Celebrating Life And Celebrating Our Catholic Schools

BISHOP
KEVIN J.
SWEENEY

On Thursday and Friday, Jan. 18 and 19, I had the privilege to travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the 51st annual March for Life. The first March for Life took place on Jan. 22, 1974, on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion throughout the United States. I have shared some of my own experiences and history of the March for Life in previous columns. I wanted to take the opportunity to share some things that I learned and some new experiences that I had at this year’s March.

On Thursday evening at 5 p.m., I attended the Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which opened the National Prayer Vigil for Life. I recently learned that the first “National Prayer Vigil for Life” was in 1979, led by a priest from Philadelphia and included 50 people praying the Rosary in the Crypt Chapel of the Basilica. You can learn how that Vigil has grown over these past 40 years to include as many as 20,000 pilgrims, who spend the entire night in prayer. To learn more about the history and current status of the National Prayer Vigil for Life, you can go to the website of the Basilica.

At the conclusion of the Vigil Mass, there was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and a Eucharistic Procession. At that time, we prayed what was for me, a “new prayer” that I had not heard before. We prayed the “Prayer for Radical Solidarity,” which accompanies this column. The USCCB received a copyright for this prayer in 2023. The prayer beautifully reminds us of the “Visitation” when Mary “went in haste” (Lk 1:39) to visit Elizabeth and asks the intercession of our Blessed Mother for “… the grace to bring Christ to any expectant mother who is alone and afraid.”

After the Eucharistic Procession, I headed to Fairfax, VA. (a 45-minute drive) to attend the Life is Very Good Rally, sponsored by the Diocese of Arlington, which was being held for the first time in four years due to the COVID pandemic. I wanted to attend the rally because a group from DePaul Catholic High School, led by their principal, Russell Petrocelli, was attending. I was happy to have some time to join them in prayer and have the opportunity to listen to some excellent speakers and inspiring music. One of the speakers at that rally was also a singer and songwriter named John Paul Van Arx. He told the story of and then performed the song “He’s Different” that he wrote in tribute to his younger brother Sam. On his website, you can view the video and hear the beautiful song, as well as read the story, which begins:

John Paul Von Arx released the official music video for his original song “He’s Different” on October 1, 2023. “He’s Different” is about John Paul’s youngest brother, Sam, who has Down Syndrome, and tells the story of how Sam is different than he is in all the best ways — in how he sees life with joy and simplicity and loves people unconditionally.

https://johnpaulvonarx.com/hes-different

As I listened to John Paul give such a powerful witness on behalf of the beauty, dignity, and value of every human life and person, I could not help but wonder what impact he was having on the 30-plus students from DePaul, upon their teachers and chaperones, and the thousands of young people and adults gathered for the rally.

A number of our other Catholic high schools were planning to send students to the March for Life on three buses, which were scheduled to leave early in the morning and arrive in Washington for a noon Mass. After the Mass, as in past years, we planned to participate in the March and then get back on the buses with the hope of getting home by 9 or 10 p.m. Unfortunately, a snowstorm was predicted for southern New Jersey and the Washington area, causing Governor Murphy to declare a “state of emergency,” and our chaperones made the difficult decision to cancel the trip. We must always put “safety first,” especially when dealing with students and our young people. Although they were not able to make it to Washington this year, I thank and congratulate the leaders of our Catholic high schools and the teachers and students who were planning to attend the March, making some real sacrifices to witness on behalf of Life.

I am writing these words as we begin “Catholic Schools Week.” On Sunday, Jan. 28, I celebrated Mass with the parish and school community of Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Wayne. The next day, I celebrated Mass at DePaul Catholic High School. I look forward to visiting St. Phillip’s School in Clifton and Holy Spirit School in Pequannock later in the week. I think that being with the DePaul Students at the March for Life and then, 10 days later, visiting DePaul for a Catholic Schools Week Mass helped to remind me of something that, at times, may get overlooked when we onsider the impact and value of our Catholic Schools. We talk about building a “Culture of Life,” and there are many practical ways to do so. Catholic Schools, as part of the Church’s mission of Evangelization, make an incalculable contribution towards building a Culture of Life. In our Catholic Schools, students are taught and encouraged to see each person as a beautiful child of God.

We are all aware of the challenges that we face in our current culture and especially in some of our schools and educational institutions to witness to a central teaching of our Faith and Revelation:

“Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.

God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Gn 1:26-27

In our Catholic schools, the beauty, uniqueness, dignity, and value of each human being, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, is taught not only in the classroom as a belief or doctrine. These lessons are taught in countless ways, through prayer and reflection, through service and help for those with “special needs,” and especially by the example of school leaders, administrators, priests and religious, faculty and staff.

At the 1975 canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton, one of the foundational stones of the Church and Catholic education in the United States, Pope Saint Paul VI praised the work of Mother Seton and Catholic education. Paul VI said: “We render homage to those who have expended their lives to communicate Christ through the apostolate of the school and to give to generations of young Americans true education imbued with Christian principles.” We thank God for all of those who follow in the line of Mother Seton and have made Catholic education a powerhouse of Christian evangelization and life.

As we celebrate our Catholic schools during Catholic Schools Week, let us not forget that the mission and ministry of our Catholic schools also play such an important role in our efforts to support, promote, witness, and celebrate the beauty, dignity, and value of the great gift of human life.