I hope you were able to take part in the historic event that just occurred on Saturday…Pittsburgh’s First Annual Pro-Life March! But, whether or not you were there in person, I wanted to share some highlights in this post, and to thank everyone who made this amazing day possible:
Here we go…(Thanks to our friend and 40 Days for Life volunteer, Larry Squires, for taking these beautiful photos!)
THE MASS…
What a blessing it was to have THREE BISHOPS take part in the Mass, along with many priests, deacons and seminarians! Much gratitude goes to Bishop Larry Kulick, Bishop of Greensburg, Bishop Zubik (not pictured) and Bishop Waltersheid! Thanks also to our dedicated group of Knights of Columbus who were instrumental in keeping the event organized and safe!Fr. Kris Stubna, Pastor of St. Paul Cathedral, with Bishop Zubik and Bishop Kulick…The Knights of Columbus Color Guard in their full regalia, and a large crowd of faithful in the beautiful St. Paul Cathedral!I estimated that there were around 500 people at the Mass. It was really beautiful! To see Bishop Waltersheid giving the homily (about 5 minutes) CLICK HERE.It was comforting and uplifting to see so many priests and seminarians take part!
THE DIAPER DRIVE…
Jen, Grace, Charlene and Dick collected diapers and donations for Catholic Charities outside of St. Paul Cathedral before the Mass. Thanks to all who contributed!
(From Charlene) – The diaper drive was a success…diapers, wipes and cash. Jen, Grace and Pat from Catholic Charities and my husband Dick were a big help. Many didn’t bring diapers but donated money which will be a blessing to the families helped by Catholic Charities and pregnancy centers!
PRO-LIFE TABLING EVENT UNDER THE TENT AT SCHENLEY PLAZA…
Thanks to more than 18 pro-life organizations for coming out to educate attendees about their work and to give us opportunities to get plugged in to the many wonderful life-saving organizations in our area!
Joe White, a faithful year-round 40 Days for Life 365 volunteer, manned the 40 Days for Life table, giving away hundreds of items that were generously furnished to us by 40 Days for Life national team. Thanks to Joe and to all who stopped by to learn how they can save lives through participation in 40 Days for Life in Pittsburgh!Brendan and Hayden from the American Solidarity Party were instrumental in the planning of this event and had a table to inform people of this group.Catholic Charities does so much for vulnerable people in our area, we were glad that they were there to educate folks on how they can help!Cecily had a table to educate people about the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation, which does such good work to educate the Jewish population regarding the sanctity of all human life.The Choose Life at Pitt table was there to share all the wonderful pro-life activities happening with the students at Pitt.The Couple to Couple League had a table to educate people on the dangers of contraception and the ways to naturally “plan parenthood”, while honoring God’s gift of life.Deeper Still is a post abortion healing ministry, which is so desperately needed!Meredith had a table to let everyone know about the wonderful work being done by the Magee Project’s “Church at Magee”, to raise awareness about the abortions being done at Magee, and to plead with them to restore Magee Hospital to one that respects and protects the life of ALL its patients.Mary’s Place offers housing and guidance to pregnant moms and was there with a table to let us know about their wonderful life saving work! Life Pac of PA was also represented (table on the right, not pictured), but they generously gave away beautiful fresh red roses to everyone! So nice!Sidewalk Advocates for Life had a table, manned by year-round volunteers Greg Engelmeyer and Kathy Laslow. This is a great photo of Greg educating a young girl about fetal development with our set of models.Survivors of the abortion holocaust had an impactful message. Anyone born after 1973 is indeed a survivor!Pennsylvania Family Institute was there to help us to stand up for our freedom and to defend life!
THE RALLY AT SCHENLEY PLAZA…
God gave us the most beautiful day possible for the rally at Schenley Plaza! Although the weather was due to change that evening with a cold front moving in and severe winds…early in the day it was warm and partly sunny, with just enough cloud cover to keep us from roasting in the hot sun. It was exactly perfect. No wind to blow around the signs or literature. God took care of us.
