Keeping the Covenant:
Moral America Throngs to Washington
by John Horvat II
The first thing that hits you at the March
for Life in Washington, D.C. is a veritable sea of people
that just keeps arriving on the scene. You see busload after
busload offloading and streaming into the massive crowds that
fill the Mall, the streets and the sidewalks.
Americans
of every age and walk of life were there. And you see plenty
of young people – it even seemed like a youth rally.
Priests and religious were also out in full force. It was
as if they all came out of a sense of sacred duty.
It is an annual event that the pro-abortion
movement dare not imitate; a massive groundswell that the
liberal media dare not report.
Rainbow over the Capitol
Braving the most adverse winter conditions,
people come with dedication and determination. They travel
long distances. They come in rain or snow. Nothing seems
to stop them.
This
year was no different. Despite the fact that it drizzled
throughout the march, attendance was described as “overwhelming.”
However, this year, many saw something that
had not been seen before. About a half hour after the march
finished, many participants were astonished to see a full
rainbow starting on one side of the Capitol building and ending
on the other side. It seemed symbolic of a covenant with God
forged over the years by the throngs of Americans that make
their way to Washington to protest the killing of the innocent.
Massive Turnout
An estimated 220,000 marchers crowded Constitution
Avenue as they headed to Capitol Hill. The 35th Annual March
for Life seemed to have been one of the largest turnouts in
the history of this march so ably organized by March for Life
president Nellie Gray. The event united 34 bishops and archbishops
and six cardinals who joined legislators and other notables
for the occasion. President Bush sent a recorded message to
the crowd commenting how life was a “gift of our Creator,
not a grant of the state.”
The American Society for the Defense of
Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) was present with a
contingent of nearly one hundred members, supporters and
friends, who carried banners and eighteen-foot TFP standards
and distributed this year’s TFP statement: “Proudly
Rejecting Abortion in the Public Square.”
(Click here to read the
statement)
Four TFP members, wearing the TFP ceremonial
habit, processed with a pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
The contingent was especially privileged with the presence
of his Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza
who proudly marched and distributed flyers.
Other groups marching together with the
TFP was the entire student body of the TFP-staffed St. Louis
de Montfort Academy of Herndon, Penn. Side-by-side with their
American counterparts were contingents from American TFP sister
organizations from Italy, Germany, France, Brazil and the
United Kingdom.
As in past marches, the TFP’s Holy
Choirs of Angels marching band lifted the spirits of those
present, by playing a selection of patriotic hymns and American
marches. The ensemble included brass, fifes and drums. The
stirring strains of the bagpipes were especially appreciated
by the passing crowds.
One
TFP banner read: “Abortion is not strictly a private
matter. We assert our right to be heard and proudly resist
abortion in the public square!”
Yet another large banner read: “Marching
and praying for an America free from the evil of abortion
without exception; an America solidly grounded in moral values.”
Protest All Over the Country
The March for Life in Washington was not
the only pro-life event held to protests the sad and tragic
anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Similar events were held all
over the nation.
One noteworthy pro-life effort was the Fourth
Annual Walk for Life West Coast which gathered an impressive
25,000 participants. Many TFP Supporters, led by TFP member
Philip Calder, joined a crowd which was taunted by pro-abortion
activists along the march route.
“We are pleased by the growing
numbers and this is clearly a movement that is taking root
in a city known for its trend-setting,” said Walk
Co-Chair Dolores Meehan. The first Walk in 2005 drew more
than 5,000 and last year’s Walk drew about 20,000
people.
On Sunday, January 20, more than 700 faithful
gathered in San Diego’s St. Joseph’s Cathedral
for prayer and a procession with the presence of the famous
International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
Led by San Diego auxiliary bishop, Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone,
with miter and crosier, the procession of reparation proceeded
just over a mile to the Family Planning Associates Abortion
Center.
Ready and Relevant
The
overwhelming response to the call to defend God’s
law is a challenge to the unpopular pro-abortion movement
that cannot even think of uniting so many annually to their
cause. However, such response is also the result of the
“blood, sweat and tears” of those who offered
prayers and sacrifices in the public square.
As this year’s TFP pro-life statement
aptly put it: “Today the pro-life movement is relevant
because of its stubborn refusal to be isolated. Instead
of retreating from the debate, we have responded by literally
appearing in the public square in front of abortion facilities
nationwide.”
Protesting abortion is not just political
activism, it is a sacred duty. God will not forget those
who defend Him. As the rainbow over the Capitol seemed to
remind those in the march, protesting and marching is part
of “keeping the covenant.”
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