Marking the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade, several Residents Little Sisters and staff joined a crowd of over 500 for the first “March for Life” in Palatine on Saturday, January 19th. Beginning with a gathering at nearby St. Theresa’s Church, we listened to two compelling testimonies before marching to the town plaza.
Carol Rybacki from Silent No More spoke very poignantly about her abortion 43 years ago. She shared the destructive affected on it had on her life and the beautiful gift of God’s healing. Jim Sable from Conceived in Rape talked about discovering many years after being adopted that he was conceived when his birth mother was raped. He spoke of the gratitude he had for his birth mother’s strength and value that his life and the life of every child conceived from rape has.
Bishop George Rassas, Episcopal Vicar of Vicariate I, of the Archdiocese of Chicago encouraged us to ‘see through the eyes of Jesus’, remaining strong and standing up for what is right. Bishop Rassas will be traveling to Washington, DC for the National March representing the Chicago Archdiocese for Cardinal Francis George (as he is recovering from treatments for Cancer).
During our ½ mile walk from St. Theresa’s Church to the plaza, horns were blaring along the way on busy Northwest Highway. Cheers erupted from the marchers, as many motorists responded to the “Honk if you love babies,” or “Pray to end abortion” signs that we carried.
Joe Scheidler, National Director of the Pro-Life Action League, spoke at the Plaza, telling us that we know every life is precious. We’ve got to save babies every day and we’ve been called to stand up.
After the closing prayer we left re-energized to stand up for the gift of life, from conception until God call us home. As if to affirm our determination, the sun popped out from behind the clouds and unseasonably high temperatures warmed our way home.
March for Life