Washington Catholics give warm welcome to March for Life participants

Published: 2004-01-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When tens of thousands of pro-life marchers descend upon Washington each year for the annual March for Life, Dick and Peggy Blackford and Suzanne O'Connor are ready. In fact, they get ready weeks in advance. The Blackfords and a handful of members of St. Joseph Church on Capitol Hill coordinate a hospitality center for marchers at their parish, and O'Connor, along with a volunteer group of about 40, provide a similar service at St. Peter Church, also on Capitol Hill. The two churches, on opposite sides of the Capitol, know what many of these marchers want before getting on their buses after a long day of walking, listening to speeches and lobbying. And most often, it's a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. St. Peter's has been providing such hospitality since the first March for Life in 1974 marking the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton decisions that legalized abortion in the United States. Volunteer parishioners arrive at the church basement by 4 a.m. to set up coffee and doughnuts for early arriving marchers who begin shuffling into the parish throughout the morning.

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