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We arrived back early Tuesday morning, January 24th, from the March for Life. Our combined trip with St. Francis de Sales Church went very well with 47 high school students and 8 chaperones. I am so proud of our wonderful chaperones and high school students who endured a challenging trip on behalf of the unborn.

I am happy to report that the pro-life movement has continued to find the fountain of youth. The movement is getting younger and is getting stronger. I am encouraged by the number of "alumni" from our trips who return to Washington DC as college students, continuing to witness to the value and sanctity of all human life.

It appears that once again the "main stream media" does not consider thousands of people gathering faithfully, peacefully, and prayerfully every year on behalf of life as newsworthy. This is a reminder to me of the importance of the Catholic media to inform us about matters and events that we would not otherwise know about. I did find this excellent coverage from Fox News: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1410112622001/inside-annual-march-for-life/

At the heart of our trip was a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. We went to Mary's house to seek the intercession of the Mother of God to bring about an end to this ongoing holocaust in our country. We participated in the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Shrine. Despite our best efforts to get great seats, within 5 minutes of the end of the noon Mass all of the seats of the Basilica were reserved for the 6:30pm Mass! (I am already plotting for next year). I am so proud of our high school students who waited five hours to attend Mass!

 At the Vigil Mass, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo gave a powerful pro-life homily in which he strongly condemned the recent Health and Human Service Mandate that will force Catholic institutions to violate our conscience by providing medical coverage for medical services that are intrinsically evil. I encourage to you study more about this pressing threat against religious liberty in our nation. You can look up an article summarizing the Church's response to this serious threat against liberty and conscience rights on the internet at the following address: "http://usccb.org/news/2012/12-015.cfm".

 As our annual trip has evolved, I have found that educating our youth about the reality of abortion is incredibly important in order to help them understand why we march.  I showed the film Blood Money once again, a movie which powerfully reveals the truth about abortion and the abortion industry. You can watch the trailer to the video at "http://bloodmoneyfilm.com/". Any parishioner is welcome to borrow my copy of the DVD. Just contact me at the parish office.

 On Monday, we attended a Youth Rally at the Armory in Washington DC. The Armory is the "overflow" youth event hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington DC. It was filled to its 10,000 seat capacity for the Rally and Mass.

During the Mass we heard an excellent homily by a priest from the Archdiocese of Washington DC who recommended the 33 minute movie "180". I just watched the video online and whole heartedly recommend it: "http://180movie.com/" This video is a great pro-life tool to help people see the connection between the Holocaust and abortion. It is produced by an evangelical Christian.

The pro-life movement is strong and getting stronger. I am firmly convinced that abortion will end because the God of Life will not indefinitely tolerate the killing of innocent human lives. At the end of the day, the question is, will we have done our part.

 I invite you to recommit yourself to the single greatest civil rights issue of our day.

 God bless,

Fr. Wilson