February 4, 2008   •   VOL. 46, NO. 3   •   Oakland, CA

Pro-life walk brings 25,000 to San Francisco
 

Katie Kline of Rancho Cordova joins in the rally kicking off the fourth annual Walk for Life West Coast. GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO

By Dan Morris-Young
Catholic News Service

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — Spurred on by messages of forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation and commitment, nearly 25,000 people of all ages gathered at San Francisco’s Embarcadero for the fourth Walk for Life West Coast, Jan. 19.

A sea of pro-lifers — carrying banners and signs with messages against abortion — flowed onto the waterfront streets and walked 2.5 miles to the Marina Green.

Many participants carried children or pushed baby strollers, and thousands carried posters proclaiming “Abortion Hurts Women” and “Women Deserve Better.” Many dozens walked behind banners featuring the name of their school, parish or organization. East Bay participation was strong with delegations from parishes, high schools, and youth groups as well as St. Mary’s College and Holy Names University.

“We had a larger youth and young adult contingency than last year,” said Colleen Knutsen, coordinator of Respect Life ministry in the Oakland Diocese who set up a booth at the end of the walk and handed out chastity bracelets and brightly colored pro-life bracelets to young women.

“A lot of young women are coming to pro-life events like the Walk and standing up for a new kind of womanhood – a new feminism in which abortion is acknowledged as harmful and sex is seen as sacred,” she said.

Thousands of pro-life activists walk along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, Jan. 19, during the fourth Annual Walk for Life West Coast Jan. 19 in San Francisco. The demonstration marked 35 years since the Supreme Court decisions legalized abortion across the country. GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO

A group of 250-300 activists who support keeping abortion legal staged a counterdemonstration adjacent to the massive Walk for Life assembly. Some heckled participants as they walked.

Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the assassinated civil rights leader, told the crowd how she has “repented and asked forgiveness” of God for her own two abortions, and said that if her uncle were alive today he would be fighting abortion.

She described two “oppressed classes” — people of color and the unborn.
The Rev. Clenard Childress, a Baptist minister, picked up King’s theme and proclaimed that the movement to end abortion “has its true bloodlines” in the civil rights movement.

“People of like conscience and hearts must boldly go into the arena of life and say, ‘No. This is wrong,’” he said about abortion.

Gianna Jessen, a survivor of a saline abortion performed in a Los Angeles County clinic, prompted laughter and cheers when she told the crowd, “The abortionist had to sign my birth certificate. I love that.”

“I am not a victim,” she said. “I am a victor.” Later she added, “Every minute that I am alive makes hell tremble.”

Jessen, who was barely two pounds at birth and who has “the gift of cerebral palsy,” did not begin to walk until she was 3 years old, yet as an adult has completed two marathons of more than 26 miles.

As did the other speakers, Jessen called on participants to reach out to women who have had abortions or who might consider one, to have compassion for them, and to help them reconcile with God.

Jesse Romero, a media personality and Catholic evangelist, spoke in English and Spanish as he urged the gathered walkers to look to St. Telemachus for inspiration.
According to tradition, St. Telemachus is the monk credited with moving Roman Emperor Honorius to ban deadly gladiator fights as entertainment. The saint was stoned to death after intervening in a gladiator fight in a Roman amphitheater.

Romero said the martyred saint was an example of what one person can do when opposing “the culture of death.”

Before the walk, more than 1,500 people gathered at San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral for an 8 a.m. Mass. San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer, the principal celebrant, was joined at the altar by San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang, Oakland Bishop Allen H. Vigneron, Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel F. Walsh, Stockton Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone and San Bernardino Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio J. Del Riego.

In opening remarks, Archbishop Niederauer called life “the only choice.” In his homily, he said it is not up to anyone but God to “decide who lives and who dies” yet there are those who try to make that decision.

“We must let God be God,” he said. “Jesus came for sinners — us and those who oppose us. We walk in witness not because we deserve it, but because Jesus directs us to walk with, for and in him. We walk but Jesus Christ leads the way.”

Emilio Moure, a national official of the Knights of Columbus, put the number of Knights and family members who would be at the Walk for Life West Coast from around the country at 5,000. “This is my third walk,” said the Connecticut resident. “It’s a great opportunity to express to the entire world that we as Catholics stand in solidarity with our pope, our bishops, our clergy in respect for life.”

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, joined in the pre-walk Mass and was featured speaker at the annual Interfaith Service for Life held the day before at the cathedral.

“I told them we don’t have to pray for Christian unity,” he said. “We have Christian unity when it comes to the fundamental fact that Jesus is the Lord of human life and we have to give ourselves away for our weakest brothers and sisters.”

Organizers agreed that this year’s numbers significantly exceeded last year’s estimated 20,000 participants. According to Vicki Evans, coordinator of respect life ministry for the archdiocese, about 120 buses brought walkers from all over the West, compared to 87 buses last year.

“As our numbers increase, the pro-life movement is becoming empowered to accomplish what was never considered possible here,” she said. “We have gotten the attention of socially liberal San Francisco and make them question the status quo on abortion.”
(Contributing to this story was Tom Burke in San Francisco.)

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