Walk for Life West Coast, OneLife LA both walk for life on January 20th

The 20th annual Walk for Life West Coast will be held Saturday, January 20, 2024, beginning with a 12:30 p.m. rally at Civic Center Plaza. After the rally, walkers proceed on an 1.8-mile walk down Market Street the Embarcadero Plaza. The event will be preceded by a 9:30 a.m. pro-life Mass celebrated by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at St. Mary’s Cathedral, which is located near Civic Center Plaza. The purpose of the event, according to the Walk website, is to “[stand] for the littlest and most vulnerable among us [the unborn], and 20 years of fearlessly asserting that Abortion Hurts Women.”

The Walk comes the day after the annual March for Life in Washington, DC, on January 19th; it is, after the March, the nation’s second largest pro-life walk. It began in 2005 with 7,000 participants, and grew to over 50,000 by 2020. The numbers dipped during the COVID years, but have since been growing. While the Walk is open to all, it is organized, presented and predominantly attended by Catholics, including bishops and priests. Archbishop Cordileone, for example, is among the Walk’s biggest supporters, and has participated since before becoming archbishop of San Francisco.

Companion events to the Walk for Life West Coast include a Silent No More Awareness Campaign, 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Civic Center Plaza. Led by Georgette Forney and Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Silent No More features testimonies of women directly harmed by abortion. There will also be an information faire at Civic Center Plaza offering information from many different pro-life organizations.

Speakers at Walk for Life West Coast event

Rally speakers include Lila Rose, a prominent pro-life activist who is president of Live Action and has appeared in many media outlets. Also featured will be Kaya Jones, a singer and model who has had three abortions, but came to regret her decision and now speaks on behalf of life. Other speakers include Kimberly Henkel of Springs of Love, which promotes fostering and adoption, and Clenard Childress, a Baptist pastor whose message has focused on how abortion has harmed the black community.

Fr. Joseph Fessio, Walk for Life West Coast chaplain, will be honored with the Gianna Molla award.

Kimberly Henkel will deliver a message promoting the fostering and adoption of children. She and her husband struggled with fertility, and eventually adopted four children. Her experiences led her to co-found Springs in the Desert in support of those struggling with infertility, and to found Springs of Love with her husband to encourage Catholics to consider fostering and adopting children.

“I wanted,” says Henkel, “to share the joy of the experience of fostering and adopting, and to encourage Catholics to open their hearts to participating. We want them to learn about the process, and ask God if He is calling them on this path.”

She noted that her husband was initially reluctant to adopt children, but after attending adoption classes “he recognized the immense need of couples to foster and adopt.”

She encourages her audiences to visit the Springs of Love website to view seven video stories featuring former foster youth, foster families and adoptive families. She said, “We want people to know it is a beautiful option.”

Kimberly believes her topic fits well with a pro-life event, as she has learned that many women in crisis pregnancy situations choose abortion over adoption because they mistakenly believe “no one will love their children as much as they do.”

She continued, “We are trying to share the message to women that if you are not in a good place to parent your child, you can choose a family to adopt your child that is sacrificial and loving and will act on behalf of that child. By choosing adoption you’re choosing what is best for your child, and it is a heroic act.”

Speaker Kaya Jones was once a member of the girl group The Pussycat Dolls. Beginning at age 16 she had three abortions, but has since embraced Christianity and regrets her decision to abort. In her remarks at the Walk, she said, “I will talk about my walk with God, my testimony of having had abortions, and now my work full-time for the Lord.”

She noted that her recent activities include attending bible college, a recent 24-day mission trip, writing a Christian music album and otherwise living her life “with a focus on serving the Lord.” She lives in Florida.

In recalling her first experience having an abortion, she said, “I got it without parental consent, and once I had crossed that line, I didn’t know what the line was. It led to my second and third abortions.” She regrets not researching options that would have led her to choose life, and seeking support of people “who could have helped me survive as a single mom.”

She has sought healing through her revitalized Christian faith, and feels God is calling her to share her message with young people in the same situation she was once in. She also wants to reach out in support of women who have had abortions. She said, “I am coming from the perspective of someone who is a mother of dead children. I understand their pain; I am not judging them. God will forgive them, as He has forgiven me.”

To women in crisis pregnancy situations, her advice is: “Don’t do it! This is just a difficult chapter in your life, a sliver of your time on Earth, and God will walk with you. The father of the child might not want to be involved, but who knows? Maybe another guy will show up who can be a great father. Don’t be afraid.”

Repeat participants in this year’s Walk include Fr. Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco. He was a lay employee of Fr. Fessio’s Ignatius Press before entering seminary, and has been a long-time Walk participant. He is motivated to walk, he said, because “abortion is the essential civil rights question of our time, and we walk both to witness to God’s gift of human life, and to draw joyful support from the other 50,000 people who also believe in the essential beauty of every human being, from womb to tomb.”

Star of the Sea Church also supports the Walk by providing 120 college and high school students overnight accommodations in the parish gym and auditorium and a free barbecue after the Walk for anyone interested in attending. The parish will also host a holy hour Saturday evening 8:00-9:00 pm, followed by all-night adoration. Additionally, the priests serve as confessors for the Cathedral pro-life mass and its servers also serve.

