Print Issue: January 30, 2003

All-Night Pro-Life Vigil Educates Youth

Father Kevin Peek, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur, proclaims the Gospel during the Mass that preceded a night of prayer and education for teens surrounding the pro-life movement at the Cathedral of the Christ the King, Atlanta, Jan. 21. (Photos by Michael Alexander) Susie Womick, 15, and Alicia Hew, 16, of St. Francis de Sales Church, Mableton, listen as archdiocesan pro-life director Mary Boyert addresses the teens. In addition to pro-life speakers, for those who remained overnight there was a exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the rosary at midnight, and a letter-writing campaign to state legislators on the issue of abortion. Sixteen-year-old Joe Pero, foreground, a member of Holy Trinity Church, Peachtree City, joins other teens in singing "More Love, More Power." Nathaniel Dash of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur, gives the second reading from the New Testament.

By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer

ATLANTA-At one end of a hospital a doctor uses medical technology to perform a late-term abortion to "snuff out" an unborn baby's life, while in another wing a different doctor uses other technology to save a baby born three months prematurely.

State Rep. Jerry Keen used this image to show the ethical conflicts surrounding abortion as he spoke Jan. 21 to youth at an all-night pro-life vigil.

Teens sat on the gym floor of the Hyland Center at the Cathedral of Christ the King and listened to pro-life speakers like Keen, Mary Boyert, director of the archdiocesan Pro-Life Office, and Father Kevin Peek, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur, who helped organize the event.

It drew about 60 youth and led into the Georgia Right to Life memorial service held at the Capitol the following day on the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. The vigil was sponsored by the Babies for Life Foundation. This Georgia organization was formed to collect donated umbilical cord blood to extract stem cells for medical research and treatment; this is an ethical alternative to cloning embryos for stem cell research, which is opposed by the church because it destroys human life.

Mass was celebrated for the teens in the Cathedral by Archbishop John F. Donoghue and several priests. Twenty-eight students came from Our Lady of Mercy High School, Fairburn, with their chaplain Father Paul Burke, and students from Victory Academy in Mableton and various churches also attended.

The archbishop drew a lesson from the Gospel in which the Pharisees condemned Jesus for performing a miracle on the Sabbath because the law forbade work on that day.

"That lesson is that you-the young Catholic men and women of our local Church-must also be brave. You must also be ready to stand up before everyone-your friends and your enemies-and say, and do what is right . . . even though the law of our land says otherwise," he said.

Abortion is violence and "the law that protects such violence is a bad law, and one that we must never accept."

He expressed hope that the tide is changing in Georgia, where more pro-life candidates were elected in the last election, the number of abortions has steadily decreased over the last two decades and the number of abortion clinics has declined from 55 to 22. Yet as adults grow weary, it's time for youth to lead the way in the struggle to end abortion.

"I want to encourage you, in every way possible, to dedicate yourself this night, more than ever before, to the fight for life in our country," the archbishop said. "Nothing is more important, and nothing would be more wonderful, than if you could pass on to your own children, the legacy of a country that had done great evil, but had seen the error of its way, and turned back-turned back to the law of God, the law of life, and the law of love."

Later Keen told the youth how life-saving technology helps expose the evil of abortion, as no longer are children's first pictures taken at an Olan Mills studio, but as an ultrasound image in the womb.

"The development of medical technology will one day help us rid this country of abortion," he said. "You are the generation that I believe will usher in the first pro-life generation in this country since Roe v. Wade. The culture is changing and it is changing among the young people . . . It's very important that you stay active. The fact that you are here tonight is very important."

He told teens that it's good to single out a politician's stance on abortion in determining whether to withhold or give support, as that stance reflects one's values on protecting life and sense of fairness. He said that among legislation that will be introduced this session is the Women's Right to Know Bill, which would require women seeking abortions to receive information on the procedure and wait 24 hours before having one. He encouraged them to contact their representatives and support it, particularly through a handwritten letter.

"We've been trying for 10 years to get that bill a fair hearing. But we now have a governor who says, 'I want that bill passed and I will sign it' . . . We're going to need you to lobby your legislators," he said. "One person can make a difference."

