At 6:30AM on a foggy Ash Wednesday morning, a group of young pro-lifers gathered at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. The group was there for the start of the West Coast Leg of the LIFE Runners A-Cross America Relay. The LIFE Runners relay is a nationwide event in which LIFE Runners will run 1,103 relay legs of 5K each, covering a total of 4,089 miles over the 40 days of Lent. The East Coast Arm starts at the Brooklyn Bridge and the West Coast Arm begins at the Golden Gate Bridge.
About fifteen people were gathered at the Vista Point parking lot at the Golden Gate Bridge’s northern end. They included LIFE Runners Leanne Ruperto, Tom Wagner, and Laura Wise, LIFE Runners support crew, and organizers from the Walk for Life West Coast, including co-founders Kelly Connelly and Eva Muntean. Quite conspicuous was a large pink and blue van, whose logo was a stork delivering a baby and “Save the Storks” written on the side. The van was from the group Save the Storks, which provides what are essentially mobile pregnancy crisis centers.
The first leg made its way through Sausalito, Mill Valley, Larkspur, San Anselmo, before finishing in San Rafael for the noon Mass and the reception of Ashes at San Raphael’s Church. The route goes by abortion businesses across the United States, where runners will join in prayer with members of 40 Days for Life. On Palm Sunday the final groups of runners from the East Coast and West Coast Arms will meet at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, near St. Joseph Cathedral.
To follow LIFE Runners, visit https://liferunners.org/
To learn more and support Save the Storks, visit https://savethestorks.com/
The following comes from a Mar. 2 item on Father Malloy’s blogsite.
On Friday, February 28, the Interfaith Committee for Life of San Francisco held its Annual Interfaith Memorial Service for the Victims of Abortion at St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Greenbrae, north of San Francisco. The committee was founded under the auspices of the archdiocese of San Francisco under its then-Archbishop John Quinn. Vicki Evans, the Respect Life coordinator of the archdiocese of San Francisco said “It is so important to bring good people of all faiths together who share a love for the unborn—something which unites us more than anything else.”
Around 60 persons were in attendance. Clergy included Fr. Mark Taheny, pastor of St. Sebastian’s, and Fr. Aris Metrakos, the Protopresbyter of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in San Francisco, who serves as the current committeechairman. Music was provided by the St. Thérèse Choir of St. Andrew’s Church in Daly City.
The theme of this year’s service was “Be the Light.” The first reading was John 8:12 “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Following the reading Robin Strom, executive director of the Marin Pregnancy Clinic, spoke. She herself has had two abortions–one before Roe v. Wade the other after—a circumstance which gave her empathetic insight into the desperation which leads too many women to choose abortion. She described the work of the Clinic, and the difficulties of trying to operate a crisis pregnancy center in the darkness of the wealthy but abortion-friendly Marin County….
The second reading was Psalm 112:4 “Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright.” Dana Cody, executive director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation, spoke about the LLDF’s mission both in and out of the courtroom. Expanding on the “Be a Light” theme, she said “Flowers love light and so do the spirits of men.” She noted that is why the abortion industry, despite its incredible financial resources, still feels compelled to try every means possible to silence the pro-life message of hope….
The final reading was Romans 13:10-14 “Let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Following the reading, Gil Bailie, executive director of the Cornerstone Foundation, spoke. He situated the work of pro-lifers in a long-term historical context, as a profound message of hope, able to restore the moral health of a society which has degenerated to the point of making abortion legal….
To read the entire Father Malloy post, click here.
Nice to see the sisters in traditional habits. Better if they held fast to Catholic Tradition and worshipped at the TLM. But, then, this is Abp. Gomez land, where all is N.O. Not the apostate that C. Mahony is, but Abp. is nonetheless a complete modernist Corporate-Man, with little regard to anything that happened in the Church before Vatican II. In fact, and more and more under Pope Francis, liberal clerics are again voicing the tired refrain of trying to “recapture” the promise of Vatican II, blah, blah, and blah. Attacks on the New Missal (for N.O.) are common, and the TLM is under constant attack. Just look at the enormous overkill with the FFI and Fisher-More College, where the proverbial shotgun was used to kill the offending fly. Pope Francis seems above it all, instead depending on his “peeps” although he has chosen to surround himself with dangerous men (e.g. Cardinal Kasper, Cardinal Wuerl, etc.), and appears to be easily manipulated by liberals into seeming to be one of them. Still, Pope Francis is a reasonably intelligent man, and he has the Holy Ghost to assist him, so he must soon take a stand, in practical ways, before the slim Traditional restoration is forced to go underground. Time to stand up, people.