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October 12, 2008

Crowd kicks off ‘40 Days for Life’ prayer vigil

By Pam DeFiglio

CONTRIBUTOR

About 150 people gathered on Chicago’s Northwest side to pray during a kickoff for the “40 Days for Life Chicago Campaign” vigil on Sept. 24.

Organizers are asking volunteers to pray for the sanctity of life round-the-clock for 40 days, until Nov. 2. It’s part of a national campaign taking place in 170 cities in the United States.

“We already have 34 of the 40 days covered,” said Mary-Louise Kurey, director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Respect Life office, noting it will be hard for volunteers to show up at 2 or 3 a.m. when the weather gets chilly.

Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane, who played a key role at the event, said that while the “40 Days for Life” theme may be new, it bears the same message for life the Catholic church has embraced in the past.

“It’s a way of putting some structure to it,” he said. “It’s consistent with what the church has been doing.”

Appreciate the gift of life

Participants gathered in a grassy area outside the parking lot of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group, 5086 N. Elston Ave., for the vigil. The clinic’s Web site indicates its services include abortions. Participants, including several members of the Knights of Columbus in ceremonial dress, gathered around Kane and Father Robert Schultz, who led them in prayer and a rosary. Nearly all the participants held lit candles and many fingered rosary beads.

“Help us to have an appreciation for the gift of life in every human being,” Kane prayed.

After the prayers concluded, participants spread out one by one along the east, north and west sides of the fence surrounding the clinic’s parking lot. They placed candles on the ground bordering the fence. Some lingered in prayer, knelt or prayed aloud. Others said brief prayers and gravitated toward two young men in the crowd who were strumming guitars and singing devotional songs. Most spoke in quiet tones, and began to disperse around 8:30 p.m. as peacefully as they had arrived an hour earlier.

Organizers minded the legal details by keeping vigil participants on public property and making sure they did not block entrances or exits.

Drop in abortion statistics

The “40 Days for Life” vigil and its idea of using prayer and fasting in opposition to abortion originated with Texas resident David Bereit, according to Kurey. He encouraged people in College Station, Texas, to pray and fast for 40 days to oppose abortion.

“Following that time, the number of abortions in the community dropped significantly,” Kurey said. The numbers were publicly available because each state has reporting requirements to enable public health agencies to compile statistics.

The “40 Days for Life” Web site indicates that Bereit and others organized the original 40-day vigil in 2004. Since then, the idea has caught on around the country. Last year, the Archdiocese of Chicago participated for the full 40 days, but since it had little advance time to plan, Kurey said, volunteers staffed the vigil for only 12 hours per day.

Kurey said the 40-day theme was chosen because it’s a significant number in the Bible. It comes up several times, including Jesus’ sojourn of 40 days in the desert.

Participants drove in

At this year’s vigil kickoff, many participants drove in from the suburbs for the event.

“I think it’s important to be here on the first night,” said Danita Covington of Oak Park, who attends St. John Cantius Church. Linda Villarica of Willowbrook, a parishioner at Our Lady of Peace, said the vigil was her first time participating in such an event.

“I’d like to pray for the unborn,” she said. “We’d like abortion to end.”

Standing next to Villarica, Amy Albertine of Lisle said, “We know prayers are powerful.” Albertine is a member of Couples for Christ, one of the “40 Days for Life” cosponsors, in addition to the archdiocese. The others include Illinois Right to Life, the Knights of Columbus, The Women’s Center and the Pro-Life Action League.

Bishop Kane expressed a thought similar to Villarica’s when he said “We hope there would be fewer abortions and more people convinced of the value of human life, especially in its most vulnerable stages.”