:: Faith Central Catholic News ::
March for Life 2009 draws hundreds of thousands,
surrounded by Masses and Holy Hours
Jan. 25, 2009
On Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, hundreds of thousand of pro-life Americans gathered for the 36th Annual March for Life on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Virtually 24 hours of events surround the March for Life, including multiple Catholic Masses, prayer vigils, and post-march gatherings of pro-life friends and colleagues.
The march marks the anniversary of the infamous 1973 judicial decree in Roe v. Wade that sought to carve out a prenatal exception for murder statutes, decriminalizing abortion for all nine months of pregnancy and unleashing the killing, over more than three decades, of 48 million preborn Americans. Abortion in America also has had a decidedly racist impact, with preborn black infants being killed at a rate five times that of preborn white infants.
As a public demonstration for respect for human life, and therefore the core values of America herself, the March for Life has come to serve as a national gathering-place, a focal point inspiring an outpouring of Faith in multiple Catholic Masses and prayer vigils. It also is a source of inspiration and solidarity serving as leaven to put Faith into action in service to the most defenseless among us.
Respect for Life events began the day before the March for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, including: a special mid-day Mass with Father Benedict Groeschel and an afternoon of reflections and testimonials at the Basilica.
Justin Cardinal Rigali of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, joined by countless other bishops and priests, celebrated a Vigil Mass for Life in the evening. The Basilica, the eighth-largest church in the world and the largest Catholic church in the western hemisphere, was filled by a tightly-packed standing-room-only crowd for the Vigil Mass for Life, with additional worshipers watching on television in extensive overflow areas in the lower level, including the Crypt Church. The capacity of the Basilica upper level has been set at 12,000, and additional thousands would have packed in on both levels. They were joined in prayer by millions watching on EWTN, as well as at additional Masses at other “overflow” locations.
Following the Vigil Mass for Life, the Basilica offered additional evening Confessions, and an all-night Prayer Vigil with multiple Holy Hours including Exposition, Rosaries, and other prayers, culminating with yet an additional Mass with a special pro-life focus early in the morning, celebrated by Bishop Paul Loverde of the Diocese of Arlington.
Also the morning of the March itself, a special Youth Rally and Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington for 20,000 worshipers at the NBA arena in Washington's Chinatown district several blocks north of the National Mall.
The March for Life itself featured a rally for several hundred thousand in the middle of the National Mall within site of the U.S. Capitol, the monuments, and the Smithsonian, featuring various pro-life speakers including elected officials. Following the rally, the march becomes a true march up Constitution Avenue, past the U.S. Capitol, to the street in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In front of the Supreme Court, the “Silent No More” campaign featured deeply moving, highly compelling testimonials from women who have had abortions explaining why they regret them, and how destructive and horrifying the abortion experience has been for them.
This year’s march had a route that, despite stretching roughly a half-mile, would have been too short to hold all the participants at once. And the Supreme Court apparently refused to provide march participants the same access to the immense marble plaza in front of the plaza that is given to the general public. For the general public, the plaza is wide open. For the march, the plaza is shut off by metal barricades, leaving only a wide sidewalk and the street. Security personnel refused to allow even roses to be placed just inches inside the barricade. And security personnel began clearing the street in front of the Supreme Court even while the women who have been victimized by abortion were giving their testimonials.
Communications media, often characterizing themselves as “news” media, in some cases already having editorialized against the protection of human life, often engage in self-censorship against coverage of the march, even media black-outs. Given its scope, the substantive content of the rally, and speeches by multiple elected officials, cable television traditionally had carried the rally and march on C-SPAN, but as of this writing, there is no record of that having happened this time. There is archived video on C-SPAN.org of the 2008 March, but nothing about the 2009 March.
The march, in turn, is one of the largest demonstrations to take place in Washington, and is undoubtedly the largest that occurs on a regular basis. The pro-life movement, for its part, has been described as the largest grass-roots democratic movement in the history of the United States.
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