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February 3, 2008

Witnesses to the Gospel of Life Young and old stand up and speak out against the culture of death on 35th anniversary of Roe v Wade

By Joyce Duriga

EDITOR

Jesus, youth, prayer and religious vocations were the dominant themes of the archdiocese’s 2008 March for Life Pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. And, of course, witnessing to the dignity of life for the unborn on the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

It’s dubbed a pilgrimage by the archdiocese’s Respect Life Office and it truly is. High school and college students, chaperones, priests and individual laypeople boarded five charter buses on Jan. 20 at St. Lawrence O’Toole Parish in Matteson, following a send off Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki — and settled in for the long-haul 12-hour, over-night bus ride to Washington, D.C.

It was a two-and-a-half day trip that began with each bus praying the rosary. Some buses prayed Evening Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours and all heard vocation talks from the priest assigned to each bus. And they came to know one another better playing cards, laughing, making up cheers and the other things young people do when confined to small spaces for long periods of time.

Pilgrimage experience

In Catholic tradition, pilgrimages are a time to come closer to God. They are usually journeys to holy sites but can be journeys to events like the March for Life or World Youth Day. But the purpose of any pilgrimage is conversion.

Several veterans marching this year attested to personal conversion.

“Half the stuff I do [today] comes from inspiration from the March for Life” said Cole Biefeldt, 20, who was on her fifth march. She said she “got addicted” after the first one in high school.

Now a student at North Park University, Biefeldt founded a social-justice group on campus last semester called Students of Life or SOL, which is the Spanish word for sun. We “gain light and spread it,” she said.

For Biefeldt, the highlight of the trip is the Cardinal O’ Connor Conference for Life at Georgetown University because “You find out why we [Catholics] are doing what we’re doing.”

Many of the pilgrims had chances during the trip, whether they wanted to or not, to witness the Gospel of life when strangers in coffee shops, hotel lobbies or on street corners stopped them and asked why their group was in town. Some pilgrims were praised for their efforts, some chastised.

When the high school students went to pray the rosary in front of a Planned Parenthood in Georgetown, many said they heard comments from passersby such as “Go home,” “Disgraceful,” “You should be ashamed.” It was a new experience for many.

Praying to Jesus

Each day, Chicago pilgrims attended Mass and had opportunities for the sacrament of reconciliation. One of the liturgical highlights was the annual vigil Mass for life on Jan. 21 at the Basilica of the National Shrine to the Immaculate Conception near Catholic University of America.

The Mass opens the prayer vigil, an overnight event at the basilica where many teens and chaperones spend the night in the shrine and participate in eucharistic adoration with seminarians from around the country.

The vigil Mass is an experience along the lines of a World Youth Day Mass. More than 8,000 people squeeze into every inch of available floor space in the two-level marble and mosaic-decorated basilica. This is no small feat since this national shrine of the Catholic church in America is the largest church in North America and one of the tenth largest churches in the world.

People literally are everywhere.

They are spread out on sleeping bags on the marble floor in the church crypt and squeezed into the smaller side altars that line the outside of the main church. Those who don’t have sight of the main altar, watch Mass on closed-circuit televisions set up throughout the basilica.

They begin arriving about four hours before Mass starts to get a seat. And they stayed through the recessional.

Religious vocations alive

The opening procession lasted 30 min- and could have been a walking advertisement for vocations to the priesthood with seminarians, priests and more than 40 bishops and cardinals, including Cardinal George, making their way to the altar surrounded by incense and peppered with flashes from cameras. (Cardinal George had lunch with area high school students earlier in the day and fielded their questions.)

Father Matt Compton of Holy Name Cathedral, who was one of the many priests who vested for the vigil Mass, said it was the second-most well attended Mass he was ever part of. The first one took place during the 2000 Jubilee Year in Mexico.

All of the clergy, religious and laity gathered together around the Eucharist inspired him, he said. “For me that was a glimpse of heaven.”

The large number of Catholic groups attending the March for Life from all around the country was also inspiring, Compton said. “For a Catholic to come it’s a witness to how broad the church here [in the United States] is,” he said.

All of the events surrounding and including the march that had a Catholic focus could be viewed as testaments to vocations. Priests wearing clerical collars laughed with pilgrims. Religious women wearing habits were frequent companions for the pilgrims, as were religious brothers and priests. All were together in unity to promote the right to life.

Finally, to the march

On the morning of the march, most of the Chicago pilgrims joined 20,000 young people for a 7 a.m. praise and worship rally and Mass at the Verizon Center in Washington.

They packed the home of the Capitals NHL hockey team and the Wizard’s NBA team, prayed and received Jesus in the Eucharist. There was also a surprise message from Pope Benedict XVI read by U.S. Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi.

Then the mass group of Catholics headed out into the cold weather to Constitution Avenue to join the March for Life.

Young and not so young

The archdiocesan pilgrimage is not just for youth. Eva Baginska, 30, of St. Francis Borgia came at the invitation of one of her parish priests, Father Piotr Gnoinski.

“He said it was a real life-changing experience,” Baginska said. “It’s a tiring, exhausting experience, but it’s really worth it.”

Like other adults and young people on the trip, Baginska also came to see the nation’s capital. Mark Bussey, 18, of St. Lawrence O’Toole Parish, said the sightseeing was a highlight for him as well. Even though this was not his first trip to the March for Life, he said it was the best. He was really moved by the “Silent No More” prayer vigil that takes place after the march on the steps of the Supreme Court. Here women who regret their abortions share their stories.

Convicted and moved

It can be easy to think that young people who attend the event are only looking for some time off from school. While that’s bound to happen, most of the young people who attend the March for Life believe in the message.

Genevieve White, 17, and her sister Jeanne, 15, came with classmates from St. Ignatius College Preparatory School on Roosevelt Road.

They’ve come before with their family and said supporting the pro-life message is a natural issue to get behind.

“Some of it is from our parents, but it just seems obvious to me,” said Genevieve.

She said she’s sad that abortions occur at all and it’s important to voice opposition to save life. “You have to stop it for future people.”

Jeanne agreed, saying it’s their generation who has been most adversely effected by abortion.

“We’re the ones who could have been killed. She could have been an only child,” Jeanne said of her sister.