Pro-lifers hold prayerful, peaceful witness at Erie abortion clinic

Published: 2004-08-13

ERIE, Pa. (CNS) - With their lips uttering prayers of the rosary, hands fingering rosary beads, feet rhythmically pounding the sidewalk outside a downtown Erie abortion clinic, pro-lifers displayed to cars rushing by and pedestrians what the church teaches about destroying a human life in the womb. Before the prayer gathering in front of the 11-month-old clinic, Father Nick Rouch, associate director of seminarians for the Erie Diocese, led a morning prayer service at St. Joseph/Bread of Life Church. He accompanied members of the congregation as they walked to the clinic. Walking with him was Father Mark Hoffman, pastor of St. Mary of Grace Parish in Meadville. "Sometimes we feel so helpless. We feel there is so little we can do (to defend life)", Father Hoffman told the Lake Shore Visitor, newspaper of the Erie Diocese. "This is one little act to be a witness to what we profess in our faith and citizenship. I hope one day this (abortion) will be an obsolete law."

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