March for Life Reflections 4

"I had the opportunity to go to the You and Me exhibit on Saturday. It was created by the Sisters of Life for World Youth Day last fall. There were a series of posters and ipod recordings that intertwined music and personal stories of four people who were placed in a difficult situation and chose a loving option. The people were real people who really had the ability to speak to my heart. I especially liked the story of a young man who considered himself to be honest and strong, went to church, and was dating a girl. He told us about how he felt when she told him she was pregnant. I hadn't thought before about all the pressure that a guy feels in that situation. His first instinct was to give the normal lines, don't worry, you can just get a quick abortion and no one will ever have to know, because he was still in school and knew that he couldn't handle it. He knew his family would find out, and thought that she would be the one who would ultimately have to carry the baby. Thankfully, he just told her that they both needed to think about what to do. He struggled with a battle between his fears and the encouragement of friends against a stronger voice that challenged him to be courageous, trust God, and help his girl friend. As he listened, he realized that he couldn't tell her to have an abortion, so he went to her and told her that he would help her in any way he could. When she realized that he wasn't going to ask her to get an abortion, she cried and cried. She told him that without his support, she knew she wouldn't have been able to carry their baby. It meant so much to her that he didn't abandon her, nor become angry at her.

As the music played, I walked around a corner and saw a beautiful picture of their three year old son playing and laughing. Because they were students, they decided that the best thing for their son was to find him a loving family to adopt him. This family spoke about the blessing the boy is, and then it returned to the young man. He finished his education and is very thankful that his son was born and is with a loving family right now. "

-Kellie Raddell

ND class of 2013

"I have never considered myself a “die-hard” pro-lifer or even vocalized my opinion until I came to Notre Dame. I believed that the unborn baby is a living being that deserves the right to life, but I always felt uncomfortable talking to others about this opinion. I received a couple e-mails about the trip, but I never thought I would actually go. Then, over break I decided maybe it was time for me to check it out. What was the worst that could happen? I am happy I did.

Last weekend I met some of the coolest people, I became a lot closer with the friends I went with, and most importantly I learned how important the pro-life movement really is. By coming together and standing up for an important issue, you learn more about people than you ever would sitting in a classroom. I realized that if people work together they can make a big difference. Marching for four hours was worth the night bus rides and uncomfortable sleeps. It was a pilgrimage for the unborn babies that will never know life. I plan to make that pilgrimage until the laws change and everyone has a fair chance at life. "

-Tatum Snyder

ND class of 2015

March for Life Reflections 3

"This was my fourth trip to DC for the March for Life (my third with ND RTL). In previous years, after returning, I would respond along the lines of, 'Great! There were a lot of people at the March and I had a good time in DC.' and think no more of it when asked how the trip went. But this year, I began to feel uneasy with that response.

The reason we go to DC is to speak out against the culture of death in this country. Is that really an event that I should return from feeling like I 'had a great time?' Is it ok for me to spend a day exploring monuments and museums in addition to attending the March and other Pro-Life events like Masses or the Sisters of Life exhibit? Was the weekend really about the March or rather about building new friendships while riding the Metro and eating at IHOP? Should I really enjoy participating in an event that is speaking out about an unspeakable evil?

After pondering this questions for a while and trying to find an adequate way to express 'how the trip went' to my friends who asked; I have concluded that all of these things are not only okay, but really the reason we go to DC to March for Life in the first place. Thinking on the lively religious from El Instituto del Verbo Encarnado (The Institute of the Incarnate Word) and the children they bring to the March led me to this conclusion. Every year, I can't wait to March alongside IVE because, amongst their large group of priests and sisters, a few jam on their drums while the others dance and sing, all the way from the Mall to the Supreme Court. IVE has shown me that the March is not about anger or resentment or sadness (although these emotions are definitely felt to varying levels), but rather the March is truly about Life. Supporting Life. Enjoying Life. Loving Life. The March is a celebration of Life rather than just another angry protest. Looking around while there, it is easy to see this. All around you are thousands upon thousands of children and parents, priests, brothers, and sisters praying, singing, dancing, all with smiles upon their faces; new friendships are being formed, old ones are being cherished, and spirits are being uplifted. This is the key to the Pro-Life movement -- it is a movement of love.