We estimate that approximately 800 people gathered on the lawn in Schenley Plaza to rally in defense of all human life! It was awesome gathering of pro-life friends!Pitt student, Roman and his band entertained the folks who came early for the pre-rally gathering. Thanks to these talented young musicians for all of the hard work setting up equipment and playing for us!Pastors Jay and Tiffany Gilbert, operators of the pregnancy care center in East Liberty, “Voices for the Unborn”, “East Liberty Women’s Clinic” and Another Level Ministries, were perfect as our event’s Emcees! Thanks to both of them for keeping the event moving and motivating!The very talented students from Aquinas Academy opened up the rally by singing the National Anthem. Thanks to all of these wonderful students for coming out to bless us with their musical talent! CLICK HERE TO WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF THEM SINGING. Students from Aquinas Academy opened with the national anthem!Fr. Peter Gruber, of the Pittsburgh Oratory opened us with a heartfelt prayer. WATCH VIDEO HEREPCUC President Greg Engelmeyer and I had the great privilege of honoring the winner of our official Pittsburgh Pro Life March T-shirt contest to 12 year old Lilly! Thank you Lilly for your beautiful artwork and for facing your nervousness of standing in front of a crowd to accept your award! You did great!!!Executive Director of Network of Life (formerly Women’s Choice Network), Amy Scheuring gave a motivating message about how we need to work to save vulnerable unborn babies by reaching their parents with love and support. We are grateful to her for her many decades of service and praise God for the many thousands of children (and adults!) who are now alive because of the life-saving work of Network of Life pregnancy centers!Director of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation, Cecily Routman, gave a sobering message, reminding us of the horrors that can happen when people dehumanize a certain population, and of the importance of defending all vulnerable human life!Representative Marla Brown spoke to us about the importance of legal protection for the unborn.Kyra Kishore, leader of Pitt’s Students for Life group, “Choose Life at Pitt”, spoke about the pro-life movement on campus! Kyra has recently converted from Hinduism to Catholicism, and God seems to have chosen her for this specific mission! We are very blessed and grateful for all of the hard work she put into pulling this event together!Rev. Georgette Forney, President of Anglicans for Life, and co-founder of “Silent No More Awareness”, gave a profound talk about the need for women and men who have been wounded by abortion to find healing and forgiveness, and to then allow God to use their witness to help other vulnerable couples to avoid the temptation to abort their precious children. We are very grateful to her for her courageous witness and hard work to bring restoration to our broken culture.Michael Geer was there from Pennsylvania Family Institute to talk about the amazing work this organization is doing to educate Pennsylvanians about all that is happening with legislation and what we can do to help restore a culture of life in our state.National Spokesperson for Students for Life, Lydia Taylor Davis was an awesome speaker! Her youthful enthusiasm for changing the culture to one that respects human life was very inspiring!Keynote speaker, and founder of 40 Days for Life, David Bereit, drove in from Virginia to give a motivating message of the difference each one of us can make, by getting out there with our prayerful witness to the culture! Thank you David for such a powerful talk and for coming in for this event!Enjoying the beautiful day, listening to the speakers are His Excellency, Bishop Waltersheid and Deacon Frank Bursic.This lovely mother and daughter…holding a sign generously donated by our wonderful Knights of Columbus! We are grateful to the Knights for helping with security at the event, providing signage and taking a collection to help defray the cost of the event. They are truly a blessing to us and we are very grateful!Here’s my hubby (seated)…enjoying the pro-life fellowship!
THE MARCH…
After an hour of motivating speakers, and uplifting pro-life fellowship, we began our march through Oakland! CLICK HERE TO WATCH A SHORT VIDEO!
Archangel Gabriel Parish did a great job organizing a bus to transport many enthusiastic pro-lifers to this event!
Again, thanks to all who worked so hard to make this event a resounding success, and to all who attended! Our planning committee will be meeting soon to choose the date for next year! Stay tuned! God bless you!
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and videos, Nikki. I wish I could have been there. You were in my prayers. God was so gracious. May he continue to use us to proclaim the truth and continue to win over hearts and minds. Prosper the work of our hands Lord.
BEAUTIFUL-Thank You-was not able to be there prayed & thought all the while-so disappointed in our radio /media,called the newspaper -no answers, We are winning in the name of our Faith & trust in God and all of you Faithful people,God Bless. Now & forever Claire Kingl
BEAUTIFUL-Thank You-was not able to be there prayed & thought all the while-so disappointed in our radio /media,called the newspaper -no answers, We are winning in the name of our Faith & trust in God and all of you Faithful people,God Bless. Now & forever Claire Kingl
The planning and time and physical work that went into this march was so inspiring! A huge success! Thank you, Nikki, for the photos and videos. Thank you, bishops & priests for Mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral; thank you speakers, participants under the big tent, and police!!
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and videos, Nikki. I wish I could have been there. You were in my prayers. God was so gracious. May he continue to use us to proclaim the truth and continue to win over hearts and minds. Prosper the work of our hands Lord.
Thanks so much for sharing! What a beautiful witness! I didn’t see whether this was covered by any news stations or papers?
BEAUTIFUL-Thank You-was not able to be there prayed & thought all the while-so disappointed in our radio /media,called the newspaper -no answers, We are winning in the name of our Faith & trust in God and all of you Faithful people,God Bless. Now & forever Claire Kingl
BEAUTIFUL-Thank You-was not able to be there prayed & thought all the while-so disappointed in our radio /media,called the newspaper -no answers, We are winning in the name of our Faith & trust in God and all of you Faithful people,God Bless. Now & forever Claire Kingl
Super!
The planning and time and physical work that went into this march was so inspiring! A huge success! Thank you, Nikki, for the photos and videos. Thank you, bishops & priests for Mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral; thank you speakers, participants under the big tent, and police!!
Thank you Nikki, Meredith, Kyra and team for your dedication to this event. It was great!!!