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Walk for Life West Coast | A Photo Gallery | January 2008 | Ignatius Insight
From the Walk for Life West Coast website:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 19, 2008 -- A woman who was aborted and survived today urged a crowd of 25,000 to forgive and sent
out a blessing of "mercy and grace and redemption" over the life of anyone who has had an abortion.
After the speeches, the crowd walked along San Francisco's waterfront for 2.5 miles in the 4th Annual Walk for Life West Coast,
carrying banners that proclaimed "Abortion Hurts Women" and "Women Deserve Better®." About 250 pro-choice protestors chanted
and jeered alongside the pro-life walkers.
"I was aborted and did not die," Gianna Jessen told the cheering crowd, but added, "I will limp my way into heaven" because
she bears the mark of the saline abortion, cerebral palsy, that was meant to end her life at a Los Angeles clinic.
"The abortionist signed my birth certificate," Jessen said. However, she noted, "My life is not defined by abortion.
I am not a victim, I am a victor." Jessen was one of four speakers at the Walk for Life rally at the foot of Washington Street
and the Embarcadero. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., BlackGenocide.org founder Rev. Clenard Childress,
and radio host Jesse Romero also spoke. Eight California Catholic bishops were on hand to support the event.
Read the entire piece.
Below are photos from the Walk for Life West Coast 2008, taken by Gerald Augustinus.
The Golden Gate Bridge, January 19, 2008
An estimated 25,000 people took part in the March for Life West Coast 2008
The front of the March.
Marchers gather at Park Ferry Plaza, site of the rally.
Some of the youth groups that participated in the March.
Sisters of Life.
Father Frank A. Pavone, MEV. National Director, Priests for Life.
Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
BlackGenocide.org founder Rev. Clenard Childress.
Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor.
Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, San Diego, who gave the opening prayer.
Archbishop George Niederauer, San Francisco, and Bishop Ignatius Wang, San Francisco.
Meeting the bishops.
Eva Muntean, co-chair for the March, is recognized for her hard work.
Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles, Interviews, and Book Excerpts:
• Interview with Eva Muntean, Walk for Life WC 2005
• "Women Deserve Better Than Abortion" | Walk
for Life West Coast 2006
• What Is "Legal"? On Abortion, Democracy, and Catholic
Politicians | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• The Illusion of Freedom Separated from Moral Virtue | Raymond L. Dennehy
• Introduction to Three Approaches to Abortion | Peter Kreeft
• Some Atrocities are Worse than Others | Mary Beth Bonacci
• Personally Opposed--To What? | Dr. James Hitchcock
• Speaking Up For Life | Interview with Deirdre McQuade
• Deadly Architects | Interview with Donald De Marco and Benjamin Wiker
• What Is Catholic Social Teaching? | Mark
Brumley
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G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was one of the finest Christian authors and apologists
of the past two hundred years. Raised as an agnostic, he embraced Christianity as a young man, ultimately entering the Catholic Church
in 1922. He wrote hundreds of essays, as well as novels, short stories, poetry, apologetics, literary
criticism, and nearly everything else imaginable. Dale Ahlquist, president and co-founder of the American
Chesterton Society and author of
G.K Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, writes, "Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism,
history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked
by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless
today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper." Read more
about the life and work of this remarkable thinker, author, and apologist.
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Nothing To Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church
by Russell Shaw
Shaw, the former communications director for the U.S. Bishops, discusses the abuse of secrecy in the Church, the scandals it has caused and the serious
problem of mistrust that exists in the credibility of the Church. He is not concerned with the legitimate secrecy that is necessary to protect confidentiality and people's reputations, but
with the stifling, deadening misuse of secrecy that has done immense harm to communion and community in the Church in America. Shaw raises such questions as: What kind of Church do we want our Church to be, open or closed? What kind of Church should it be? And how much secrecy is compatible with having
such a Church? As Pope Benedict XVI has stated, "The consequence is clear: we cannot communicate with the Lord if we do not communicate with one another." The Church is a communion, not a political
democracy, and thus openness and accountability are even more crucial for the life of the Church than they are in a democracy. In a talk he gave many years before he became the current Pope,
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had this to say about the reality of ecclesial communion: "Fellowship in the Body of Christ and receiving the Body of Christ means fellowship with one another. This
of its very nature includes mutual acceptance, giving and receiving on both sides, and readiness to share one's goods ... In this sense, the social question is given quite a central place
in the theological heart of the concept of communion." This is a beautiful vision of the Church. Shaw's aim in his book is to make a contribution to realizing this vision in the concrete circumstances
of the present day, by helping to end the culture of secrecy, especially within American Catholicism, and replacing the destructive culture with an open, accountable community of faith.
Read more about Nothing to Hide.
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