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| Attending the March for Life in Washington, D.C., were representatives from the Diocese of Madison including, from left, Jennifer Dunnett, Bob Dorn, and Patrick Delaney pictured as they stand in front of the Supreme Court Building. (Contributed photo) |
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite a significant snow storm and particularly frigid weather, the 2014 March for Life in Washington, D.C., rallied-on with undaunted participation and unquenchable energy.
The march remains the largest annual demonstration in the world regularly garnering hundreds of thousands of participants.
The dignity of human life
This persistent high representation indicates a cause which is deeper in significance than congressional budgetary items or tax policy.
Indeed, it touches upon the very foundation of civilized society, the inviolable dignity of the human person.
It affirms the fundamental truth that human rights precede the state, and — as acknowledged by the Declaration of Independence — the fundamental purpose of government is to affirm and protect these rights.
Blessed Pope John XXIII rightly taught that when these fundamental rights are not recognized and protected by government, it calls the very legitimacy of such governments into question.
Humans have rights
Therefore, human rights proceed from human nature.
Human beings have human rights, not because a government or Supreme Court says so, but because they are human. And thus, as affirmed and clarified by Blessed Pope John Paul II, “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life.”
Due to the systematic rupture of this principle over the last 41 years, with a cost of millions of women being exploited and coerced into procuring abortions which causes spiritual, emotional, and often physical harm, and with 56 million girls and boys in their fetal stage of development being directly killed by abortionists, the gravity of this ongoing calamity demands a response from all people of good will.
March is re-energizing
It has been my privilege to attend 18 of the last 20 March for Life events in Washington, D.C., which always serves as a reminder to me of how little I am doing personally to bring this ongoing national and global tragedy to an end.
The March for Life thus serves to re-energize the pro-life movement, providing affirmation and mutual encouragement to all who attend.
Marching with hundreds of thousands of your best friends who will stand for these fundamental truths confirms that, despite sparse media attention to this issue and this event, we are not isolated but represent the most prominent and crucial movement of our time which is enjoined by tens of millions across the country.
Sharing the experience
Sharing this experience with others is also important. So, in past years I have helped others attend the march, including high school students at St. Ambrose Academy and adults in the Diocese of Madison.
The march always reveals that the pro-life movement isn’t going away, that indeed it is very strong and most prominently represented by the young which provides great hope for the future.
Jennifer Dunnett
Jennifer Dunnett of Madison, a full-time volunteer for the pro-life apostolate Servants of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Diocese of La Crosse, works diligently to encourage prayer and sidewalk counseling outside abortion and abortifacient centers in Madison.
She has attended each March for Life since 2006 because she regularly witnesses “the harm abortion does, not only to pre-born babies, but also to their mothers,” and the sadness of seeing “how the pre-born baby is forgotten about and not defended.”
She attends the March for Life each year “to be a voice for these innocent children who otherwise would not have a voice.”
When the sacrifice of attending exacted a price, Jennifer says she remembers “what the babies suffer and the cold and other difficulties, like a long bus ride, were quickly diminished.”
Bob Dorn
Also attending the March for Life this year was Bob Dorn, a member of St. Joseph Parish, Baraboo. He has attended four of the last five March events for the primary purpose of witnessing to the world and our elected representatives in Washington, D.C.
“The reason I attend is that I believe we need to stand up for what we believe in, and that is to protect all life from conception to natural death,” he said. “We must join together and let everyone know that is how we feel, especially our government officials that seem to have a Culture of Death attitude.”
David Wanta
A member of St. Mary Parish, Pine Bluff, David Wanta has attended the March each year since 2010.
His emphasis included a desire to witness to the truth of the beauty of human life. “I go because I want to bring glory to God and I feel called to respond in this way,” Wanta said.
“There is a significant lack of information and misinformation regarding the beauty and dignity of every human life,” he said.
Wanta also benefits from the encouragement he receives at the march. From this experience he feels “filled to the brim with hope after seeing the hundreds of thousands of people, especially the children, young adults, and families who value the dignity of each human life.”
Jim Cisler
Jim Cisler, a member of Holy Mother of Consolation Parish, Oregon, attended the March with Wanta. He, too, experienced his first March for Life in 2010 and affirms he attends because of the sense of responsibility he has for his neighbor, in this case, preborn children.
“The unborn are the most severely discriminated against in our society. I feel it is my duty and responsibility to speak up for them as they cannot speak for themselves,” Cisler commented.
The presence of so many young people at the March for Life “inspires” Cisler, and “their conviction for the recognition of the personhood of the unborn child gives me great hope that I will see the end to abortion in my lifetime, and that end of this worst holocaust ever will turn all people back to loving God and all others.”
While the Diocese of Madison wasn’t able to put together a pilgrimage to the March for Life this year for several reasons, we do plan to sponsor a formal pilgrimage next year, in January of 2015.
As is acknowledged in each of the former years, we pray and hope that the next march will be a celebration commemorating the end of this tragedy in the United States and the world.
For this intention we continue to beseech Almighty God.
Patrick Delaney is director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis in the Diocese of Madison.