Note: 14 students and chaperones from St. Gabriel’s Parish attended the National March for Life in Washington D.C. on Jan. 18. Estimates are that nearly 500,000 people gathered on the Washington Mall and walked to the U.S. Supreme Court building that day. What follows is a journal of our pilgrimage to DC and our experiences as we marched to increase awareness for the sacredness of ALL human life; in particular, the most vulnerable among us … unborn children in the womb.
JOURNAL FROM THE NATIONAL MARCH FOR LIFE
By Peg Olsem
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16: We are excited! We’ve been planning and praying about this trip for months. There have been many wonderful people in our community who stepped forward to help us on the way: From pancake breakfast fundraisers and Christmas sign-making, to our St. Gabriel’s women’s group (FCCW) and Knights of Columbus making sizable donations for us to be able to afford this journey. (Not to mention many private donors from the parish!). To say we are excited would be an understatement! There was a period of time when it looked like our trip to D.C. wasn’t going to happen. Our own Winona/Rochester Diocese was not able to put together enough participants. Thankfully, we were invited by the LaCrosse, WI Diocese to join their group on this amazing pilgrimage! So … Here we are … All packed and ready for the “unknown” that is to come. We are looking forward to being a part of the National March for Life and defending the unborn.
Msgr. Paul leads us in prayer as we gather around the Altar at St. Gabriel’s for a special blessing. He blessed our “March for Life” gold-colored t-shirts. We load up our three cars and excitedly head out to LaCrosse, WI to meet up with other pilgrims from North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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