Taking their cue from a field of crosses outside Tampa, Fla., the pro-life committee of St. Michael’s parish in Gainesville and Knights of Columbus Council 6920 recently spearheaded an ecumencial project in Hall County.

Parish pro-life committee members invited churches in the area to construct crosses to be placed in a Cemetery of the Innocents as a memorial to the 4,400 lives ended each day in the United States through abortion. Twenty-five congregations participated.

A St. Michael’s parishioner who operates a furniture manufacturing company obtained wood for the crosses and St. Michael’s became a distribution point for those churches who needed the material.

“The fellowship experience among the brother Knights was incredible,” commented Thad McCormack, St. Michael’s parishioner who helped coordinate the project for the Knights of Columbus. “The biggest blessing of all was seeing many of the Gainesville/Hall County area churches, regardless of denomination, coming together for a common cause: to make a statement about the atrocities of abortion and hopefully save the lives of the unborn babies.”

Father Bill Hoffman, pastor of St. Michael’s, joined 16 other pastors from area churches for a prayer breakfast for the victims of abortion on December 6. The following morning the Knights took part in First Saturday devotions and attended a Mass offered for the protection of the unborn.

Following the Mass the Knights joined members of the other congregations to erect the 4,400 crosses on the construction site for the New Free Chapel Worship Center, a Pentecostal church active in the pro-life movement. A Christmas tree decorated with 404 pink and blue ribbons representing the number of abortions performed in Hall County in 1990 was placed in the cemetery.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, a prayer service dedicated the Cemetery of the Innocents and Father Norberto Mateus, parochial vicar at St. Michael’s, blessed the field. The crosses will remain on the site until January 18.

K of C Council 6920 plans to present the project to the Georgia State Knights of Columbus convention in May to encourage other councils to initiate similar projects in their communities.