A great pro-life turnout at Family Planning Associates on Washington St. [Photo by EJS]
For the fourth straight year, the Pro-Life Action League hosted an “Empty Manger” Christmas Caroling Day at four of Chicago’s most notorious abortuaries to bring the message of Christmas hope to abortion-bound mothers. The December 23 Caroling Day was our most well-attended yet, with a strong group of faithful pro-life carolers.
We began the brisk winter morning at the Planned Parenthood facility at LaSalle and Division Streets on Chicago’s Near North Side. As usual there were several bright-yellow vested “deathscorts” at the entrance, but unlike past years, they did not interact with us at all, perhaps because our numbers were so great, with more than two dozen carolers.
Following tradition, our group gathered around a large model of a empty manger, representing both the hope of every new life and the emptiness left behind every time a baby is killed by abortion. And as usual, Dan Gura provided a large banner reading All I Want for Christmas Is an End to Abortion, held above the caroling group.
Over Forty Join Caroling Downtown
Those numbers were nearly doubled at our next stop, the Family Planning Associates abortuary on Washington Street near the Kennedy Expressway downtown. Over forty pro-lifers gathered to sing our program of carols specially chosen to emphasize the hope brought into the world by the Christ Child, including “Silent Night,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and “What Child Is This.” The carolers at this site were so enthusiastic that after we completed the chosen carols, including two renditions of “Silent Night,” we began to sing other appropriate carols from memory.
Next we moved on to the American Women’s Medical Center on Western Avenue on the North Side, where again we had a notably large group of carolers and sang an expanded program of carols. Our day ended at the Albany Medical-Surgical Center on Elston Avenue near the League’s Northwest Side offices. After singing our carols at Albany, we gathered near the clinic entrance for a final prayer. We thanked Our Lord for calling us to do this special Christmas ministry.
After the carols, the group gathered at the Scheidler home for cookies and hot chocolate.
