Los Angeles, Calif., Jan 21, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Rain couldn’t dampen the hearts that champion the cause of the unborn in California on Saturday.
Two annual pro-life events — the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco and OneLife LA in Los Angeles — drew large crowds in support of the sanctity of human life, despite the weather. EWTN aired both events live.
The San Francisco event, celebrating its 20th year, is organized and largely participated in by Catholics, including San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and many priests and religious, drawing pro-lifers by the tens of thousands. The Los Angeles event is in its 10th year and is organized by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; participants include Archbishop José Gomez and other California bishops, priests and religious; it draws several thousand pro-lifers.
Archbishop Cordileone began the Walk for Life West Coast with a pro-life Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral, followed by a “Silent No More” awareness campaign, featuring presenters harmed by abortion; a rally with prominent pro-life speakers, including Lila Rose of Live Action; and a 1.8-mile walk down Market Street to Embarcadero Plaza.
In his homily, Archbishop Cordileone lamented: “It seems that our state of California is on a killing spree on life in the womb, with poorer women trapped in the process, trapped with insufficient resources for making a choice for life and accessing the medical care and emotional and material support they need to care for that new life.”
He thanked the pro-lifers in attendance for their support of women in crisis pregnancies and continued, “When the face of Jesus Christ is shown to these sisters and brothers of ours in an encounter of Christian charity, he will make all things new to them, and they can begin to rebuild their lives.”
The key to advancing the pro-life cause as well as rebuilding society and promoting evangelism in the Church, the archbishop argued, is reviving the Christian belief in marriage and family: “We cannot say we are pro-life unless we embrace the entire plan of God, which means embracing his plan for marriage. If common sense were not enough, we have more than 50 years of consistent social-science research that shows us that so many of the social ills we are experiencing today — rampant poverty, homelessness, gun violence, incarceration, you name it — is because of family fragmentation and, in particular, fatherlessness. That is the root of the problem, which means marriage, as God designed it, is the root of the solution.”
Addressing the young people in attendance, he urged: “Be truly pro-life by being a part of the solution, not the problem. Be the solution: Get married; stay married, and don’t have children until you get married, which means don’t do that which brings children into the world until you get married.”
He continued, “There is simply no way to have a healthy society without a vibrant marriage culture; evangelization of the culture is not even possible without a healthy marriage culture, for God’s covenant with his people is a marriage covenant.”
“In a society where marriage is devalued and even mocked, are we surprised that the fruit of marriage, children, is likewise devalued, cast aside and a victim of what Pope Francis calls the ‘throwaway culture’?”
Walk for Life West Coast
San Francisco’s walkers included Anna Halsey, a 2021 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, who noted that many young adults from her parish, St. Dominic’s in San Francisco, turned out. “It was great,” she said. “It is beautiful to see such a witness for life.”
Amber Charles, formation manager for The Culture Project, walked with four missionaries from the Catholic apostolate. It was the first time the Dallas resident had been to the walk. “Although it was a rainy day, it did not dampen our spirits,” she told the Register. “It was a beautiful walk, and tons of people showed up.”
Robert Byrd serves as executive coordinator for Pro-Life San Francisco, a secular nonpartisan, nonprofit pro-life organization. He and Melanie Salazar, Pro-Life San Francisco’s executive director, led a group of walkers and manned a booth at the event’s information fair. He admitted that the heavy rain made this year’s event a challenge, but said, “It is always a great time to spend time with friends who recognize the value of every human life and know the truth about what abortion is.”
Salazar said she was pleased to participate “to remember the children killed by abortion each year, rejoice in the success the pro-life movement has achieved and to enjoy camaraderie of like-minded pro-life people.”
Lisa Hamrick is also a parishioner of historic St. Dominic Church and has been an organizer of the walk since its inception in 2004. She marveled at the growth of the walk, noting that the first year began with 7,500 walkers and 3,000 protesters.
“The protesters were angry, yelling, cursing and doing everything they could to disrupt us, while our side was happy, peaceful and prayerful,” she recalled of years past. “You could really see the contrast.”
One year, an “angry-looking woman stared her down” and came over to confront her. Hamrick told the Register, “I was getting ready for her to start yelling at me, but to my surprise, she said, ‘I was previously opposed to you, but for the first time I’m walking with you this year.’ So, if we change just a few hearts like hers, our efforts are worth it.”
Cameron Gibson, a senior at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, is founder and president of the school’s pro-life group, Crusaders for Life. He was joined by Angelo Depaoli, the club’s vice president, and four other students as they helped carry a banner in front of the walkers. It was the third time for both participating.
“It was exciting, and Angelo and I were even interviewed by EWTN,” Gibson said. “Despite the bad weather, the crowd was just as big as last year.”
Gibson explained that he founded the club at the suggestion of a teacher, remarking, “It’s tragic how accepted abortion has become in our society. Many people don’t seem to value life.”
Depaoli added that it is important for him to show support for the cause because he was conceived out of wedlock and his parents “could have taken the easy way out” and aborted him but chose life.
As speaker Rose underscored: “The pro-abortion ideology, the anti-natalist ideology has no future. It inevitably self-destructs; it implodes in the face of beautiful, thriving, generous, bountiful human life.”
OneLife LA
OneLife LA kicked off at La Placita/Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles with the walk advancing to Los Angeles State Historic Park for a celebration that included speakers and live music. The day concluded with a requiem Mass celebrated by Archbishop Gomez for the unborn at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. It aired on EWTN starting at 8 p.m. ET.
Greeting participants, Archbishop Gomez said, “OneLife LA has always been more than a beautiful day — especially today, that it is raining! — OneLife LA is a vision for a new way of living a culture of life, a society where every life is sacred and every life is cared for, every life at every stage and every condition, from the moment a person is conceived in the womb until the person’s life reaches its natural end.”
He continued, “Every human life is precious to God; for God loves, we are called to love. For God’s love, we are called to protect. This is a beautiful vision for OneLife LA.”
Ellie Cabildo came with members of her parish, St. Peter and St. Paul in Alta Loma. For her, participating in OneLife LA is like a pilgrimage, in which she combines walking with prayer for life. She also sees it as a good example for her children.
“I believe in God’s plan for love, marriage and family,” she told the Register. “Being here at OneLife LA is a beautiful way to demonstrate that support and to be obedient to what I believe God is calling me to do.”
Erick Rubalcava played keyboard as part of a praise-and-worship band at the event. “It’s been wonderful to watch it grow through the years,” he said. “We started as a handful of people walking around Dodger Stadium and have grown to be many thousands today.”
He said this year’s event was “a powerful witness to life, encouraging people to respect it, from womb to tomb.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
50,000 pro-lifers turned out on a rainy and cold day in San Francisco– what a powerful witness to life! Thank you Archbishop Cordileone, and thanks to all the parishes and volunteers who generously housed and fed thousands of young people who traveled to San Francisco for the walk!