On Tuesday, January 20 a group from St. Bede met at Holy
Spirit for our Pilgrimage to the March for Life 2015, we waited for the group
from Mobile to celebrated Mass before departing to Washington D.C. After many hours in the bus we finally arrived
and we were received by snow. Our first
stop was Arlington Cemetery to honor all the soldiers that have given the
ultimate sacrifice for us to have freedom. It was beautiful to walk under the
snow in the cemetery. We had the
privilege to observe the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns and
also pay our respects to the Kennedy family.
In the evening after a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi for
the entire delegation of the Archdioceses of Mobile, we visited the Lincoln
Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorials. On
Thursday we went to the Verizon Center and joined 15,000 youth to participate
in the Youth Rally and Mass for Life and it was so beautiful and humbling to be
able to attend. The Mass was celebrated
by His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl Archbishop of Washington D.C. The papal nuncio to the United States,
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano read us a message from Pope Francis. There were 3 Cardinals, more than 20 Bishops
present, more than 120 priests, more than 30 nuns, and a big number of
seminarians. This Mass was so awesome
that if we had gone back to our buses and come straight back to Montgomery all
the hours in the bus would have been worth it.
But our pilgrimage wasn’t over and soon we would be joining the
thousands of people that were there to express the importance of the dignity of
life. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi was
waiting with all of us in the street to join the march. When the march reached
us we jumped in we ended close to the front of the march, so towards the end
when we were going up a hill I looked back and I could only see a sea of people
marching and there was no end. It was a great experience to be able to participate
in this pilgrimage and to see that we are not alone. If the youth present at
the March for Life stay strong in their faith, we will see beautiful changes in
our lifetime. Thank you for all the
prayers for a save trip, the different sponsorships we received and especially
for the parents who gave permission for their child to attend this life
changing experience.
Sincerely,
Andrea
