‘Together we can make a difference’
‘Together we can make a difference’CHARLOTTE — Catholics of the Diocese of Charlotte were joined by prolife faithful from other Christian denominations for the March for Life Charlotte Jan. 10.
Hundreds of marchers carrying signs with prolife messages processed from the Pastoral Center on South Church Street through the streets of uptown Charlotte to Independence Square to give witness to the dignity of life.
Prior to the beginning of the March for Life, Bishop Peter Jugis greeted those gathered, telling them, “Thank you for your participation in our March for Life today. We are here as advocates for the right to life of the unborn child and witnesses to the sanctity of the life of the infant in the womb. We are standing up for the innocent, defenseless little ones who cannot stand up for themselves.”
The marchers then wove their way to Independence Square, through construction zones and curious onlookers. Upon arriving at Independence Square, they were greeted by Andrea Hines, a pro-life activist who had an abortion in college and now speaks about her experience as part of Silent No More and has helped coordinate 40 Days for Life campaigns. She acknowledged the hard work of a myriad of prolife organizations that serve women in Charlotte.
“Together we have saved 560 babies in Charlotte in 2019,” Hines said. “Together we march for life. Together we stand for the unborn. Together we are the voice of the unborn people who cannot speak for themselves. Together we can make a difference. Together we have made a difference.”
Father Cory Catron, parochial vicar of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, delivered the keynote address.
“We march because to march is to walk in step with the heartbeat that is the love of God made manifest in our world, crying out to us with each beat of His wounded heart to continue our march, aided by His grace and emboldened in virtue,” Father Catron preached.
“We march for the restoration of a just society that respects and protects the most vulnerable. We march for the conversion of those who misuse their gifts of the healing arts towards using them to be a blessing in the world. We march for the fathers who have lost their fatherhood. We march for the mothers who are wounded, and for their healing. We march for those precious unborn, those who have been lost and those whom we still have the hope of saving,” he said.
The Rev. Kevrick McKain, vice president of the Douglass Leadership Institute, a national faith-based grassroots organization that helps educate, equip and empower faith-based leaders to embrace and apply biblical principles to life and in the marketplace, also addressed the crowds.
‘There is a rising tide that is coming up, that is going to change what is going on in this city...’
The Rev. Kevrick McKain
Vice president of the Douglass Leadership Institute
“I have witnessed firsthand people of compassion and faith stand together – black, white, Hispanic – who would say to the abortion industry: ‘You are not welcome in this place.’ I have seen that firsthand,” McKain attested.
“I want to encourage you today that there is a rising tide that is coming up, that is going to change what is going on in this city,” McKain said. “Because of the efforts that many of you all have stood for in the past, it has drawn the attention of the largest black denomination in the country, the Church of God in Christ. Millions of members have said they will stand in front of any clinic anywhere, we will adopt any child. We will adopt them and we will stand for life… Continue to join with us in the black community for this rising tide. Continue to be our partners. Continue to march and to pray,” McKain said.
Melissa Pierce, western North Carolina regional coordinator of the Silent No More witness, also addressed the marchers and shared her painful experience after her abortion in 1987.
“Abortion for me was like an earthquake in my life. When earthquakes come, they leave devastation and despair. Everything becomes different and there is much disaster. And then there are aftershocks – days, weeks, months and even years after the abortion,” she explained.
She shared how her life spiraled downward until a school counselor helped her work through her grief of ending her child Levi’s life. She went through a post-abortion recovery program, went on to marry and have children and is now a grandmother.
“I am here today because I know that my Savior has forgiven me and I am totally free. That is why I am no longer silent,” Pierce said. “I am here to march with you today because Levi’s life matters… The life of every child matters.
“You cannot hurt the mother without hurting the child. And you cannot hurt the child without hurting the mother. I am standing here as proof that abortion harms women,” she said.
Youth and parishioners of Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury and Our Lady of Mercy Church in Winston-Salem made the drive to Charlotte for the march.
Melannie Cardoso, 12, marched for the second time. She said she wanted to march again “so people can learn that we should give children a chance to live.”
First-time marcher Sophia Morales, 10, said she hopes “people will stop abortion so more people will live.”
Several St. Joseph College seminarians were also in attendance.
“It is good to be here to show that we in Charlotte are actively supporting this cause and actively fighting for the end to abortion,” said seminarian Nick Kramer, who was marching in Charlotte for the first time.
Seminarian Noe Sifuentes, also a first-time marcher, shared, “This evil (of abortion) is growing in our diocese. It is good to fight against this evil on our own home turf. I hope that people (on the streets of Charlotte) are open to hearing us out.”
A longtime March for Life Charlotte participant, seminarian Patrick Martin, said he hopes “people see that the seminarians are here and we are in this battle and we want to show our support.
And that someday, God willing, if we are priests, we can help even more in this fight.”
