Well, here it is - five whole days after the march - and after a number of computer crashes (I seriously need more memory). I hope to have more of an account shortly.
Update: February 2. There isn’t really much to tell about the March itself. My trip to DC on January 21 went off well, and I got checked into my hotel at 4:00. I made the mistake of lying down for a while. I was desperately tired from getting up so early and wanted to rest before the Mass at the Basilica at 7:00. I should have left to go there at 4:00 instead of an hour later. I would have had to be there at 5:00 just to get seat from which I could see anything.
As it was, I had a number of delays from trying to figure out the D.C. Metro, or subway system, and by the time I arrived at the Basilica at 6:30, the place was packed to overflowing — people were standing five deep in the side aisles; only the central aisle through the nave was partly free - I literally could see nothing by peering in except the fresco on the dome, because everyone was already standing for the entrance procession, which took over half an hour! It included seven U. S. cardinals, 40 bishops and hundreds of priests, deacons and seminarians.
I managed to get the last seat left in the vestibule; many others who came sat on the floor or the choir loft steps. From there I was at least able to listen to the Mass and Cardinal DiNardo’s inspiring homily. But no opportunity to shoot any video. I decided to leave right after receiving Communion, so I could beat the crowd on the Metro. But because I couldn’t readily figure out which subway line I needed to take (that’s because the lines have different names coming and going!) it did me little good. By the time I figured things out, the Basilica crowd had caught up with me. It took me forever for me to find my way home, get something to eat and fall into bed.
Up at 7:00. I had to check out of the hotel, and take everything with me on the March (I had absolutely nothing with me but my video camera, clean top, nightgown, toothbrush and shampoo). At 7:30 I set out to get to the Blogs for Life Conference. It was easy, because the location was near the Mall, just 4 stops from where I was, on the route I’d taken the night before. To me, this was actually the most interesting and fun part of the trip. Many of today’s well-known pro-life faces were there, and there were a number of interesting short talks, as well as a refreshment break, which was very welcome, since I hadn’t stopped for breakfast. Two pro-life Congressmen, Todd Akin and Jim Jordan, took part. I’m only sorry I didn’t have room on the video for all the talks.
At 11:30, we walked right over to the Rally on the Mall, just six blocks away. The crowd was ENORMOUS! People handing out pro-life signs on every street corner. Outside the entrance to the Mall, I took video of people with interesting and diverse signs, including the “Thank you Bart Stupak” guy, and the Secularist for Life guy (who didn’t want to comment for the camera).
At the Rally, I was just on the outskirts (once again, I probably would have had to be there at 9 in the morning to be anywhere near the central action), and the people talking at the microphone came through only faintly on the loudspeakers, so I must have been quite a ways from them as well. Then, as last year, when the time came to start the March, we stood in position for over an hour while the marchers ahead of us proceeded.
To my amazement and delight, I found myself standing next to a group of Franciscans from the northeastern province of the U.S., including New York. They were accompany a group of students from upper New York State’s Franciscan school, St. Bonaventure University. The students (very largely female, Newsweek), told me off-camera about their pro-life efforts, which included making an internet video. They call themselves the “the Pro-Life Nerds.” I hope I got that right, because in addition to enthusiasm, the biggest thing in that crowd was noise!
At last we were off! But because of my back trouble, I had to drop out several times to find a bench or some steps along the route where I could rest, and of course, shoot video and do interviews. I also had to leave by 3:30, though I hadn’t even gotten past the Capitol, much less the Supreme Court. I did make it all the way up there last year. But now I had to find an ATM and a cab to get to the bus station on time. My cab driver was almost pop-eyed with frustration at trying to find an open street because of the March. “What a crazy day!” he said. “It’s crazy every year.” My cab driver the previous afternoon had told me that pro-life was “a very good cause to support”. Wonder what they and other D.C. residents think every year when they come home after dodging the marchers all day, and find hardly any acknowledgment on TV that the event even took place? My driver was a nice guy and got me to the station on time. But the bus was over an hour late — ha!
It seemed like a much longer trip coming back than going. And at last, I was able to watch the replay on EWTN and find out what the rally speakers had actually said. Well, I know now to be early for everything next year.
Enjoy the video, counter-cultural freedom fighters for life!
I just received a letter from Ray Seabeck, dated January 19:
We thank you so much for your generous gift . . . . for Mother Teresa’s missions in Haiti. It will be used to help the sisters rebuild and care for the poor in this terrible mess.
We got word on Friday that all Mother Teresa’s sisters in all of their 9 missions in Haiti are okay and all their people got out safely. Many of their buildings are unsafe and have to be rebuilt, but no lives were lost. . . . in each mission there is a home for the adult dying and a Children’s Home (400 people in each mission).
God bless you for your loving concern for the poor people of Haiti.
