Faithful of All Ages Uphold Life at Cathedral Vigil

Posted

Auxiliary Bishop Peter Byrne led the evening Prayer Vigil for Life at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which included a Holy Hour followed by a Mass Jan. 22, the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.

Concelebrants of the Mass included Auxiliary Bishops Gerardo Colacicco and Edmund Whalen, and Msgr. Joseph LaMorte, vicar general and moderator of the curia of the archdiocese.

The Prayer Vigil for Life was sponsored by the Respect Life Office of the archdiocese. The Schola of the Sisters of the Life provided resplendent music throughout.

The day marked the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court case which legalized abortion on demand across the country, and the first anniversary of New York’s Reproductive Health Act.

RHA grants nondoctors permission to perform abortions; removes protection for an infant accidentally born alive during an abortion, allows late-term abortions, and permits abortion for any reason, for all nine months of pregnancy, including up to the moment of birth.

Bishop Byrne, in his homily at the Mass, underscored the importance of prayer and fasting in being witnesses for life, as observed by participants in the 40 Days for Life movement. “It is important that the pro-life movement has many different arms,” he said, citing “political advocacy, education, witness and certainly the care of the mother in distress.”

“But behind all those things,” the bishop said, “prayer is essential.” Defending the defenseless is what the pro-life movement is based upon, he said.

Bishop Byrne acknowledged the RHA signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the same evening one year ago.

“As we spend this night of prayer,” Bishop Byrne said, “we resolve to extend the culture of life and really to try to convert the hearts of those who promote the culture of death.”

Sister Virginia Joy, S.V., director of the Respect Life Office, spoke with CNY before the Mass. The vast range of ages of the assembly, which included babies, was “representative of the universal Church, kind of everybody is here,” she said. “There is a great reverence, really even almost a silent spirit, recognizing that prayer is our only and best response.”

On the anniversary of the dark day for the unborn, Sister Virginia Joy said, “it’s a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of human life. The Christian stance is always one of hope, and the mystery that Christ was victorious through death on a cross.”

Bishop Byrne, in concluding remarks, thanked those assembled for attending the Prayer Vigil for Life and remarked that it was “heartening” to see a vast number of young people in the congregation who chose to give witness and pray for “this cause.”

Derrick Seo, 33, of the Diocese of Brooklyn, attended the Holy Hour and Mass with a group of peers. He made the nearly hour-long journey to the cathedral by two trains, and spoke to CNY after the liturgy.

“We always have a continuous role to serve in the Church, so this is our way of showing that and celebrating that as well,” he said.

Seo, of St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang parish in Flushing, Queens, recently finished nursing school and is waiting to take the state boards to become a registered nurse. He described the atmosphere at the cathedral as reverent and reflective. He was filled with “gratitude,” he said, beginning with the gift of life he himself has been given.