Bishop Earl Fernandes will take part in several events related to the national March for Life in Washington on Friday, Jan. 19.
He will serve as principal celebrant and homilist on that day at 8 a.m. for a Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception concluding a nightlong prayer vigil. The march, preceded at noon by a rally at the National Mall, will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. from the Mall to the U.S. Capitol.
Bishop Fernandes also will take part in Masses at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 at the St. John Paul II National Shrine and at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 20 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew, both also in Washington.
Columbus St. Patrick Church, 280 N. Grant Ave., is sponsoring a pilgrimage to the march that will leave the church at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 and arrive home at around 10 p.m. Jan. 20.
The group will attend the National Vigil Mass for Life at 5 p.m. Jan. 18 in the basilica and the national prayer service at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 19 in Constitution Hall before taking part in the rally and march. Stops also are planned at the March for Life Expo, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the St. John Paul II shrine and national monuments. There also will be opportunities for prayer in front of a Planned Parenthood location and street evangelization.
The pilgrimage is open to families, including those with infants. Participants will be sleeping on the floor at Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, Maryland. The cost is $150 per person to cover transportation, housing and food. Scholarships for individuals and family groups are readily available.
A $50 deposit must be paid in advance. For more information, contact Lorraine Vance at vances@embarqmail.com or (740) 965-2674.
Granville St. Edward Church, 785 Newark-Granville Road, is sponsoring a one-day excursion to the march, with buses leaving the church at 9 p.m. Jan. 18 and returning on the evening of Jan. 19. The cost is $40 per person with family pricing and scholarships available. For more information, contact Paul Gassman at (740) 334-8898 or Deacon John Barbour at (740) 973-5583.
Busloads of students from several diocesan schools will be going to the march. These include Columbus Bishop Hartley, Bishop Ready, St. Charles Preparatory and St. Francis DeSales, Lancaster Fisher Catholic, Newark Catholic and New Philadelphia Tuscarawas Central Catholic high schools and Worthington St. Michael School. Ready and DeSales students will be traveling together.
Columbus Bishop Watterson High School is not sponsoring a group trip, but students from the school will be attending with their families or parent groups.
Many of the young people will be attending a prayer service from 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. Jan. 18 and a youth Mass and rally at 9 a.m. Jan. 19 at EagleBank Arena on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Anyone 18 and older traveling with a youth group must have taken the diocese’s Protecting God’s Children program, which includes identification and fingerprint checks.
Bishop Fernandes will celebrate the diocese’s annual Respect Life Mass at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 22 at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral, 212 E. Broad St. It will be followed by the annual Roe Remembrance at noon on the west lawn of the Ohio Statehouse.
A march for life will take place in Newark after the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Jan. 21 at St. Francis de Sales Church, 40 Granville St.
These and the other marches and rallies mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision on Jan. 22, 1973, which legalized abortion throughout the United States until the court returned the power to regulate abortion to each state 49 years later.