Now, I am proud to say that I enjoyed my trip to DC to March for Life. I formed new friendships with great people and also spent quality time with old friends both while Marching to support Life and exploring the past of our great country. I hope that once we have beaten this scourge which is upon our nation, we continue to gather in DC to celebrate this human victory each year. I think that all Pro-life people should continue to gather to show that it is not and never was a political victory, but a victory for all humans and that we will never be content to let things return to how there are now. (In addition, there are other Pro-Life issues which need to be addressed besides Roe v. Wade.) We should continue to gather to show those who oppose life that the Pro-Life movement always was and will be a movement of love and hope and a celebration of Life. With all this in mind, I look forward to returning to DC next year, hopefully to celebrate a great victory for human dignity, but in the least to join again with El Instituto del Verbo Encarnado in a great Celebration of Life."

-Zach Harris

ND class of 2013

March for Life Reflections 2

The following are reflections by students who attended the 2012 March for Life:

(all Notre Dame students who attended the March for Life received the name of a child aborted in South Bend last year, along with the date of his/her abortion...)

"Laura. Putting a name to the unborn child makes it even more real. This is a life! A living human being crafted by God. Tears filled my eyes as I pondered the countless Lauras killed by abortion."

-Angela Bermudez

ND class of 2014

"While I have participated in marches in my hometown, this was my first time both traveling with the Right to Life group and visiting DC. I was initially pretty nervous about coming along, and I didn't really know anyone else going very well. Fortunately, the experience of exploring DC with a great group of young people passionate about living out their pro-life beliefs is a darn good way to grow in friendship.

I had an amazing time exploring the city, and the march was a wonderful experience. However, after the march I met an elderly man on the subway who shared a remarkable story. Twenty five years ago, when his wife was expecting, he had continuously tried to persuader her to have an abortion. Thankfully, she chose life for her son despite her husband's stance. This child grew up, was an all-American baseball player, excelled in law school, and was practicing law by the age of 25. The man on the subway stressed how extremely proud of his son he was. He told me his son was the best thing to happen in his life, and he expressed his joy that his wife had refused to listen to his mistaken advice. He now sees how blind and foolish he had been, and every day he asks God for forgiveness and thanks him for the brilliance his son has brought into his life.

More recently, the old man had been hospitalized for 11 days, and he beamed as he told me his son was at his side every minute of it. He kept repeating to me all his son had accomplished and how proud of him he was. I could clearly see the Lord at work in this man's life, and the growth of faith, love, and respect for every human being that he had experienced was both touching and inspiring.

I am so glad that I rode in the same train car as this man. I felt Christ speak to me through his story, and he gave me great hope and confidence that God is clearly working in us, and that he uses each human life to bring about the joy and peace of His Kingdom."

-Joe Rumpza

ND class of 2013

"My first time on the March for Life far exceeded my expectations. I went to a public high school where I quickly learned it was better to avoid talking about abortion. Being pro-life in a culture of death is often lonely. Coming here makes me realize that the pro-life movement is alive. My fellow ND students, people across the nation, the wonderful religious orders, like Sisters of Life, have inspired me with the vigor in which they defend life. Notre Dame is often criticized for its failure to defend life, but it is here that I have found a passion to do more."

-Angela Bermudez

ND class of 2014

March for Life Reflections 1

The following are reflections by students on the 2012 March for Life.

"The gravity of abortion hit me hardest when I was in the Right to Life office one day. Each March for Life attendee received a remembrance card to pray for an individual child who had been aborted. In order to make these cards, Notre Dame RTL had a stack of papers - at least 300 - which were photocopies of real clinical forms filled out for performed abortions. Each paper had the mother's age, the baby's age, the method of abortion, and the date of the murder, among other informaiton.

