life, and then would attempt to join the smaller in-person march of pro-life leaders.
“I guess we’ll just walk along–I mean, they can’t stop us from walking in D.C., right?” Hart said with a laugh.
“It’s important to stand up for pro-life values, to stand up for the unborn, for all lives,” she said. “It’s important that people see that we’re still here, and they can’t stop us.”
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Now that he’s been laicized, he’s no longer the institutional Church’s problem. Let the government pursue the charges with him as it would with any other person. But, given how he’s managed to weasel out of any and all criminal complications, nothing will happen.
Francis is never one to abide by canon law, nor does anyone besides Vigano protest when he violates it. What’s to stop him from tossing one of his laicized pals a boatload of money for legal fees. Mercy for evil doers, none for victims.
I recall that James Grein accused both McCarrick, and Bernardin of Chicago, with assaulting him at the lake in Wisconsin.
It seems likely that this may be the same case.
Voilà!
It’s only taken 46 years, but the Catholic Church has finally stumbled upon the way to handle its pervy predatory priest problem:
Turn them over to the civil authorities who will throw their ***es into prison.
Nitpick of the day, it’s Lake Geneva. I don’t see how things that are so obviously wrong can take so long to drag on and on. Wasn’t there supposed to be a report or something?
A sad end to an old man who thus far refuses to repent! Schemes and deception are unsuitable for a man proclaiming Jesus Christ.
Protestant Brian Young:
How do you know that McCarrick has refused to repent? Have you read his mind? What do you know about his confession status and the status of his soul? Did God reveal to you that McCarrick has refused to repent?
Schemes and deceptions are indeed unsuitable for anyone who proclaims Jesus Christ. These include writing things in Catholic comboxes designed to undermine the Catholic Faith and encourage Catholics to give up some of their cherished doctrinal beliefs.
Now what kind of a Christian would ever do such things while also absurdly proclaiming that he offers his deceptive words in a “spirit of godliness and edification”?
Dear dear, how fragile the catholic faith according to your prognostications. Was under the mistaken impression “that the gates of hell would not prevail against it”! Yet, according to you, I am wrong at every step. Why, you seem offended that we breath the same air!
Are you at the door extending your warm, felicitous greetings to one and all? Would the Lord Jesus pass your discerning muster? Yet don’t feel lonely for I encountered others of your ilk.
To the credit of the Catholic Church, I’ve met outstanding men and women of God, people who give fine testimony to what jesus Christ has done in their lives. Hope runs eternal, you are in my prayers.
Pardon me for not responding directly to your point. A recent article at CWR mentioned that “Uncle Ted” said of his accuser. “That is not true”! That is not repentance for the person who brought these charges against him is one of many who have strong cases! However, you are correct in every matter. No need for confession from your esteemed perspective.
Woe is me, poor sinner that I am, a constant struggle and unfailing repentance. The Lord is faithful and knows the predicament of man whatever his besetting sins are.
What is sad is that there are numerous predators in that church and many people who know who they are but are afraid or unwilling to call them out. God knows both groups and will deliver them a just and eternal punishment.
What what are you referencing when you write: “in that church (sic)”?
Is this Brian Young the Protestant or a different Brian altogether attacking “that church”?
In any case, the predator problem continues to sadly afflict all denominations, and the Catholic Church is not by any stretch the leader of the pack in housing and protecting a higher percentage of predators than any other denomination as many anti-Catholics would have everyone believe. As a matter of fact, the Catholic Church is a leader in implementing beneficial reforms to significantly reduce the incidences of abuse and cover-up, though of course more work needs to be done to eradicate the problem altogether.
It has been mentioned before, but for anyone who desires to get a better handle on the past and current status of the sexual abuse crisis, get a copy of Bill Donohue’s “The Truth About Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and Causes” (2021).
Also check out the following articles that demonstrate the ongoing lie that the sexual abuse problem is primarily a Catholic Church problem:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/do-the-right-thing/201808/separating-facts-about-clergy-abuse-fiction
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/may-web-only/southern-baptist-abuse-apocalypse-russell-moore.html
https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-10/evangelicals-worse-catholics-sexual-abuse