Marching for life

By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Mike Ward, a senior at Mount Carmel High School on the South Side, knows that his pro-life views often put him in the minority.

But when he and other Chicago-area teens walked from the Ellipse to the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. Jan. 24 as part of the 32nd Annual March for Life, he no longer felt alone.

“I looked back, and for at least a mile and a half, it was nothing but people,” said Ward, an Evergreen Park resident who went on the march at the suggestion of his theology teacher. “It was a great time because of how many young people were there.”

Ward was part of a group of about 100 who traveled with the archdiocesan Respect Life Office, said Mary-Louise Kurey, the office’s director. Also in Washington for the March were 26 seminarians from Mundelein, groups from Loyola University Chicago, the John Paul II Newman Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northridge College Prep and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago, among others.

All had to fight their way to the nation’s capital through a snowstorm that extended a planned 13-hour bus ride to 22 hours.

The annual event marks the Jan. 22 anniversary of the 1972 Roe vs. Wade decision by the Supreme Court, making abortion legal in all 50 states. It traditionally draws tens of thousands of people—this year’s crowd was estimated at about 100,000—but very little coverage in the mainstream media.

“We have to come back every year because every year that passes by with legalized abortion is a tragedy,” said Kurey, noting that more than 40 million abortions have been performed in the United States since Roe vs. Wade. “It’s just unfathomable to think of all the lives that have been lost. We have to walk with them, and with all the mothers and fathers who are suffering emotional, psychological and sometimes physical damage.”

Even so, Kurey said, the march always keeps an upbeat attitude. Participants this year exuded even more energy, she said, “There’s just an increased sense of optimism that the situation in this country with abortion cannot be maintained,” she said. “We’re going to see real change soon.”

The pilgrims traveling with the Respect Life Office first participated in a send-off Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki at Queen of All Saints Basilica on the North Side Jan. 21.

In Washington, the group joined Cardinal George Jan. 23 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center for lunch and a question-and-answer period. That evening, they attended a Mass for Life celebrated by Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with pilgrims from across the country.

The following day, the Chicago contingent went to a Rally for Life and Youth Mass at the MCI Center in the morning, and the March for Life from the Washington Monument to Capital Hill and the steps of the Supreme Court in the afternoon.

Their trip ended with a “Silent No More” Prayer Vigil on the steps of the Supreme Court in the evening before departing for Chicago.

Kymberly Forsythe, 17, a senior at Carmel High School in Mundelein, said that for her, the best parts were the youth Mass at the MCI Center and the vigil Mass at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The Respect Life Office planned its itinerary to give students not only spiritual support but to educate them about abortion and the pro-life movement, in hopes they would come home and evangelize their peers.

Forsythe, a Crystal Lake resident, and fellow Carmel High School students plan to do just that by establishing a pro-life club at their school.

“There are a lot of people who have hope for the same cause we do,” she said.