This is great news, but these poor people still desperately need help. If you want to help, contact Ray and Lauretta Seabeck at 22 Boyd Hill Rd., Gilford, NH 03249 (603) 524-4740.
I’m starting out with that line — and this great picture — because the stupidity and bias of the mainstream secular news media is the reason we have blogs. This Newsweek article would have us believe that “young women were missing” from last year’s anniversary of the Roe v. Wade commemorations in D.C. (I was there and the majority of the march was composed of young people both male and female). The author, Krista Gesaman, took the words of one of the police coordinators of the event to the effect that the original organizers of the March for Life were getting old and twisted it to try and imply that the young weren’t attending, and that, in fact, the majority of the participants in the march were over 60. Indeed, Nellie Gray, one of the original organizers of the March, has been there every year since 1974, and she and the other founders are certainly up there in years. But that means nothing in regard to the rest of the participants. You only need to take a look at the picture to see that young women were out in full force at this year’s march. (Photo source)
The rest of the article centered around a supposed lack of activism among young women on both sides of the abortion issue. To be fair, the author predicted a “surge” of young women this year because of the Mass for Life and Youth Rally sponsored by the Washington Archdiocese — though the same Mass and Rally were held last year and if I’m not mistaken, in previous years as well.
This nonsense is very typical of the MSM reporting on the March for Life and it’s repeated every year. This year, I was marching, and once again there were some 250,000 to 300,000 people surging up Constitution Ave singing and praying for life. I never saw a single pro-choice sign. As usual there were undoubtedly a handful of pro-choice demonstrators up around the Supreme Court building at the end of the march, but I didn’t see any of them, either this year or last year.
As usual, the media tried to pretend the march didn’t exist, and whenever the news even bothered to mention it, there was little to no reporting of the actual numbers on either side. Most MSM sources either were silent, or implied there might have been equal numbers on both sides. CNN as usual, was particularly bad. Steven Greydanus takes down the media coverage here.
Catholic and other religious news services were out full force (I went right past the EWTN cameraman). C-SPAN covered the march in some detail. I’m also told that Fox News was there. Other than that, the only people getting the news out there are the new media. Most people would not be able to see how big the march was if it weren’t for blogs and YouTube videos.
I hope to publish my account and video very shortly. I had a hard trip back from D.C. Friday because the bus was delayed, and because the pressure of work marches on, I’m having to make up some lost work time yesterday and today. But I’ll have the full story very soon.
Update, same day: Here’s a commentary from the Washington Post, by someone who — gasp! — actually went out and did some reporting on the march and who shows who really attended and what they think.
Looking back over the posts I’ve done this year, I think I made some hits and misses in reporting on the biggest stories of the 2009 in regard to events in the Catholic Church. But I think I got the top six. In order:
5. Pope Benedict’s new social encyclicalCaritas in Veritate creates discussion about world events to secure social justice — and more ludicrous misunderstanding than you can imagine.
Other stories I covered: Pope Benedict’s trip to the Holy Land and the controversy over the film of Dan Brown’sAngels and Demons. And this may be “hometown” news for me, but it does have a great impact on the Church in the U.S. as a whole: New York got a New Archbishop, Timothy Dolan.
Others - controversy over the death of Ted Kennedy and this pro-abortion Catholic’s highly public funeral Mass, the new priestly sex abuse crisis in Ireland — I sort of missed. I certainly followed them while they were happening, but didn’t have time to blog about them.
Prolife leaders are urging everyone to make this year’s March for Life on January 22 in Washington D.C. the largest ever. Our presence is greatly needed as Congress gears up to pass a so-called “health” care bill that is really an enemy to the unborn, the elderly and the terminally ill. The date that commemorates the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton will be a great day to make our opposition to this bill heard.
I will be there and video blogging again. I’ll be attending the Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Blogs4Life Conference, and of course the rally on the Mall and the March to the Capitol and the Supreme Court. I’m sure I’ll have interesting footage, so be sure to check back here. I’ll have more updates and links at January 22 approaches.
Pausing to look at all the sights on our way to Jerusalem. . . Mainly about faith, the Church, film, writing, famous Christian authors, and anything else I'm interested in at the moment.
The photo above was taken at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in March 2007.
Quote of the Month
"The conviction that there is a Creator God is what gave rise to the idea of human rights, the idea of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition of the inviolability of human dignity in every single person and the awareness of people’s responsibility for their actions. Our cultural memory is shaped by these rational insights. To ignore it or dismiss it as a thing of the past would be to dismember our culture totally and to rob it of its completeness. The culture of Europe arose from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – from the encounter between Israel’s monotheism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This three-way encounter has shaped the inner identity of Europe. In the awareness of man’s responsibility before God and in the acknowledgment of the inviolable dignity of every single human person, it has established criteria of law: it is these criteria that we are called to defend at this moment in our history."
Pope Benedict XVI to the German Parliament, Sept 22, 2011.
