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| Rally for Life in D.C. |
From
the Womb to the Tomb… that is how long we value life as Catholics. That is right:
all life is sacred and all humanity has dignity. But in light of my experience
at the March for Life last year, I have been asking myself the same question
for the last 9 months. From the womb to the tomb… are we trying to make a point
or are we trying to make a difference?
This
January, I hopped onto a charter bus in eager spirits with about 50 other
people (most of them high school students) to embark on a 14 hour bus drive
from Florida to Washington D.C. Having never led a trip like this, I was told
that we were going on a pilgrimage (not a vacation) to give a voice to the
millions of tiny humans who would never get to use their own and to protect the
lives of those who have no protection. After all, we are Catholic; we are
pro-life; this is what we do.
The
March was life changing. I returned from D.C. even more passionate about pro-life
issues than ever, but I will let someone else
tell you those details because I also came back angry and I write now to tell
you why.
See,
on the day before we actually marched onto the Supreme Court steps for the 39th
year in a row, I sat in the pews of a church in the middle of a random
neighborhood and noticed that I was exhausted and in a terrible mood yet I had
done nothing to earn my exhaustion. My group and I had literally toured
churches all day. We started with the Basilica of the National Shrine, headed
over to the Franciscan catacombs and were now at a high school Salesian rally
for life. As I sat there exhausted from lack of activity (lactivity, if
you will) and stained glass overload, I had another thought… there were at
least 500 of us in this church singing (a little) and talking about churchy
things yet no one in the surrounding neighborhood knew that we were there. Did
we really travel all the way to Washington D.C. to sit in churches until we
could hold up some signs and be proud of the work we that we had done to build
a culture of life?
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| Balloons for Baby's. I'm trying to be artistic...FAIL |
At first I thought it was just my group
that performed a hiding act until the March, but the more I talked to my other
friends, the more I realized that this was pretty much everyone’s experience…
go to the holocaust museum, go on retreat, go to church, march and go home. Now I am in NO WAY saying that there is
no value in these activities. The experience can be so beautiful, but if we are
on a platform for our American brothers and sisters to see the love of God,
this just won’t do.
Every
single year, 200,000 Christians go to Washington D.C. on the SAME WEEKEND! My
friends, this should be Washington D.C’s favorite weekend of the year and yet
it goes unnoticed. We should not be just sitting in churches. Sure, let’s
gather together at the Supper of the Lamb and build each other up as the body
of Christ but then let’s go out and take care of the rest of our body! If we
say that we value life from the womb to the tomb, why aren’t we taking care of
all the people who are in between during that weekend?
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| Friends At the March... Imagine What We Could Do! |
Could
you imagine what it would look like if 200,000 Christians stormed on D.C. and
just infiltrated the soup kitchens, pregnancy centers, homeless ministries,
adoption agencies, battered women shelters, and rehab centers? Could you
imagine 200,000 Christians looking into the eyes of a woman who has had
abortions and showing her the actions of love, understanding and forgiveness
instead of the words of condemnation? What if we showed the people in our Capitol that we as Catholics and as
Christians really do value ALL life, even the lives that are not well lived.
What if we showed them that we are not there to condemn, that we are there to
build up a culture that celebrates when the lost are found.
Maybe
then our society would be more open to talk about pro-life issues instead of
dismissing us as “warring on women” or the “extreme right wing”. Maybe when we
come out from our churches and from behind the words on our poster boards to
share the GOSPEL with our brothers and sisters, we will
have an impact. If 120 believers received the Holy Spirit in the Acts of
the Apostles and added 3000 people to their number… how can 200,000 Christians
in one city not make a dent! ?
So
my friends, this is what I ask: I realize that I am ranting about an ideal and
that every ideal has a practical nature and a logistical side. If you are
leading a trip to the March for Life this year (I assume you are planning right
now), call a church in the D.C. area (if that's too hard, email me at mallorybueche@gmail.com and I will help). Find out how you can serve the city with
them even if it’s only for a few hours. Make a partnership and help out. It
doesn’t have to be very complicated and it will definitely add to the impact
that your trip or pilgrimage will have on the people that you bring. I know I
would have preferred to be exhausted from serving others rather than simply sitting
in a pew. Our world is full of people making points; it needs people who
will just be Christ… He made all the difference.
