On January 21, 2016, the priests and seminarians of the Fulton Sheen House of Formation of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) attended a special March for Life Vigil Mass at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was the principal celebrant, and concelebrating the Mass were thirty-two other cardinals and bishops and some 250 priests. Sixty deacons and approximately 400 seminarians were also in attendance. After the Vigil Mass the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word went to Saint John Baptist de la Salle Parish in Chillum, MD, for a dinner and show sponsored by the IVE male religious.
The next morning, priests and seminarians of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), the Sisters of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara, and several lay parishioners attended a special Mass for Life held at Saint John Baptist de la Salle. Then, with bag lunches, specially-themed hats and drums in tow, everyone crowded into vans and drove to downtown Washington, DC, to participate in the annual March of Life held on the grounds of the National Mall. This year’s march marked the forty-third anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion nationwide. Despite the subfreezing temperatures and blizzardy conditions affecting the whole eastern United States, thousands marched along Independence Avenue, passing the Capitol and ending at the Supreme Court. Upon completing the March, participants returned to Saint John Baptist de la Salle for hot chocolate and fellowship before rushing back to their homes; that night, the blizzard ensued, bringing the Washington area to a virtual shut down the entire weekend.
Let us thank Our Lady of the Snows for seeing her children safely through the wintery conditions of the March. And let us pray to Our Lady of Guadelupe, Patroness of the Unborn, for perseverance in the battle, material and spiritual, against the forces of the culture of death that continue to plague this nation.
To read more about the March for Life please visit our IVE Chronicles