High school sophomore says annual vigil, march 'something beautiful'

Published: 2006-01-23

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Joshua Sikora of Attleboro, Mass., has been attending the March for Life in Washington since he was a small child. Now a sophomore at a public high school, he helps coordinate the annual National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. At this time of year Sikora wouldn't be anywhere else. The gathering "is a witness ... a testament to the world, to the U.S." that abortion is wrong, he said. He spoke to Catholic News Service Jan. 22 in between directing high school and college students to different areas of the basilica's lower level. "We want abortion to be illegal. It's murder and it shouldn't be happening," Sikora said. He called the vigil that night and the march the next day "something beautiful." This year the vigil Mass -- always held on the eve of the annual March for Life marking the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade -- drew more than 6,000.

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