Two spectacular pro-life events this past week kept League members extremely busy. The trip to Washington for the 31st annual March for Life included Ann, Annie, Eric and his son, Nate.
Thirty-First March for Life
I attended the Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the eve of the march, and we all attended the Illinois group’s Mass January 22 at Gonzaga where Francis Cardinal George celebrated with Bishop George Lucas of Springfield. While most went directly to the Ellipse for the start of the March, I stayed at EWTN‘s site at Constitution and Pennsylvania and did an interview with Marcus Grodi, followed by interviews with many other marchers including my daughter Annie and three young women visiting from Northern Ireland.
Probably the most touching event of that day was the testimony given by dozens of women in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building as members of Silent No More. Led by actress Jennifer O’Neill, they told their stories of abortion and its terrible aftermath.
Half way through their heart-wrenching testimonies in the freezing cold, a gaggle of mindless feminists began shouting from a few feet away, “Our bodies, our lives, our right to survive.” The contrast was palpable. One couldn’t help but think that in a few years these pro-abortion feminists will be over on the side with the Silent No More women telling their own stories.
SpeakOut Illinois Memorial
After hearing Attorney Doug Kmiec at the Rose Dinner and meeting everyone in the pro-life movement, we returned to Chicago in time to attend the SpeakOut Illinois annual workshops and banquet at the Hyatt Regency Oak Brook. Between four and five hundred attended workshops and the dinner. Erika Harold, Miss America 2003 was the keynote and Sandy Rios was Mistress of Ceremonies.
Cardinal Francis George and Congressman Henry Hyde presented the Life Leadership Award to Ann and me for our work in trying to restore sanctity of life to the unborn. Ann and I gave short talks as did Congressman Hyde.
Cardinal George gave the invocation, and Rev. Nicholas Jonas of Sanctity of Life Ministry led the Memorial for the Unborn Pageant, a most moving program, with people representing every element of society devastated by abortion, including peers whose brothers and sisters have been killed by abortion to grandfathers who will never have a grandchild they can buy a Christmas present for. It was one of the most touching ceremonies we have witnessed and we’ve witnessed many. It was the brainchild of Tommie Romano and Grace Kern.
After the gathering sang “Go Light Your World” by Kathy Traccoli Sandy Rios ended the SpeakOut with a beautiful prayer she had composed for the occasion. It was truly a day to remember.
Irish Stunned by Abortion in America
Now back to the bunker and the battle field to fight to save America from the ideological evil of abortion. Bernie Smyth and her friends from Northern Ireland were troubled greatly by America’s Culture of Death. They had gone with Rev. Ed Martin to an abortuary in Ocala, FL to see abortion first hand . In Ireland abortion is still illegal.
While in Washington they spent a night in prayer for America’s conversion. They stood in front of an abortion mill in Ocala FL with Rev. Ed Martin and could hardly believe what they saw, people rushing in to kill their unborn children with impunity. In Northern Ireland they have so far closed ten abortion referral agencies that send women to England for abortions.
Happy Birthday, Noah!
One joyful note. As Cardinal George, Cong. Hyde, Ann and I posed for a picture at Sunday’s event, grandson Noah, climbed on the stage and posed with us. He will be in the pictures. He seemed to know that the effort is about saving little guys like him. Noah is two today. Ann and I had all eleven grandchildren at SpeakOut.
