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36th Annual
March for Life with
the Lay Order of St. Michael
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On
Thursday, January 22, 2009, a busload of pilgrims from St Michael's World
Apostolate joined the throngs in Washington, D.C. in defense of human life
from conception to natural death.
You couldn't ask for a better day in
January for a mass demonstration: a
clear sunny day with the
temperature in the 50s ºF. Rosaries of reparation in abundance were prayed
and thousands of Our Lady's messages were distributed and received well. |
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Rosaries and
litanies were prayed en route to the March.
Maria Castricum of Budd Lake, N.J. |
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Manny Cortes of The Bronx and his mother, Lucy,
of Far Rockaway N.Y. |
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As soon as we got off the bus we had to prepare the
powerful and mobile loud speaker system so that thousands of people could
participate in the rosaries and singing. |
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The bus
organizer, Bill Dykes, LOSM |
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Marching up Constitution Ave |
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About 200,000
people attended the March, one of the biggest ever. |
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As
we march,
Michael Mangan, President of SMWA (c.), makes the offering. Here's
what he read six times during the March:
At
this March for Life, we pray for pro-life
success this year at both the state and federal levels and offer public
reparation for this unspeakable crime of abortion.
We boldly stand up today in our nation’s
capital and with one voice and prayer we speak out for the voiceless and
we say, “Stop the killing of the holy innocents.”
We openly declare complete opposition to the
Freedom of Choice Act, a radical and monstrous bill that, if signed into
law, would eliminate all restrictions to abortion and nullify every piece
of pro-life legislation enacted since Jan. 1973. We pray that this bill is
killed and not the babies.
Although we are saddened by the tragic and
lengthy conflict in Iraq in which over 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died in 6
years - May God rest their souls -- a far bigger and greater war is being
waged every day in America on Main St. -- the war on the unborn which
claims the lives of 4,000 defenseless babies a day! And over 50 million
since 1973 and that’s just the U.S.
We remember President Obama in our
intentions, for his conversion on the issue of the right to life and for
all lawmakers, legislators and policy-makers that they seriously take to
heart the wise words of Pope John Paul II: “The common outcry, which is
justly made on behalf of human rights . . . is false and illusory if the
right to life, the most basic and fundamental right . . . is not defended
with maximum determination” (The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay
Faithful in the Church and in the World, 1988).
Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers,
pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in our
battle for the unborn. |
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Here's most of the troops |
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Some
television crews were present. We got a few reports
from the Baysiders who saw us on EWTN, the worldwide TV network. Our SMWA
banner and white and blue berets stood out amongst the multitude. |
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Sarah Cameron, videographer from Brooklyn via England, who studied film in
college, captured the whole day on tape. Sarah was recently introduced to
the Bayside apparitions -- she was particularly impressed by the
miraculous photos -- and had asked if she could join us on the bus and
film our pro-life pilgrimage. |
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Getting the Message out en masse,
Andrew Stewart of Philadelphia, Penn. |
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Wanda Lucci of Brooklyn, N.Y. |
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(l. to r.) Mary Consoli of Yardley,
Penn., Hitomi and Teresa
Valle of Kew Gardens, N.Y., and Marisa Consoli of Yardley, Penn. singing
the traditional hymns. |
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James Donohue, LOSM and Vice President of SMWA |
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Michael Bauer of Cape Cod, Mass., filming for
SMWA |
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Note the Washington Monument |
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Some devotees reaching out with our
brochure,
Bayside, The Facts Revealed. Here is
Peter Frank, LOSM. |
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Michael Lucci of Brooklyn, N.Y. |
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St Michael's banner stands out prominently in
the crowdign="center" height="16">
St Michael's banner stands out prominently in
the crowd |
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Madeline Colon of Queens, N.Y., leading
a rosary en español |
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By
the end of the day, we prayed 13 Rosaries, many litanies, the long
exorcism of St. Michael and sung an abundance of beautiful traditional
hymns, all in reparation for the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. |
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Your
comments on this report are
appreciated, click here |
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SMWA photos by Darryl Bolisay |
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