I returned to the Seminary about two hours ago, and now that I have most things back in order, I thought I'd finish with a few more thoughts from the 2006 March for Life. You can view pictures from the March by clicking here.
Youth Mass and Rally at MCI Center
After the Mass with Archbishop Burke, many Seminarians went to the MCI Center for the annual Youth Rally, Mass and March leading up to the March for Life later in the day. I was unable to attend, but I was told that many youth groups were turned away due to the whole center being full of youth (reports say over 15,000 youth were present, along with over 700 seminarians). Then entrance procession at the Mass was about fifteen minutes long.
After this Mass, all the youth marched from the MCI Center to the area where the March for Life began (at Constitution and 7th street, on the Mall). I witnessed most of this March for about 45 minutes, while gathering with the rest of the Kenrick-Glennon Seminarians at Pennsylvania and 9th, and I was amazed by the huge number of youth! There were so many, and they kept on coming, even after we left to go to the March for Life rally grounds.
Here's a picture of a very small portion of the youth March:
The March for Life
Once we arrived on 7th street (as a side note, the march was half as long this year, as there was construction blocking some of the route from 14th street to 7th), we were quickly ushered to the sidewalk by the Virginia Knights of Columbus, who were parade marshalls. After about 45 minutes, the March for Life began, and we were lucky to be right at the beginning of the March, about one hundred yards behind the 'March for Life' banner:
We marched from 7th past the Captiol building, then turned right and proceeded to the Supreme Courthouse. We prayed the rosary toward the end, and walked mostly in silence; this year's March was too short for much more, though, and the overwhelming number of youth caused a bit more of an optimistic attitude (there was one group with a full marching band). At the Courthouse, one of our Kenrick-Glennon alumni (Fr. Blessing) took a picture of us:
Interestingly, I saw not one 'pro-choice' supporter on the whole march; in year's past, I've always seen at least ten or so on the sides of the street here and there. Apparently, my eyes must not've been open, according to the picture below in the print edition of this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article (it makes it look like there was a March for Abortion going on, and we were there to try to put it down!).
(from Alex Wong of Getty Images - STL Post-Dispatch Jan. 23, 2005 page A2)
Conclusion
We finally went to Union Station then boarded our bus after a couple of hours. The ride home was very relaxing, as we stopped only twice, and for only short periods of time (this was the first time I had ever slept on a bus for nine hours!). We are now back at the Seminary, praying as hard as ever for an end to abortion and all other attacks on human life.
Also, as usual, most of the mainstream media has done a reprehensible job reporting on the March for Life; not only are their numbers excessively inaccurate, but also their pictures and wording are deceiving and intentionally so.