Fr. Illo’s most memorable experiences in past walks include seeing a 20-foot banner hoisted ten feet above Market Street by college students which read “We will abolish abortion,” observing large families who showed patience while being heckled along the walk route and concelebrating Mass alongside “one of America’s most pro-life bishops,” Archbishop Cordileone, “in a packed cathedral.” In addition to the archbishop, he added, about 25 to 30 other members of the clergy participate.

He’s grieved that voters in the State of California have amended the state constitution to include a right to abortion, but added that “many Californians rightly see Dobbs [the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision striking down the nation’s anti-abortion laws] as the beginning of the end of this sad chapter of our nation’s history and have drawn great energy to continue the battle for hearts and minds.”

Abortion has seeming widespread support in the state, he believes, because “the media-tech-government complex outspends the pro-life cause 100-1 and controls the sources of information,” however, he noted, “the truth cannot be completely suppressed, and I think most Californians are pro-life in their deeper minds.”

“Prop 1 [the 2022 statewide initiative which placed a right to abortion in the state constitution} passed by two-thirds, but the good news is that a third of California is pro-life, and I think another third would vote pro-life if the media and schools were not almost completely controlled by the Left.”

He praised Walk organizers Eva Muntean and Dolores Meehan for their efforts year-to-year in organizing the Walk, as well as Archbishop Cordileone and Fr. Fessio for their continued participation. Fr. Illo regularly blogs, sharing his reflections on the faith and stories of his ministry in San Francisco.

Regina Cooney is a 2023 Thomas Aquinas College graduate who lives in Fillmore in Southern California. She is originally from Virginia, and was a regular participant in the March for Life, and then became a regular participant in the Walk for Life West Coast since moving to California for school. She is an artist and photographer, and last year photographed the Walk.

Being a photographer has given her a unique perspective on the Walk, she said, “as it is so moving to see how many participate.” She also noted the contrast between to pro-life walkers and pro-abortion hecklers: “The pro-life side was peaceful and full of joy, and they were met by intense anger, confusion and outrage from some who stood on the sidelines.”

She thinks participating in the Walk is an important way to be involved in the community, “having conversations face-to-face. It’s much more effective than posting something on social media or issuing a press release.”

Visit the website to register for Walk for Life West Coast, and for important information about parking, public transportation, hotel accommodations, route map, and the code of conduct.

ONELIFE LA led by Archbishop Jose Gomez

The 10th annual OneLife LA will also be held Saturday, January 20th, in downtown Los Angeles. The day is for “celebrating the beauty and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death,” according to its organizer, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and has a variety of focus areas, including pro-life. Participants include Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, as well as the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishops and many priests and religious. Several thousand have turned out for the event in previous years.

The day kicks off at 11 a.m. at La Placita/Olvera Street, 845 N. Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles. There will be a noon welcome, followed by the walk at 12:30 p.m. At 1:30 p.m., participants can enjoy speakers, live music and food at Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles. The event concludes at 4 p.m., and at 5 p.m. there will be a requiem mass for the unborn at the nearby Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Speakers include Archbishop Gomez, Benito Medrano, young adult ministry coordinator for the Diocese of Orange, Brenda Noriega, who also works in ministry, Fr. Victor Taglianetti, vocations director for the Franciscan Friars on the West Coast, Fr. Josh Johnson of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Millie Nelson who speaks on foster care and adoption, radio host Katie Prejean McGrady, who will speak about the family, and Jorge Giron speaking about the loss of his spouse.

The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, who walk annually in OneLife LA with 20-30 sisters participating, will be honored this year for their work with senior citizens at their Santa Teresita facility in Duarte. The sisters will be awarded a $10,000 grant, which will be used to beautify the grounds for the benefit of the seniors and visitors.

This Carmelite community was founded in Mexico in 1921, but soon after its sisters fled to California to escape religious persecution by the Mexican government. The sisters founded a tuberculosis sanatorium in Duarte in 1930, and a retreat house in Alhambra in 1940. They previously operated a hospital in Duarte, but in recent years their health care activities have included operating assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Today, the community has 120 sisters; their health care facilities serve 40 residents ages 65-103.

“We believe Catholic health care is a precious and scarce resource in our nation and one that should not be taken for granted,” said Sister Marie Estelle. “We’re grateful to be honored for our work by OneLife LA, and hope our presence at the walk will be a sign of the importance of Catholic health care.”

One notable absence at this year’s walk, she noted, is that of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell who was murdered by an intruder into his home on February 18, 2023. Bishop O’Connell was committed to the pro-life cause, she said, recalling that when California legalized physician-assisted suicide in 2015, Bishop O’Connell began a nine-day novena of Masses beginning in the sisters’ chapel. “He said it was a sad day for California,” she recalls, “and that we were lacking in love to pass such an initiative. He believed we must walk in solidarity with those who are struggling and not encourage them to end their lives by suicide.”

Other events related to OneLife LA include a holy hour at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Los Angeles. See the website for additional details and to register.

Event organizer Michael Donaldson, senior director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office of Life, Justice & Peace, believes the 2024 OneLife LA will be the best ever, and encouraged Southern Californians to turn out for the event: “Join us for this wonderful event that honors the beauty and dignity of humanity. I think you’ll find our speakers moving and inspiring, and will draw great energy and enthusiasm from those who will be attending OneLife LA.”