Marching for Life Version 2015

What a great experience the March for Life Chicago was today, my second time participating.  So far as I can tell, an even larger crowd came out for this year's March than last year.  (P.S. The sign I used last year I used again for this year's event.  Please follow the link to see a picture of it at the bottom of the blog post I wrote for last year's March.)

Of course, the reason we gather is because of the grim anniversary of when abortion was legalized by the Roe v. Wade decision, as for those who gather later this week in Washington, D.C., on the actual anniversary.  Yet there was such positive energy running through the crowd gathered, because we shared a common conviction that life is sacred, and determination to respect and defend life, starting from the moment of conception.  It was great to share this experience with the many thousands there, and with my Dad, and one of his friends we met up with, too.

Yet there was another important theme running through the remarks offered by various people, especially dignitaries such as Archbishop Blase Cupich and Dr. Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of the Moody Church.  In addition to defending and respecting the life of the unborn, we must also come alongside the mothers of the unborn, to support them in their brokenness and great need.  By showing them love, in the Spirit of Divine Love, we ultimately conquer the culture of death and promote a culture of life.  The reality of that culture of death was evident in the pro-abortion demonstrators who stood alongside Randolph Street as the large March crowd passed.

This is the cause to which we commit ourselves in the year ahead: ending abortion, and promoting a culture of life, so that people don't feel compelled to turn to abortion, as we fully embrace the dignity of all human life.

I feel that this March aptly coincided with Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.  The cause of defending the unborn fits well in his legacy, because it is about respecting life, which is the first of the three unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence we hold dear as Americans.

Indeed, all lives matter.

Here is Archbishop Cupich addressing the crowd.  (See the center, beneath the sign reading, "Women Deserve Better than Abortion". ) This was my first opportunity to see Archbishop Cupich in person.

The March crowd heading north on Dearborn Street from Federal Plaza to the Thompson Center.