Boyert described how she was once rather indifferent to the abortion issue until a presentation at her church compared slides of prematurely born babies at five months with those of aborted fetuses at the same gestational stage as those delivered.

"It was as if someone picked me up and threw me against the wall. That's how strongly it hit me and I said, 'My God, they're killing babies.' . . . That day, that moment, I woke up to the problem and I've been involved in pro-life ever since."

She encouraged youth to become involved in their parish pro-life committees and to fully educate themselves to better articulate their views. She said that for her, too, this issue was difficult to discuss, but that as she started expressing her convictions it became easier.

Caitlin Wolven, a student at Victory Academy, told her peers about how her family had befriended a homeless man, who had wrecked his life after his wife was killed, and how they eventually took him in and helped him turn his life around. They met him on their regular visits to pray before an abortion clinic, she said, which reflects how pro-life work involves not just abortion but standing up for all life.

Youth Geneva Barron spoke about how she will lead teens to pray in front of abortion clinics with a new priest coming to the archdiocese involved with the Lambs of Christ, a peaceful direct-action effort to save babies from abortion.

Babies for Life founder Gerry Sotomayor, MD, and communications director Lisa Wheeler spoke about their foundation and the ethical problem of embryonic stem cell research.

After writing letters to their legislators and praying before the Blessed Sacrament, youth retired to their sleeping bags on the gym floor at 2 a.m. The next morning, after attending a 7:15 a.m. Mass, they took MARTA to the Capitol where they spoke with and presented letters to legislators and aides. They also sang "God Bless America" in the rotunda holding their pro-life posters.

Father Burke said that among pro-life issues, students at Our Lady of Mercy feel most strongly about their opposition to abortion and often discuss it because it affects them and their peers directly. He noted that there's more division regarding the death penalty, which is more remote to them. Mercy students put 30 crosses for the 30 years of legalized abortion on the front lawn of the school.

"There's a greater awareness that life begins at the moment of conception and I think there's a growing consensus of what promiscuity has brought about in our culture," Father Burke said.

Alicia Miles, a Mercy student, was glad to participate in the pro-life vigil.

"(Abortion) allows innocent children to be slaughtered and killed and it's something that always has been devastating to human life, (simply) because the mothers can't afford them or take care of them for various reasons," she said.

Her response to the argument that abortion should be legal to protect women facing abandonment or financial crisis is adoption. "There are plenty of people who would long to adopt and (when a woman has an abortion) that's one less child to choose from. Give them to someone who could care about them and would support their life."

She spoke of her friend who is a junior in high school and who got pregnant and chose to have the baby, despite the social stigma. "I just admire her for bringing the baby into the world, to have it and raise it."

She is also inspired by women who have had abortions who later realize it's wrong and speak out against it.

Youth minister Kevin McCarron of Good Shepherd Church, Cumming, noted the importance of youth ministries bringing in experts and creating a safe, comfortable environment to address issues of sex and contraception among teens. He strives to help youth understand how Catholic theology values all human life and also encompasses caring for the sick and those on death row.

Kristin Kembel, 14, attends Holy Trinity Church, Peachtree City, and came with her mother, Joy. About nine others also came from her parish. It's clear to Kristin that abortion is wrong because the fetus is a separate life even though inside the mother's body. Joy feels it's important to be vocal and teach her daughter, as a Catholic, about the church's pro-life stance on issues like abortion that go contrary to secular views. It was a time for her daughter to consider that all laws aren't just and that although she's only known abortion as legal in her lifetime, "it's not normal. It's not the way life should be."

Event coordinator Kari Beckman, a high school teacher at Victory Academy, was grateful for the support of many, including Regnum Christi and Cathedral youth minister Nicholas Azar. She and others will begin planning next year's event. "Overall, it was very, very informational for the students. They heard a lot of information they did not know pertaining to stem cell research through Babies for Life. I think we really prepared students to go back into the world and be able to defend life in a much broader sense. And it's always good to have them in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It's powerful to see young people so dedicated to the protection of our unborn children and so faithful to Jesus Christ."

She added that among the sleep-deprived teens "not one of them complained . . . They truly carried the cross for life. That was the amazing part."