Story by Shelley Wolf
Photos by Aaron Joseph
HARTFORD – Building on last year’s successes, pro-life advocates from across the state gathered on March 22 at the State Capitol and Bushnell Park for the Second Annual Connecticut March for Life.
Under cloudless blue spring skies, more than 2,500 attendees listened to the words of nine impassioned speakers at a noontime pro-life rally outside the Connecticut State Capitol building, then marched peacefully around Bushnell Park, waving signs in support of life and in opposition to abortion.
“Roe v. Wade is over, and someday the 1990 law keeping abortion legal in Connecticut will be over, too,” predicted Peter Wolfgang, president of the Family Institute of Connecticut and a father of seven. “Roe v. Wade tumbled,” he told the crowd at the rally, thanks to all those who prayed for an end to abortion. “If we can overturn Roe v. Wade, we can do anything, even in Connecticut.”
The pro-life advocates hoped their witness to life would send a strong message to state legislators about the degree of support for life in the state.
In providential timing, this year’s Connecticut March for Life occurred during the same week that the Connecticut state legislature began hearings on a proposed amendment to the state constitution (SJR42) that seeks to enshrine abortion, without limits, as a protected constitutional right. The legislature is also considering a bill (HB6618) that would fund abortions and travel for women from other states where abortion has been prohibited – a bill Wolfgang urged the marchers to speak out against.
Prior to the march, Archbishop Leonard P. Blair of the Archdiocese of Hartford celebrated a Pro-Life Mass for marchers at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, which was concelebrated by a dozen priests and deacons. He delivered the homily, encouraging those in attendance to face the challenges ahead, always remembering the victory of the cross and trusting in God’s greater plan.
“We’re well aware of the magnitude of the challenge,” Archbishop Blair said. “We are witnesses to the God-given dignity of human life, in a culture that espouses deaths, under a veneer of freedom of choice and a self-serving moral reasoning that is divorced from the true essence of God.
“We’re here, however, not to be weighed down by the challenges,” the archbishop said. “But we’re here to be lifted up, we are lifted up by the realization that whatever evils that are present in the world, whatever the challenge is that a person of faith has to face, God’s purpose and God’s plan are always being accomplished.”
During the rally at the State Capitol, Auxiliary Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt of the Archdiocese of Hartford delivered the opening prayer. Bishop Michael Cote, of the Diocese of Norwich, was also in attendance.
The highlight for many was Jordan Watson, a vocalist and worship leader at The Redeemer’s Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion in Plainville, who wowed the crowd with his rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
Other rally speakers included: Christina Bennett, news correspondent for Live Action and member of the National Black Pro-Life Coalition; Christopher Healy, executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference; Treneé McGee, a state representative and Democrat from West Haven; Erin Getz, state march director of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund; Melissa Manion of Genesis Spiritual Life and Conference Center, Westfield, Mass.; Adrienne Greto, executive director of the Hopeline Pregnancy Center, Bridgeport; and Marcelina Halas, vice president of the Newman Club and president of TPUSA club at Central Connecticut State University.
The event was sponsored by the Connecticut Catholic Conference, the Family Institute of Connecticut and the National March for Life. For more information on life issues, visit ctcatholic.org or action.ctcatholicpac.org.