Pastor Jeffrey Ware of All Saints Lutheran Church south of Charlotte brought his family and 20 others from his congregation.
“At my previous parish in Houston, I was very involved (in witnessing to life),” Ware said. “We would stand in front of the largest abortion facility in Houston. I have been here for about five years and wanted to get our congregation here involved and we wanted to start local.”
Emily Kusz, a parishioner of All Saints Lutheran Church, attended the Charlotte march for the first time. “Hopefully this will bring more awareness, and like some of the signs say ‘Jesus heals and forgives’, people need to know that. When you do read the Bible, it specifically says ‘Thou shall not kill.’ It is good to bring awareness. Now it’s time to walk the talk.”
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Father Cory Catron: Boldly marching for hope
Today, we march here in Charlotte. Next week, many of us will march in our state capital of Raleigh. And the week after that, many of us will join many thousands more and march in our nation’s capital of Washington, D.C.
We march, and we say that we march for life because there are so many threats to life, threats will seek to disrupt the heartbeat of the most vulnerable among us.
We march for life because so many who cannot march are being deprived of their life.
The unborn are the most vulnerable class of people in the strictest, most literal biological sense. From the time of conception up to the time of birth, the child in the womb is among the most fragile of creatures, and so it is that the mother’s own body becomes a haven for it, a place of shelter and nourishment.
Rather than upholding justice, the rule of law now furthers injustice against the unborn child, allowing their termination for virtually any reason and virtually any stage of pregnancy.
The mother’s womb, once synonymous with nurturing and care, has now become a domain of death; once a safe haven, it has now become a perilous place.
We march because we cannot abide this reversal, we cannot allow this injustice, we cannot tolerate this destruction.
We march firstly for the unborn, for the memory of those who are already lost, and in hope for those who are threatened. We march in the name of their precious souls and their unfulfilled dreams.
We march also for those women whose their lives become so difficult, so painful, so desperate, that they feel that the choice to terminate their unborn child is their only option.
We march for those men whose woundedness and fear make deny their fatherhood, or whose fatherhood has been denied them by the choices of another.
We march for those who are trained in the medical professions, who have turned from their profession’s creed of “first, do not harm” and twisted the healing arts into the destruction.
We march for our city, our state, our nation and their leaders and lawmakers and judges, for those who uphold the sanctity of life, and indeed for those who oppose it.
We march, then, for ourselves, and for those who come together for the cause of the protection of the unborn and the respect of human life, the preservation of human dignity.
We march with our hearts aimed at the good, and that by marching that force of will for the good may ever increase within us.
We march with our feet to obey the command of God in our hearts, that our heart may ever be more attuned to that, so that we may march and act and work for the good of others with ever greater courage and boldness.
And so let us march. Let us march for healing and compassion. Let us march for justice and peace. Let us march for the glory of God, the author of life. Let us never waver, as we boldly march for hope.
Condensed from the speech delivered by Father Cory Catron, parochial vicar of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, during the 2020 March for Life Charlotte.
‘Life Empowers: Pro-Life is Pro-Woman’ March for Life in D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The March for Life Education and Defense Fund has announced the details for the 2020 March for Life to be held on Friday, Jan. 24. “Life Empowers: Pro-Life is Pro-Woman” will be the theme of the annual march, which seeks to draw attention to the value of every life and the power of every American’s voice in speaking out for the unborn.
A Mass for pro-life advocates from North Carolina will be celebrated at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on the campus of The Catholic University of America at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 24. Raleigh Bishop Luis R. Zarama will serve as principal celebrant and Charlotte Bishop Peter J. Jugis will serve as the homilist.
The “Life Empowers: Pro-Life is Pro-Woman” March for Life events will begin with a rally at noon on the National Mall, which will be followed at 1 p.m. by a march to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear testimony from women who regret their abortion.
Other D.C. March for Life events
- A Youth Rally and Mass for Life hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington will take place on Jan. 24. The ticketed event will be held at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Doors open at 6:15 a.m. For more information about the event, visit youthrallyandmassforlife.org.
- The Paulus Institute for the Propagation of Sacred Liturgy, Washington, D.C., will hold the Seventh Annual Nellie Gray Mass Jan. 24, immediately after the March for Life, at 4 p.m. The Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form (traditional Latin Mass) will be offered at St. Mary Mother of God Church at 5th and H Sts. N.W. in downtown Washington, D.C.
Diocese of Raleigh events
The Diocese of Raleigh will host N.C. March for Life events on Saturday, Jan. 18, at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. Events begin with a diocesan Mass for Life celebrated at the cathedral at 11 a.m.
The N.C. Rally for Life will begin at 1 p.m. at the Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh, followed by the N.C. March for Life at 2 p.m.
For details, go to www.dioceseofraleigh.org.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter