It’s late January in Washington DC. It is the (dreadful) 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade A little snow, and surely a chill.
But this time every year is also marked by the warmth of tens of thousands who come to DC for the March for Life. I have marched just about every year, except when I was sick or away from the city.
My favorite year was 1985. There was record cold that year. The day before had featured the second inauguration of President Ronald Reagan. However, the temperature for that inauguration morning was -4 Degrees Fahrenheit. Thus the swearing in moved inside the Capitol and the parade was cancelled. The next day was just as cold, and the snow was knee high, but the Pro-life March went off any way. We walked through the bitter cold and snow in testimony to life. The numbers were down but our spirits were high (and our pace was swift!).
Most years have escaped such bitter conditions but its nice to know that many of us march anyway even in the worst weather.
But on this 40th March for life, I must say, I have longed for us to take a fresh look at the march. And while I hope it never comes, I have wondered if we could not perhaps do something powerfully memorable for the 50th Anniversary. Again, I hope that year never comes and that Roe v. Wade will be gone before then. But, I think that what I dream of is going to take about ten years to plan.
I also say this planning may be necessary since this 40th year kinda of caught us off guard. I remember last year being in a couple nationwide conversations to consider what we should do for this 4oth year of the march, (such a biblical number). But honestly we got to work too late and then Mrs. Nellie Gray died mid year (may she rest in peace).
That’s why I say, it may not be too early to start planing now for 2023 and my dream will take some planning. And my dream is born on something of yearning to really ramp up the March.
Regarding the March now, consider that we barely make the news anymore here in DC. And it’s always the same: the media says we have 30-70,000 and the March for life committee estimates over 100,000. Likewise the media always gives equal billing to the dozen or so counter-demonstrators that show up.
Another, more frustrating aspect is that every year the political speeches get longer and longer and the march starts later and later. What once began 1:00pm now often slips to as late as 2:30pm. 90% of the marchers can’t even hear the speeches anyway. Someone tells me that this will be different this year, we’ll see. I realize there is a political dimension to the march but frustrations do rise as we stand for a long period, often in poor and frigid conditions.
I am not sure exactly what to do on a yearly basis to move the march back into the headlines but I do have a dream that we would pick the year 2023, the 50th year of the March, and really pull all the stops to give Washington a March they’d never forget. Here are the aspects of my dream:
- There are 78 million Catholics in this country according to recent Pew and Gallup Polls. If only 10% of them agreed to come to DC, that would be 7 million people filling the mall, the reflecting pool, the tidal basin area and even across the river to the Pentagon. Now I know that only 25% of Catholics really practice their faith in any meaningful way by coming to Church. But that’s still 19.5 million and if only 10% of them came we’d still have almost 2 million people here.
- Now how to get that many to come? Well, what if we invited the Pope to lead us? In thirty-eight years of marching have we ever invited the Pope to personally summon us and promise to stand with us?
- Bring the Pope! And bring with him other religious leaders. If our numbers did swell past 2 million I doubt we could actually march, but I can see the Pope and other religious leaders on the steps of the US Capitol standing at the head of two to three million people lamenting the legality of infanticide (aka abortion) and warning our nation that God’s justice cannot forever wait. Then I see him turn toward the Capitol, staff in hand and millions behind him. (Think of Moses before the Red Sea, staff in hand). And I hear the Pope in prophetic tones calling legislators to conversion, and insisting that the life must be respected. Insisting that it is shameful that the richest and most powerful land in this world cannot find the political courage and the moral fiber to end abortion, that the best it can offer women who face challenges in accepting life is a trip to the abortionist.
- The speech would have to be very carefully developed because in my dream this speech would need to rank right up there with Dr. Martin Luther King’s Speech in 1963. That was a speech full of hope to be sure but also a speech that indicated no compromise with injustice and insisted that America live up to its vision and do what was right. Not in some distant future, but today.
- Turnout goals – In the years and months leading up to the rally every Bishop would have goals to meet in terms of catechesis and turnout. Likewise every pastor. Dioceses closer to DC would have higher turnout goals, but every diocese would have to meet turnout goals and be publicly accountable.
- With this sort of turnout and the presence of the Pope we’d give Washington a March they’d never forget.
I realize that our present Pope (may he live forever) is up in years and that in ten tears we may have another in his post. But the point here is, let’s dream big! Let’s break all records! One for the books. Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream (Amos 5:24). Even if it takes years to plan, lets do it.
Do you have dream? Do you have ideas about the Pro-life March? How can we turn up the volume and wake the sleeping nation?
Nella Fantasia – In my dream….
I am especially intrigued by (5), since it appeals to my political organizer nature.
There are approximately 200 dioceses and eparchies in the United States. As you say, there are about 20 million real, sacramentally-active Catholics. So, more or less, each diocese has 100,000 real Catholics–some more, some less.
Your goal is to get 10% of the real Catholics (2 million people). That gives us an average per-diocese quota of 10,000 people. A digestible number indeed.
Within that, we can assume that each diocese has an average of perhaps 100 parishes. That means each parish would have an average quota of 100 people.
So that’s your real goal. About 100 people per parish, with a very wide standard deviation from parish to parish.
Really shouldn’t be that hard if it’s the Papal version of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Prof. Robert George, a Princeton law professor has a prediction of increased persecution of which he shared with Catholic News Agency about increased persecution of Catholic teaching on sexuality, amid accusations by New York Bard College professor of democracy, human rights and journalism, Ian Buruma, who told CNA on Jan. 21, that Pope Benedict XVI’s “narrow views on proper human relationships reinforce the idea in other, more violent, men that women outside those traditional relationships are “loose” and thus deserve what is coming to them.”
Such persecution includes an increase in “the use of ‘anti-discrimination” laws to violate the freedom of religious institutions and religious individuals to honor their beliefs about marriage and sexual morality.”
Not trying to steer away from the subject of your dream, the point is, I don’t believe you have ten years to focus on a symbolic action when the recent presidential inaugural address was only embolden to such persecutions. World War II wasn’t won by planning a campaign ten years down the road and the issues at hand concerning the future of the Catholic Church,religious freedoms, abortion, sexual morality and marriage are being assaulted on several fronts which need coordinated immediate actions or you will not legally be allowed to express your views ten years from now. Don’t think it can’t happen here because we crossed that line 40 years ago and the present administration has made it clear what their intentions are.
It wasn’t the I Have A Dream speech that changed a nation. It was the violent persecution of a non-violent group bringing awareness to the forefront of the public at large and the assassination of their non-violent leaders and organizers. I think that’s how Christianity came about. We are up against the Helter-skelter Administration.
Bring the Pope, why haven’t we done this?
Fantastic!! I will make your dream my dream, and I (God willing) will be one of those 2 million marchers, along with my family. I will keep our dream in my prayers from now on.
How long does it take a nation to plan for the Olympics? I know it takes a huge committee to pull it off. If you need an organizer up here in Massachusetts, let me know!
Fantastic ideas! I think we would have to the organization earlier though. Practice the turn out goals for years, starting with smaller numbers.
The presence of youth (high school, college, etc) is always important at the March for many reasons. Often youth can more easily get away for a few days and more easily deal with less comfortable (and therefore less expensive) accomodations. Youth tend to need to go in groups and need help organizing the trip and paying for it. Many parishes sponsor youth trips to the March, all should do so. If each parish started sponsoring 10 (or more) youth to go, and banded together with several other local parishes to form a larger group (to fill busses, etc).
Using numbers above, that would generate 200,000 youth attendees alone (plus say 20,000 chaperones 1 per 10 youth). If 20 million Catholics gave an average $5 each – that would generate $454 for each of the kids and chaperones. Many groups from as far away as Michigan can do it for anywhere from $150-$350. Funds raised closer to DC could be transferred to groups from HI, AK, CA, etc… that would incur higher costs – or you could just have higher quotas for the East Coast.
Then keep upping the quotas each year….
It’s a beautiful dream Monsignor and hopefully it will come true.
I would add that whoever the Pope is towards the end of this decade, he can personally help set the stage by issuing an encyclical in 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, surely the most important, bravest and greatest encyclical of the 20th century (sorry for the all or nothing thinking in this statement).
Said encyclical should highlight the poison fruit of the sexual revolution that have proven Humanae Vitae right: abortion on demand, no fault divorce, dissolution of the family, death of romantic courtship and the rise of hooking up, delayed marriage, declining fertility rates, increasing singlehood, widespread single motherhood, feminization of poverty, etc.
Great idea!
Thanks, yan. I noticed that my list of poison fruit overlooked the obvious – the explosion of STDs.
Msgr Pope, I think a lot more people would go, if dioceses and their parishes mobilize, and offer TRANSPORTATION, even if we pay for it. Many people would have gone, but either couldn’t drive that long, or fly. This, of course, would have to include hotels. Who knows where technology will be then, but it will certainly be better. This must be started EARLY, and priests should be raising the roof from the pulpit, getting out the message, with the freedom to “Preach on, Father.” It shouldn’t matter if we must stay in a hotel 2-3 hours away. BEING there, is what will count. We don’t have to wait 10 tens to impliment this. We could keep trying to do more, do bettereach till we have every Catholic/ Christian fired up. It must start EARLY, each year. It could even be a “New Year” resolution to fight for life. Kind of like the “10 Million Man March” they had in DC. It’s “strength in numbers.” We are not going away. Let our attendance NOT go away. We must reach every Catholic/Christian and Fight for Life. The message, transportation, hotels, and mobilizing is the key. We CAN do it!
A Rosary Crusade! It worked in 1571!
If the pope comes as a head of state, how would that comport with marching in a parade?
If he comes as a pastor, how does that comport with getting mixed up in our politics?
In any case, it would be a trivialization of the papacy.
Excuse me? Coming to one of the most advanced countries in the world that has made killing of children a legally accpeted practice to lead the faithful would trivialize the papacy? This is the winner for the strangest comment of the day. This would exactly be to the teaching of the Church.
I would also like to call for a boycott of any media source that failed to report the March last year or failed to accurately report the attendance of those marching for life. Inaccurately balanced reporting would also merit a boycott. I commit to not access CNN tomorrow. Our local paper did report last year so Omaha World Herald is available.
I agree – clericalism writ large again I fear.
The politics of the land is the job of the laity and we’re in a pretty poor state – better faithful laity do what they can in the station of life they’re at … pervasive-fractal rather than invasive-fractious. Me? I’d throw away all the glossy catechetical materials currently in use and go for crowd-sourcing via Pintest, to meet the severely confined attention span of our current social order. And scrap the tag ‘Catholic’ on most of the theology courses currently on offer at our institutes of higher learning.
What American clerics ought do for the 50th anniversary is contemplate why the US legal system comprised of the most learned and well-to-do Catholics ever to grace the bench is so bereft of metaphysical groundings (more abortions here than any other Western nation, most others all sensibly limit the vile act to the ‘hidden’ trimester where enforcement would be disproportionate, while libertine Holland had the lowest number). Positive law appears not to be up to the task…
So what should the bishops be doing a decade from now?… no more hiding behind lawyers…pulleeze
The hospital and doctors continued to do battle. But there was a dawning realization in their legal briefs that the issue of fetuses-as-people could be a public-relations disaster.“Whenever the legal system addresses the rights of the unborn, political winds swirl and passionate debate mounts,” the (ROMAN CATHOLIC) hospital’s lawyers wrote. from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yimcatholic/2013/01/the-catholic-bishops-of-colorado-respond-to-hospitals-legal-refutation-of-unborn-twins-personhood.html
How about….
“Whenever Roman Catholics encounter the fragility of the unborn, spiritual winds swirl and passionate action mounts”
Why oh why in a Catholic ER department are unborn babies not assigned their own doctor who is present not off duty, on-call but ignoring his pages? In the case of viable 7 month gestation twins, one each? Oh don’t tell me, because whenever the non-Roman Catholic insurance commercial-remuneration system “addresses the rights of the unborn, political winds swirl and passionate debate mounts” and the clerics can go hide behind the annual March for Life again…
This is just not good enough…
its a mediocrity of the highest order to claim that the subsidiarity of the mammoth Americna mess rests in the Pope’s hands…
(40 years ago in Scotland we lost one of my twin cousins and his cogestating twin suffered cerebral palsy for much the same reasons… its appalling that we still allow unborn children to be ignored until its too late to help them)
The difference in the intervening 40 years between ‘old’ Europe and ‘new’ America?
In the UK we Catholics are at liberty to argue for reductions in abortion limits (and in my home town elect an immigrant Polish Catholic “Daniel Kawczynski MP: Why I voted for twelve weeks”
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2008/06/daniel-kawczyns.html
In America you do not: you chose to enshrine unlimited abortion as part of your legal ‘liberty’ and are living with a deeply warped and flawed healthcare system as a result.
I’m puzzled, do you argue that it is OK to kill the child under 12 weeks?
As for America, we are not merely engaged in an all or nothing battle. There are many other battles being fought especially at the State level that are successfully eroding abortion on demand. Everything from parental notification to sonogram requirements to strengthening medical requirements for “clinics” to meet. etc.
no of course not, abortion is murder – I’m with Prof. MaryAnn Glendon (aka former US Ambassodor to the Holy See):
“When we consider the totality of regulations bearing on the question of abortion, it appears more clearly than ever how different the United States’ position is, even from that of other countries which have elective abortion. Our law stresses autonomy, separation, and isolation in the war of all against all, in contrast to Sweden where the laws emphasize sex equality and social solidarity, West Germany where the message is pro-life and social solidarity, and France where equality, life, and solidarity are all sought to be promoted. The European laws not only tell pregnant women that abortion is a serious matter, they tell fathers that producing a child is serious too, and communicate to both that the welfare of each child is a matter in which the entire society is vitally interested. At present, as we have seen, what American law about abortion communicates is that fetal “potential life” is outweighed by any interest at all of the pregnant woman until the last trimester. Even then, fetal life need not be protected as a constitutional matter. If a state does decide to regulate abortion at that point, it must still assure that an abortion can be performed if the mother desires it and if a single doctor judges it necessary to preserve her health, broadly construed to include a notion of “well-being.” In contrast, all of the West European laws, while permitting abortion on a wide variety of grounds, communicate that fetal life is an important interest of the society and that abortion is not a substitute for birth control.” Abortion and Divorce in Western Law–Selected Passages at http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=2389, and here:
“It’s something of a puzzle why the public has never really grasped how extreme the legal treatment of abortion is in the United States. (Even Sweden, the poster country for women’s equality and liberal attitudes toward human sexuality, strictly regulates abortion after the eighteenth week of pregnancy.) Two factors, I believe, combined to obscure the degree to which the U.S. has become careless about protecting human life at its fragile beginnings and endings. First, journalists and other opinion leaders have persisted in misdescribing Roe v. Wade as a case that permits abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, but permits regulation thereafter. That is a flagrant misstatement, for Roe permits no regulation in the interest of protecting the unborn child for the first two trimesters. Moreover, when Roe is read with Doe, third-trimester restrictions are effectively ruled out as well–for Roe’s dictum that such restrictions might be permissible if they did not interfere with the mother’s health was negated by Doe’s definition of “health” as “well-being.”
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/GlendonAbortion.php
Abortion is still illegal in the UK, in the US it isn’t. It is a right, right up until it isn’t, when the child breathes its own air (before that it isn’t even a protected person under the law, so ‘wrongful death’ isn’t even a worry for negligent doctors working in a Catholic hospital… they can get away with their negligence)
I am still not exactly sure what you are talking about. I am especially confused when you say that abortion is illegal in the UK which it is not.
This idea is literally inspired. It can not be improved upon. The focus should be on making it a reality. The only question is how. I am not sure I would wait the ten years, Recognizing it will take planning, but given the dynamics of this pro-life movement in this country it does need renewal sooner rather than later. This kind of thing would have to be reported and would be dramatic. It would be huge enormous shot in the arm to the troops. Perhaps the starting point would be a formal request for this from Catholic organizations involved in the pro-life movement to either the USCCB or the Vatican itself. I am wondering if say for example this is something professional guilds like the Catholic Medical Association or Thomas More society for lawyers should request, and who logistically would need to work with the March for Life organizers to plan and make this happen ?
This is a slight alteration of an idea I heard John Martignoni express once: hand out flyers to everyone marching with the phone numbers of the major news outlets, inviting the marchers to expresses their hopes and dreams about life to the major news outlets. If CNN got 100,000 text messages asking, “Where are you?”, they just might show up. In some way or another, invite the marchers to text the news outlets.
Great Post. It gave me goose bumps. I only wish we weren’t waiting until 2023.
Thank you for this.
Simulcast speeches over local radio or internet sites so that people can hear what is happening in real time.
I dream of illustrating the sheer number of souls we now have lost the priviledge of knowing on this earth, with luminaries all lit and then when the signal is given, all of them are extinguished. Yes, 55 million L.E.D.s might be impossible in DC, but if every march for life in every city where they are held did it, then cumuliatively throughout the nation, we could show how much light was lost.
The Pope idea is great. Reminds me of when JPII visited Poland early after his accession. We all now know what an amazing difference to world history his visit made. However, the differences between a Polish Pope visiting his home country of Poland, and a Pope that is not American visiting America, should give us pause about the wisdom of such a move.
While there is no question that the heart of the Pope is with us, our country is founded upon religious disestablishment; we have a history of oppression against Catholicism because it is viewed as being alien and foreign to our institutions both by old protestants, some evangelicals today, and of course by liberals; it is viewed by some as a foreign power seeking to impose its views and power on us; it is viewed as undemocratic. Having the Pope speak will raise all those spectres to the detriment of our cause, which is truly universal and not solely a Catholic cause.
For all these reasons, I would think a better person than the Pope would be someone homegrown, like Archbishop Dolan. While he doesn’t have papal prestige, he could make it absolutely clear where we stand, or should stand, as American Catholics, and just as plain Americans, on this topic.
Perhaps he could also convey ‘in personam papam’ a papal blessing upon us, our cause, the marchers?
On the other hand, our Pope is brilliant. He did not shy away in the least from calling out the entire anti-Catholic history of England from Henry VIII forward; nor did he blanche in the least from pointing out and explaining the validity both in its time and in the present time, of the martyrdom of St. Thomas More, in his recent visit there on the occasion of the beatification of St. John Henry Newman–who of course famously ‘poped’ as my old episcopelian friends say–and that is of course an indictment of the validity of the entire basis of Anglicanism, the religion of the state of England. Not exactly what would be considered a polite dinner topic.
Also, I don’t think there is any question but that the presence of the Pope would swell the numbers of marchers beyond anything yet seen.
This Pope lives in and loves the truth above all things and is never afraid to proclaim it. So perhaps you are right that we should put aside such concerns as I listed above at this time, be bold, and trust in the Lord.
Ask him about it, Msgr!
It was important to have the March on this anniversary in the early years after Roe, when the prospects of a Human Life Amendment or a political solution were plausible. I wonder if the focus on Congress and the Courts is not quite the best tactic at this point.
I have often thought that instead of commemorating this horrific anniversary with a March, that we instead might try something different. Make the anniversary of Roe a solemn day of prayer and penance with requiem Masses celebrated in every cathedral and many other parishes in the country. Let the political focus on that day be large demonstrations in state capitals to lobby for marginal changes to state laws. Since that is where positive things are happening anyway.
And then let us own Mother’s Day weekend in Washington. Let’s celebrate life each year on the Mall, in May, a month dedicated to the Blessed Mother, with a weekend festival and Rosaries and Masses and solemn Eucharistic processions through the streets of Washington. Let’s have that be our big public witness in Washington, since the media and Congress ignore the March anyway. We LOVE life! Let’s be joyful and celebrate it! Celebrate Down’s kids, and the sick and disabled, and our families! Joyfulness attracts others.
Maybe the particulars of this idea aren’t quite right, but I cannot think of any other movement in our nation’s history that used the same tactic for two generations. It kind of reminds me of the old saying about the definition of insanity: doing the same thing but expecting different results.
As much as I love Msgr.’s idea, I love this one as well. What a brilliant addition. One thing that has been missing in marginally-Catholic South Bend has been any activity for those of us who cannot attend the march. I can’t travel because of my health, so having a Mass in every parish and a procession or other public witness in every city by every Catholic in solidarity with the march would be great.
I also love the idea of setting up a new March in May to celebrate life. What a wonderful witness that could be, and D.C. is beautiful in May, so people who might not tolerate the cold could be there as well. Keep praying about this idea — it’s a keeper.
L’Osservatore Romano – 23 January 2013 – Vatican and Holy Father rumored to be in initial planning stages to host 2023 World Youth Day in Washington, DC to coincide with the Annual March for Life to mark the 50th anniversary of the devastating Supreme Court, Roe vs. Wade decision responsible for legalizing the extermination of a projected 65,000,000 – 70,000,000 aborted infants by year 2023.
An estimated 1,400,000–2,000,000 youth from around the world and another 2,000,000-3,000,000 Catholics, Christian Pro-Lifers and fans of the Pope are expected to attend. Washington, DC officials fear a Christian horde of as many as 5,000,000 could descend on the Nation’s Capitol.
“And it’s always the same: the media says we have 30-70,000 and the March for life committee estimates over 100,000.”
It’s been a good deal more than that of late. More like 250,000.
I think these are good ideas. Of course, you can’t really win – the media will say people only showed up to see the Pope. But at least we might crack the front page. That would be a small victory. Instead, we end up on page A23, with a photo of one of the handful of pro-abort protesters next to a shot of the March (for balance, you know).
Msgr Charles Pope:
Father, I have a case I would like to put to you. I have been reading Blessed Columba Marmion’s books ‘Christ the Life of the Soul’ and ‘Christ in His Mysteries’. This in conjunction with a comment by Father Robert Barron in one of his videos concerning a case he put to the eminent liturgist Father Godfrey Diekmann, OSB has led me into a way of thinking about the pro-life cause. He (Father Barron) asked Father Diekmann if he could mount the barricades and take up the banner again, what would he fight for? He replied, Theosis. What is my point? Blessed Marmion’s theological touchstone is supernatural adoption and divine filiation and ‘theosis’ has to do with the ‘graced exchange’ (II Cor 8:9) and that everything that is Christ’s is ours. If this is true, then as Blessed Columba Marmion is fond of saying, “Christ’s mysteries are our mysteries”. This would include His conception in the womb of the Mother of God. The Church teaches that life begins at conception. This being the case, then it seems to me that while I understand the importance of the celebration of the Nativity at Christmas being second only to Easter, Christ’s conception and thus the Incarnation actually begins at the Annunciation, celebrated March 25th. While I understand the Church militant taking up the fight annually on the date that marked the assault on life with the ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade, if Christ is our victory, and God’s ways not ours, then if the assault is on life in the womb, and we as Catholics are fighting for the beginning of life at conception, then with Christ as our victory, and His mysteries our mysteries then it seems that the Annunciation takes on majorly significant importance. If we are going to create a ‘culture of life’ then it seems reasonable that there needs to be a major focus on the importance in the Annunciation as a catechetical touchstone to form the laity in our pro-life fight. Don’t get me wrong. We need to protest the decision annually. It is an injustice and an assault on life. I guess what I’m putting forward for your commentary is it seems Christ’s conception in Mary’s womb is the key to victory for the unborn in the womb. Father John Saward’s book “Redeemer in the Womb” was the final instrumental means of grace in coming to this line of reasoning. I’m not sure I’m making myself clear.
Actually, let me revise that – someone has pointed me to data on last year’s March pegging it at 400,000. There are some who hope we might reach 500,000 tomorrow. The first March, of course, only had about 20,000 people.
Impressive numbers, and impressive growth. But I do like Msgr’s ideas to keeping making it bigger and better.
Very cool. I can see that happening.
A great rally it would be and to be apart of such love of life would be renewing.
Count me in, have sent a link of your post to our Pastor.
We would love to march in the warmth of -6 F. We march every year in below zero weather and the numbers are good, but we are acclimated to -30. So a little discomfort for so many that have been killed, is but a tiny cross.
How about EVERY American bishop, arch bishop and cardinal atend? How about EVERY ordained American out of country return for the march? All of Ameica’s cleric sons returning to the USA to make their feelings know on this monumental issue.
While I understand the enthusiasm, who’s going to be offering Masses and funerals, and ministering in hospitals during the 3-5 days all the priests are away?
Love the idea – count me in.
I wonder if Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula of the Pontifical Academy for Life can help make this happen?
Vatican official says US pro-life marches have global impact:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-official-says-us-pro-life-marches-have-global-impact/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29&utm_term=daily+news
Pontifical Academy for Life
http://www.academiavita.org/about_us.php
Via della Conciliazione 1
00193 ROMA
Tel: 0039 06 69882423, 0039 06 69881693
Fax: 0039 06 69882014
Email: pav @ pav.va
Contact us
Writing from the mountain time zone, I suggest that adding at least two alternate sites so as to facilitate greater attendance by folks who are farther from DC. I’d suggest Denver and Los Angeles.
There is a Walk for Life in San Francisco every year for those who can’t get to Washington.
Truly, I think what we need to wrap our brains around is that this is the Mid Atlantic March for Life. Yes, we have people coming from the rest of the Eastern Seaboard, and we have sporadic attendance from further west, but it is simply not going to EVER be practical logistically to expect that people from the remainder of the country can make it to Washington in January in huge numbers. And frankly, and even more problematically, we let ourselves be played by the other side year after year by not labeling the event correctly ourselves. If we represent this as THE NATIONAL pro-life march, the other side easily looks at the numbers, compares it to the population of the country, and quickly decides this group is worthy of being marginalized.
On the other hand, if we organized events regionally (that people in that area could realistically attend!), and got huge numbers at each event, and really kicked up the publicity for that, we could have a much stronger impact. And why not, akin to the walks for various diseases, let the walkers in any region collect pledges from the people who can’t go to fund more pro-life activity?
I was just thinking this morning as I pulled up msn and foxnews and there was no mention of the March that it would be so awesome if we could get the Pope to come to the Right to Life March and that would definately make news and draw attention. It is definately something to be considered, maybe at 45 years instead of 50???
(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI has pledged his support for the March for Life in the United States. Using his @pontifex Twitter handle, the Pope said, “I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life.”
The picture shows trees with leaves and fences sectioning off groups.
I don’t think that was the March for Life.
A simple Google image search shows that the picture you’ve posted here is a picture of the crowd on the National Mall during 2013 inaugural celebration. You can find this picture on a Google image search for that event. I’ve done a Google image search for both the inaugural and March for Life events and they can clearly be seen to be noticeably visually different. You are not helping your cause by spreading bald-faced lies and fakery. Sooner or later people find out and resent being lied to. If you have to resort to lies and trickery to present a false impression that your position has much more support than it actually does, then rational people, when they eventually find out the truth, tend to discount anything else you might have to say in the future.
Actually it is from 2009 – Inauguration 1 of President Obama, note the jumbotrons they used that year. I am not presenting it as an image of the pro-life march today, but what it might look like IF we brought 3-7 million. I am not lying. As I say in the title, I am dreaming. Now my post of the March for Life from the next day does feature a picture of the march. I would ask you in the future to please consider the context of a post and picture before leaping to unwarranted conclusions and rash judgments of others.