march for life 2012

This year, as a high school chaplain, I led a group to DC for the March for the first time.


I must admit that it was stressful to prepare. There are a lot of little details to plan and things to pay for: a bus, tickets to the Youth Rally & Mass, image waivers from the Archdiocese of DC, permission slips from the diocese, snacks, etc.


But, in the end, it went well. Yes, we got wet and were cold and tired, but everything went smoothly.


I especially enjoyed being a priest at the Youth Rally & Mass. After settling my group in their seats, I went down to what was actually a restaurant to hear confessions. It was a powerful experience. I quickly lost count of how many people came and sat down.
What struck me most was the openness and trust people had. I'm just some guy they've never met before, but because they know I'm a priest, they were willing and able to share some pretty deep things. It was a real sign of the awesome power and privilege of the priesthood. They came to me because of Jesus.


After confessions I headed down to the "event level" with a couple of priests I met to get ready for Mass. Down there I ran into several people I know from seminary - it's always amazing who you see at the March. Processing into the Verizon Center was pretty incredible. It's a gigantic room with a  gigantic crowd. Praying the Eucharistic prayer with all those priests is quite an experience as well.


Then began the walking and standing portion of the day. The kids in my group held up well considering the cold rain. It takes so long to actually start marching that it's easy to get discouraged; but they did well with (mostly) minimal complaints.


This was my seventh time at the March. Though that's not nearly as many as some of the people I've traveled with over the years, I find it interesting to think about the March as an event. First off, I like the March a lot. It was where I first felt a call to the priesthood, so I see it as a turning point in my faith. The whole idea of so many people being witnesses, year after year, also inspires me. Even without any sort of tangible result, I think it's important that we stand up and say that abortion is a grave evil.
It is also a positive thing for those who come to March. We get to be encouraged by the massive number of people who hold those same values in common. For young people especially, it's a glimpse into the pro-life movement - and Catholicism - on a larger scale than their parish or diocese. Yes, I know it's not a exclusively Catholic event, but we have to accept the reality of it.


Afterwards, on the bus ride home, I was thinking about what I would do differently, leading the high school's trip to the March again. At that point, wet and cold, it was hard to find a way to attract kids to the event strictly on the basis that it's a positive thing to stand up against abortion. I think that's the weakness of the March and perhaps why it doesn't attract attention outside the pro-life movement: it's the same thing every year.
I don't know what would be practical to change when you are dealing with such a huge number of people, but it seems to me that repeating the same formula over and over again can make it lose it's power. The reason things like the Occupy movement or even the rally put on by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert grabbed so much attention was that they were new, fresh - something unexpected that made people think, "this could change something."
I am not saying that we need to be novel just to imitate our culture; but we do, as pro-life people, need to learn how to make our message something people want to investigate.