That's when it hit me - this isn't some abstract cause that we're fighting. This is a very real, present tragedy that murders children and traumatizes their mothers every day. If we have any sense of compassion, we must fight to protect these women and children, and their families, from abortion"

-Amanda Bambury

ND class of 2014

"The March for Life is a thing that I grew up with, and every year that I get a chance to go I take it to show my support for the truth and for those unborn babies without a voice. It is remarkable how many people year to year come and show their support."

-John Walter

Holy Cross College class fo 2013

" I have been coming to the March for Life for a few years, but this year being a senior made it extra special. I listened more, watched more, and took advantage of this being my last year as an ND student experiencing this. It is awesome, and I hope to come back to the NDRTL group later and see what progress has been make. Father Jenkins said it perfectly today, "We will not let a court decision mask the fundamental truth.""

-Sara Teising

ND class of 2012

"It's so easy to forget why we're in D.C. When you're in awe of the beautiful monuments, museums, history, and grandeur of our nation's capital... In the midst of all the fun we have on this trip, it is essential to remember that we were brought to this wonderful city by tragedy. We are not here for ourselves, but for millions of children who are killed and silenced each day."

-Amanda Bambury

ND class of 2014

A March to Remember: ND Right to Life Goes to the White House

A March to Remember: ND Right to Life Goes to the White House
By: Julie Hail Flory
Date: February 5, 2008
University of Notre Dame Newswire
Source

It’s a yearly trip Mary Elizabeth Walter has made for most of her life. Growing up just outside of Baltimore, the Notre Dame senior joined in many family outings to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, an event that draws some 200,000 people to the nation’s capital each year to rally for legal protection for the unborn.

Now in her second year as president of Notre Dame Right to Life, she has kept the tradition alive throughout her college career, traveling by bus to Capitol Hill each January with a group of students to participate in the march.

But this year was a little different.

“It was kind of a surprise,” Walter says of the day, about two weeks before the trip, when she learned that this would be no ordinary march experience.

The woman who coordinates the group’s stay in Washington had contacted some friends of hers – who happen to work at the White House – and arranged an opportunity of a lifetime. She wanted to know, would the students be interested in meeting a certain commander-in-chief?

“And, of course, we said ‘yes,’” Walter recalls.

It was Bill McGurn, a 1980 Notre Dame graduate and chief speechwriter to President Bush, and his wife, Julie, who set up the presidential visit for 25 members of the Notre Dame contingent, who first enjoyed breakfast at the White House.

“It was incredible,” Walter says of the experience, which she found especially significant as a history major. “We ate in the Red and Blue and Green Rooms, and those rooms are usually museum space, but there we were, eating breakfast while sitting on the couch that Dolly Madison sat on.”

The group then joined a small crowd of about 200, including about 50 students from nearby Christendom College, in the East Room for an up-close and personal address by the president, who shared his admiration for their commitment to the cause. “I see people with a deep conviction that even the most vulnerable member of the human family is a child of God,” President Bush said. “You're here because you know that all life deserves to be protected. And as you begin your march, I'm proud to be standing with you.”

Held each year to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that required the legalization of abortion, the March for Life’s mission is to urge the adoption of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the decision.

The yearly Notre Dame trip is about more than just the march itself. Participants spend time exploring Washington and learning about the history and ideology of the pro-life movement.

“We try to set aside a day to explore the religious sites around D.C. – the National Shrine, the Franciscan monastery – all the sites that remind us why as Catholics, and as Christians, we believe in the right to life,” Walter said. “Then we take another day to explore the secular side; to try to understand why we as Americans, as humans, believe that we have the right to life.”

For the first time this year, the group also spent a day volunteering at various locations around the city.

But not too surprisingly, the highlight most certainly was the audience with the president, who left the crowd with some parting words of encouragement.

“As you give voice to the voiceless, I ask you to take comfort from this: The hearts of the American people are good,” he said.

Walter plans to continue attending the march, even after graduation. But she knows this year’s trip will be hard to top.

“Will we be disappointed that we don’t get to go the White House? Well, we’ll miss it,” she admits, even though future trips certainly won’t be lacking with the week of activities.

“It’s not everyday that the president says thank you and then shakes your hand and says, ‘Go Irish!’”

Embrace Life

Embrace life

The Observer: Viewpoint
By: Charles Rice

Posted: 1/23/08

Would you call it an exercise in futility? On Jan. 22, Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students joined the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., calling for reversal of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling on that date in 1973 which mandated, in effect, elective abortion at every stage in pregnancy. The Court defined the unborn child as a nonperson who is therefore not entitled to the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution to persons.

The Supreme Court will not reverse that holding of Roe. Even the Justices who say that Roe should be "overruled" define that as a "states' rights" approach that would allow the states to permit or forbid abortion. That would affirm the holding of Roe. If your life is subject to extinction whenever a state legislature so decrees, then, so far as the United States Constitution is concerned, you are a nonperson.

Depersonalization is the theory of the Nazis' treatment of the Jews and of the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott case in which the Court held that freed slaves could not be citizens and said that slaves were property rather than persons.

Abortion is not simply a legal issue. It is embedded in American culture. The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that from 1973 to 2005, more than 45 million surgical abortions occurred in the United States, with 1.21 million in 2005, down from 1.31 in 2000. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortion. These figures do not include the uncountable number of early abortions by abortifacients, including most "contraceptive" pills.

Abortion is a symptom of what Pope Benedict XVI called "a dictatorship of relativism… that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the 'I' and its whims as the ultimate measure." The secularism, relativism and individualism of that culture affect the most fundamental human activity, the generation of life.

Abortion is a product of the contraceptive ethic. "[D]espite their differences," said John Paul II, "contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree…. rooted in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of sexuality, and … a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfillment."

Until the Anglican Lambeth Conference of 1930, no Christian denomination had ever said that contraception could ever be objectively right. Contraception deliberately separates sex from procreation. It affirms that there is such a thing as a life not worth living, and that man (of both sexes), rather than God, is the arbiter of whether and when human life shall begin. If you claim the right to decide when life begins you will predictably claim the right to decide when it ends, as in abortion and euthanasia.

With the marketing of the pill in the 1960s, Roe v. Wade was inevitable. A contraceptive culture needs abortion as a back-up. The meltdown of that culture is accelerating.

Francis Fukuyama called the introduction of the contraceptive pill "The Great Disruption" in relations between men and women. In the nature of things, sex is reserved for marriage, and marriage is permanent, because sex has something to do with babies. The contraceptive separation of sex from life leads to the separation of sex from marriage and to the irrelevancy of marriage. In 2006, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control, a record 36.9 percent of all births were out of wedlock. Out-of-wedlock births are 80 percent of births to teens and 60 percent to mothers in their early 20s. In 2006, they were 26.6 percent among non-Hispanic whites, 70.7 percent among non-Hispanic blacks and 49.9 percent among Hispanics.

Government officials, including educators, throw fuel on the fire by promoting contraception even among pre-teens. Not surprisingly, the birth rate to teens rose three percent in 2006, the first rise since 1991. Cases of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis, the STDs for which reporting is required, continue to rise.

In such a Copulation Explosion, you have to expect a rise in pregnancies and that many will end in abortion. The "morning-after pill," an abortifacient, is available over-the-counter and is easily, if illegally, obtainable by minors without parental knowledge.

Neither the law nor politics can get us out of this mess. Contraception and abortion are a subset of the question: Who is God? Who decides whether and when life begins and when it ends? Abortion is an aspect of our contraceptive rejection of God's gift of life. Before he became Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said, "[T]he ultimate root of hatred for human life… is the loss of God. When God disappears, the absolute dignity of human life disappears as well…. Only this divine dimension guarantees the full dignity of the human person…. In the struggle for life, talking about God is indispensable."

The March for Life is not a futile exercise. It focuses on abortion, the ultimate secular sacrament. The March is an in-your-face, on-site reminder to the Executive, the Court and the Congress of their derelictions and of what they ought to do. Under the leadership of Washington attorney Nellie Gray, the March, from its inception, has also been an act of prayer. The message: Human life is sacred because it is a gift of God. The students in the March bring honor to the Notre Dame community.

Professor Emeritus Rice is on the faculty of the law school.
He can be reached at (574) 633-4415 or rice.1@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

© Copyright 2008 The Observer

Club joins March for Life

Club joins March for Life
Right to Life travels to Washington, D.C. to protest legalized abortion

The Observer: Frontpage
By: Marcela Berrios

Posted: 1/22/08
More than 230 students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary's and Holy Cross have made the 12-hour bus trip to Washington, D.C. to join thousands of other pro-life advocates at the March for Life on Tuesday.

The march is an annual demonstration against Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973.

The Notre Dame Right to Life Club offered students three travel options, ranging in length from 36 hours to four days. Students on the two longer trips participated in service projects and mini pro-life conferences as a prelude to the march.

"So far everybody seems to really be enjoying themselves," Right to Life president Mary Liz Walter said Monday night. "And tomorrow should be even better. I think for most it'll be such a powerful experience to be in the heart of the nation's capital next to hundreds of thousands of other people, all united for one cause."

More than 200,000 people attended last year, according to the Right for Life Web site.

In addition to a 27 percent increase in the number of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's and Holy Cross participants, Walter said there are about 30 students from Purdue University who registered to attend through Right to Life. She said the club's travel options were affordable and convenient for many college students.

Tuesday's itinerary will include attending a youth Mass, rallying at Capitol Mall and finally marching from the Mall to the Supreme Court building, the Notre Dame Right to Life Web site said.

"Hopefully this will be an opportunity for everyone to be in solidarity with other people who are also fighting for the dignity and the respect for human life in all of its stages," Walter said.Notre Dame students traveling to Washington, D.C. for the march have been excused from classes by the Office of Residence Life and Housing because the march represents an integral part of Right to Life's mission, Associate Vice President for Residence Life Bill Kirk said Monday.

"Right to Life is a recognized student organization and like many other student organizations with national conferences and events that are critical to their underlying purpose, they were granted excused absences to be able to participate in the march," Kirk said.

The decision to allow these students to miss their classes, he said, is in accordance with the absence policy outlined in duLac, which says members of groups that officially represent Notre Dame may receive excused absences when they are away from campus performing duties for the University. Like many students involved in varsity or club athletic events, mock trials, choir tours, honorary society national conventions and student union board national conferences, among other events, participants of the Right for Life March were eligible for an excused absence from their classes through Kirk's office.

"This is not the first year that excused absences have been granted for participants in the Right to Life March," Kirk said. "Our office only maintains class absence records for the immediately previous year, so I am unable to say with certainty for how many years excused absences have been provided, but I do recall excused absences being granted for at least the last several years," he said.

Last year, about 120 students took advantage of this option and filled three Right to Life charter buses to Washington, D.C. This year, as the number of participants surpassed 100, Kirk was "delighted" to approve their absence from class.

He said he hopes these students will be "a very visible sign" of the University's commitment to its Catholic mission.

"I can think of few better ways to do so than through this march," Kirk said.

The students on the four-day trip, which came with a price tag of $85 per person, have been lodged at the St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, Va. since Saturday morning. The second batch of students, who paid $75 to cover the cost of transportation and some food at the parish, arrived one day later. The third and final group, which contributed $50 per person to cover the cost of the buses, arrived this morning after an overnight drive.

But for many students, spending the night on a bus is a minor inconvenience for a chance to make their voices heard.

Senior Ana Laura Virzi said she just wants to protest abortion on behalf of "all the unborn souls that didn't have the opportunity to protest themselves."From the bus carrying the third group to Washington, D.C., she said that though she is a Panamanian citizen, she thinks it's important to make a difference in the United States - a country that may well serve as an example for other countries in Latin America and the world on the abortion issue.

© Copyright 2008 The Observer