I just returned from the March for Life in Washington D.C. I have attended other March for Life events but nothing like this! I heard reports that there were 650,000 people there. I don’t know how accurate that is, but there were at least 400,000. Hard to believe? I know. When you wait in the street, shoulder to shoulder, toe to toe, with other marchers for over 1 hour, waiting to get into the queue, you do feel like it could be 650,000 people strong. I will be doing this again!
I was blessed to share experiences with friends. We went to the Holocaust Museum Thursday. If you have never been, go. Take your teenagers. Your middle-schoolers. Never forget this horrible time in history.
Friday, of course, was the March and the Rose dinner that night – with surprise speaker Vice-President Mike Pence.
Saturday we decided to make it a busy day. First stop, the Bible Museum. Some outstanding displays – if you have a full day to go, I suggest it. It’s not free and some of the exhibits require an additional ticket (which we did not do).
Next was the Pope John Paul II Center, near Catholic University. It. Is. Beautiful. There is a relic of Saint John Paul (vial of blood) and one of Saint John Vianney (his heart) displayed in the reliquary.
Kneeling at the relics, and being able to touch a piece of jewelry I wear all of the time to the relic of Saint John Paul was peaceful and surreal, at least to me it was. What a blessing that I was able to be in this place!
We planned to attend the 5:15 Mass at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a 10 minute walk from the JP2 Center. We arrived close to 5pm and found it challenging to find a place to sit! To my dismay, we had to sit in the very back and I did not get a good view of the altar. After Mass, we went downstairs to see the gift shop and the Crypt Church, along with all of the Chapels dedicated to our Blessed Mother. There must be 30 or more Chapels on the lower floor. When I go back, I will dedicate one full day to just the Crypt level!
It was close to 7pm when I decided to go upstairs to get a closer look at the altar, and one of the women in our group went with me, a beautiful, fun 78 year-old lady. There was a Mass so we did not go in. When we got into the Narthex, we could hear a lot of noise outside – yelling and drums beating. First, we thought it was some of the college kids having fun. But we started to see people rushing in the door, asking to come in. Some of them looked terrified, some just relieved. I peeked out the door to see 30-40 people at the bottom of the steps, coming up, drums pounding and yelling in a war call-like sound. The guards came in and told us to get into the Sanctuary immediately while they bolted the doors shut and called the police.
We had no idea what was happening, but went quietly into a nave. We could hear loud pounding on the doors. One of our group asked a guard if we could leave and he suggested we go back downstairs. He told us that these people were here because a Catholic boy disrespected a tribal elder of their tribe and they wanted the Catholics to be disrespected. Little did we know the complexities of this story and how some young men would be judged by one single video and a narrow – minded left leaning media. Along with some hypocritical Bishops in Kentucky who condemned before even knowing the truth. Dear Bishops, as the saying goes, people in glass houses should not throw stones.
A guard helped us to a door that let us out on a side of the Basilica where the crowd was not gathering. While we waited for our Lyft ride, we decided to say a prayer for the protesters who were trying to get into the church. All in all, it was a week I will never forget!
It’s important to remember that we do not march to get media coverage. It does not matter if the major news outlets cover it – those of us who were there know the truth of what was said and how many were there. Bring it on 2020!
Finding my Voice 