Pro-life supporters walk downtown Dallas streets during the March for Life from the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Earle Cabell Federal Building, site of the landmark Roe V. Wade lawsuit filing. BEN TORRES/Special Contributor
By Franz Klein
Special to The Texas Catholic
Thousands of people converged on downtown Dallas on Jan. 19 to pray and march for an end to abortion that has taken more than 53 million lives and were reminded that God would someday reward their efforts.
More than 3,000 people gathered in and around the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe for the annual pro-life Mass concelebrated by Bishop Kevin J. Farrell and Auxiliary Bishops J. Douglas Deshotel and Mark J. Seitz.
Bishop Farrell told the faithful that he appreciated their vigilance on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion. Many people in the congregation wore black T-shirts inscribed with Exodus 20:13, the biblical command “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”
Bishop Farrell talked about the 53 million children who have died since 1973 because of that high court ruling in a case that started in Dallas. Father Zachary Webb, the homilist, said that those in the pro-life movement should act with grace wherever and whenever they pray for an end to abortion.
After the Mass, Bishop Farrell led the march from the cathedral to the Earle Cabell Federal Building for a rally that brought Catholics from the dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth and Protestants together for praise, worship and speakers who told the more than 6,000 people gathered that God was listening to them.
Numerous groups from parishes and Catholic high schools traveled en masse in buses and other vehicles to the Mass and rally, donning prolife T-shirts and carrying placards, crucifixes or balloons.
Bishop Farrell, after the Mass and at the rally, spoke at length in Spanish, praising members of the Hispanic community for their respect for family values and urging them to make their voices known in the pro-life movement.
Bishop Farrell’s message of changing the culture of death to the culture of life and changing people’s hearts resonated with many of the marchers, including Randy Reetz.
He was one of approximately 50 people to make the trip from Holy Spirit Parish in Duncanville. “If we change people’s hearts, everything else will fall into place,” Reetz said. “That’s where the issue is.”
