40 Days for Life presents an opportunity for all to renew their commitment to life

PROVIDENCE — In one hand, Jim Gilcreast held a sign praying for an end to abortion. In the other, he gripped a walking stick that became invaluable to him as he trod the sometimes uneven ground as he made his way across the overpass and toward the local headquarters for Planned Parenthood.

“This walk is tough on me,” said Gilcreast, a past state deputy of the Rhode Island Knights of Columbus, and parishioner of Mary, Mother of Mankind Parish, “but it is very important to be out here.”

He walked in a procession from the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul following the noon Mass on Ash Wednesday with more than 50 members of the pro-life community to Planned Parenthood, in an annual peaceful and prayerful pilgrimage to begin the commemoration of 40 Days for Life.

There, they would pray the rosary as they walked around the perimeter of the facility, hoping that this will be the year that the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in the U.S. in 1973, will be overturned.

“The cause for life is never-ending and we have to be out front for it because we’re talking about human beings, not pieces of tissue,” said Gilcreast. “These are human beings from the moment of conception, and they have to be treated with the respect due them.”

Before the procession began, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin gathered in prayer with the marchers outside the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul.

He told them that with so many problems raging across the world their commitment to human life — at every part of the spectrum — is all the more important.

“We appreciate you so much and are proud of you and grateful for what you’re doing,” the bishop said.

“I want you to know how proud I am of you and so grateful for your witness and the good work that you are doing all the time, but especially on this Ash Wednesday when we repent of our sins and ask God to bless all of our works of charity and our works of life.”

Lisa Cooley, coordinator of the Office of Life and Family Ministry, likened the witness that pro-lifers give all year long to fighting a spiritual battle.

And this year, with the U.S. Supreme Court poised to possibly overturn Roe v. Wade with a decision on another case currently before it, she feels the momentum in that battle favors the pro-life community.

In the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, the Court will determine whether Mississippi’s ban on all elective abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy is constitutional. The petitioner, Thomas Dobbs, is arguing that the Court should either overturn the Roe v. Wade precedent establishing a constitutional right to pre-viability abortions, or else reject viability as a guide altogether.

“This year feels special because of the Dobbs case at the Supreme Court,” Cooley said.

She thanked the marchers for their strong show of solidarity for the 40 Days for Life kickoff.

“The world right now is really suffering in this culture of death,” she said, noting that many people are trying to frame the ability to get an abortion, or to end one’s life through physician-assisted suicide, as measures of progress and freedom.

Father Brian Sistare led the group in prayer for God’s love and mercy upon those who’ve had an abortion, and Tyler Rowley, of Servants of Christ for Life, spoke about successes his group has had during sidewalk counseling while maintaining regular vigils outside the clinic.

Barth E. Bracy, executive director of Rhode Island Right to Life, said that the words of St. Paul, as read in the second reading of the Mass preceding the walk, resonated with him as he walked.

“St. Paul says that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more,” he said.

“Even as we witness concerted efforts by pro-abortion Democrats in Washington, D.C., some of whom scandalously identify as Catholic, to pursue the most extreme abortion agenda imaginable, it is encouraging to see the number of people participating in 40 Days for Life swell to record levels.”

“With so much presently hanging in the balance in Congress and at the Supreme Court, it is more important than ever that we pray, fast, and give public witness to our pro-life convictions, and encourage everyone to participate in at least some small way during these weeks of Lent.”

In celebrating the Ash Wednesday Mass, Bishop Tobin spoke of the need to take sin seriously, as it is real and dangerous.

“Sin, like weeds growing up in the garden, can choke off the spiritual life within you. Your sin, if left unchecked and unrepented, can separate you from God for all eternity. That’s why the season of Lent is so very valuable and important for us,” the bishop said.

“Lent gives us the spiritual weapons we need to do battle with the devil, to overcome the sin and evil that is part of our world and part of our life.”