fbpx

Thousands of Pro-Life Mourners Take Part in National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children

National Day of Remembrance in four cities

Images from memorial service in Hillside, IL; Jackson, MI; Bloomington, CA; and Detroit, MI.

On Saturday, September 14, thousands of pro-lifers gathered at over 100 gravesites of aborted babies and other memorials to the unborn located nationwide to observe the first annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children.

With attendance figures still being tallied, the current total stands at over 2,300 attendees nationwide.

The date of September 14, 2013, was chosen for this event because it marks the 25th anniversary of the burial of several hundred abortion victims at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where a crowd of 300 mourners attended a memorial service this past Saturday. Among the speakers at this service were Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, bishop emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln (Nebraska), and Bishop Donald Hying, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Several other Catholic bishops took part in memorial services held within their dioceses, including Cardinal Francis George, the Archbishop of Chicago, who spoke at a service held at the gravesite of 2,033 aborted babies buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, and Bishop Earl Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing, who spoke at a service at the gravesite of 17 aborted babies at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Lansing, Michigan.

Many post-abortive women also spoke at memorial services.

Reactions from attendees at services across the country were overwhelmingly positive, with many reporting that they were moved to tears. One woman who contacted us spoke for many when she wrote:

A heartfelt thank you to all those who planned and organized the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children. After reviewing the website, I cried both tears of joy and sorrow. I am so grateful to those clergy, especially Bishops and Cardinals, participating in the Memorials. Of all the children aborted and discarded in our Diocese, we have but one known gravesite, and that little one will witness to the Truth, helping to expose the horrific holocaust of abortion. I am deeply moved that so many Holy Innocents will be loved and remembered. A beautiful and amazing effort; God bless you all!

From an organizer’s standpoint, it was particularly edifying to have the opportunity to work with several individuals who, having learned of the National Day of Remembrance just a few days beforehand, jumped at the chance to spearhead the planning of a memorial service in their local area on extremely short notice.

If We Don’t Visit the Gravesites of Aborted Children, Who Will?

The National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children stands as a testament to the humanity of the millions of babies whose lives have been tragically cut short before they were born. Although they have been discarded and abandoned, we as members of the pro-life community must mourn their loss as we would mourn the loss of one of our own loved ones. For if we do not mourn them, who will?

Members of the three organizations that co-sponsored the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children—Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life, and the Pro-Life Action League—believe that pro-lifers should be visiting the gravesites of aborted babies, and other memorial sites dedicated to aborted babies, as a habitual part of their pro-life witness.

Fostering these regular visits is what the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children is all about, and what it will continue to be about, as plans are already in the works for the second annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children in 2014.

Share Tweet Email