fbpx

Pro-Lifers Mark Roe Anniversary with Mourning at Memorials Nationwide

Mass at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, IL

Father Richard Simon celebrates Mass on Jan. 22 at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, IL [Photo by Matt Yonke]

The Pro-Life Action League marked the somber anniversary of Roe v. Wade with a call for prayer across the nation.

Invoking the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, the “Blessed Are They Who Mourn” project urged pro-lifers to go to a gravesite of aborted babies or Memorial to the Unborn on January 22 to mourn the loss of 55 million lives to abortion since the Supreme Court removed all protection from the unborn in 1973.

The League posted a list of hundreds of Memorials to the Unborn in cities and towns all over the United States in response to its nationwide request for information on where pro-lifers could go to pray on January 22.

In the Chicago area, where the Pro-Life Action League is based, the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade was commemorated with a Mass in the chapel at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.

It was at the cemetery, 25 years ago, that Cardinal Joseph Bernardin celebrated a Mass and burial ceremony for 2,000 aborted babies whose bodies had been recovered from garbage dumpsters behind a Michigan Avenue abortion clinic, and from the loading dock of a pathology lab in suburban Northbrook.

Mass with Relevant Radio’s Fr. Richard Simon Plus Graveside Service

On Tuesday, Fr. Richard Simon, pastor of St. Lambert Parish in Skokie, Illinois, celebrated the Mass and exhorted those present to reclaim their uniquely Catholic identity by acts of sacrifice and fasting if their efforts to restore the sanctity of life are to be successful.

Graveside serviceFollowing the Mass, the gathered assembly went to the gravesite of the aborted babies for a brief prayer service where the children present laid white flowers at each of the two gravestones. For many people it was the first time they had been to a gravesite of an aborted baby. It was particularly poignant for those who had experienced abortion and for those who spend time at the abortion clinics offering assistance to women who think abortion will solve their problems.

The babies buried at Queen of Heaven were briefly involved in the NOW v. Scheidler Federal RICO case, when the National Organization for Women added the Vital-Med pathology lab to its growing list of defendants, charging the lab with collaborating with pro-lifers in the “theft” of the babies from the loading dock.

But when NOW discovered that they had inadvertently acknowledged that the aborted babies had a value of “more than $100” they quickly dropped the charges against the laboratory rather than admit that an unborn child had any value.

On Tuesday, across the county, pro-life Americans demonstrated that they recognize the value of each and every one of the babies who have been victims of abortion, and recommitted themselves to the battle to restore their protection in law and create a culture of life.

Slideshow of Pictures from “Blessed Are They Who Mourn” Events Nationwide

Share Tweet Email