Walking the Way of the Cross for the Unborn

From the California Catholic Daily:

In 1975, an informal group of 50 Catholics from San Francisco’s South Bay decided, in the words of one, “to offer prayer and penance in union with the Passion of Christ in reparation for the evil of abortion, and for the conversion of those involved with this grave evil and injustice in our society.”

The founders of the event were two sisters then in their 80s, Mary Nora Jacque and Mary Eleanor Jacque, who decided a public act of reparation was needed after the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion throughout the United States. 

The group chose to express their witness by following the Way of the Cross on each Good Friday. The faithful begin their walk at St. Martin’s Church in San Jose and continue for nine miles, to Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara. 

With this group, “carrying the cross” is not a metaphor, and a physical as well as spiritual struggle. The walk is led by men of the group who take turns carrying a life-size wooden cross, built out of railroad ties. The heavy cross is carried for the whole nine miles. 

The Way of the Cross route takes the procession past Planned Parenthood, on San Jose’s “The Alameda.” Tony Ryan, director of sales and marketing for San Francisco’s Ignatius Press, who has participated since 1977, says, “We always stop in front of Planned Parenthood on this nine-mile walk – which happens to be right on the walk – and pray a Rosary there. They expect us and have their deathscorts out in big numbers to guard against us dangerous praying pro-lifers.”

Read the entire article. And be sure to tuck away the term “deathscorts” in your pro-life lexicon for future use.