Hundreds of Catholic University students, faculty, and staff gathered for the annual March for Life pep rally, demonstrating the community's strong commitment to standing up for the dignity of human life. President Peter Kilpatrick, who has been participating in the March for Life for more than forty years, cast a vision for even greater participation from the University community. “It would be my desire to have 1000 people from The Catholic University of America out marching.”
The call for increased participation came with a reflection on the purpose of the March. “We are marching today, not to win an argument. We’re marching today to be witnesses, and witness comes from the Greek word for martyr, for sacrifice.”
The March, according to President Kilpatrick, becomes a real sign, a witness, for the Catholic community on campus, to stand for the people that struggle with the plague of abortion. “We aren’t against anyone. We are actually for them, we are for their spirit and their souls.” This powerful message of unity and mercy visibly touched the hearts of many of the people present at the rally, enabling them to truly reflect on the reason they showed up for the annual event.
Prioritizing human dignity is what enables us to look at all the injustices that afflict our contemporary world. President Kilpatrick, citing Pope Francis, openly condemned capital punishment, opposition to lawful immigration, and human trafficking, but deemed abortion as a “preeminent issue.” The staggering statistics support his claim: every year one million babies are aborted in America and about 200 million worldwide.
In his final remarks, President Kilpatrick pointed to the true culprits behind what he called the "abortion holocaust." The real threat to life, he said, are the powers and principalities that normalize and enable abortion all across the world causing parents to lose hope in the future of their unborn children. As the average age of populations in North America and Europe steadily rises, the urgency to protect life grows stronger.
President Kilpatrick's call to witness resonated throughout Heritage Hall. Following a blessing from University Chaplain Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., the Catholic University contingent joined thousands of others on the National Mall, witnessing to the dignity and sanctity of human life.
