Thomas More College, under the leadership of Dean of Students Dr. Denis Kitzinger and through the initiative of the Student Council—and in union with those defending life throughout our nation and world—has declared Friday, January 29 a campus-wide day of prayer, fasting, and penance for the unborn.
From the time the College community celebrates Mass at noon until midnight, there will be a perpetual rosary vigil in the College chapel, led by students, faculty, and staff.
Though the physical March for Life was forced to become an online event this year, the Thomas More College community was determined to mark the anniversary of the disastrous Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion with prayer and penance. “The March for Life, which is usually filled with opportunities to publicly witness to the Culture of Life, may seem subdued this year,” says President Fahey. “But,” he says, “a quiet day is not a weak day.” Prayer, he continues, is “our greatest tool in rebuilding our culture, especially when combined with fasting and other sacrifices.”
Dean of Students Denis Kitzinger agrees. “This is our contribution to do our share in defense of the unborn and to appeal to God’s mercy,” he says. Later in the semester, during Lent, he says that the College intends to march physically as well.
Andrew Larivee, ’22, who has attended the March for Life in person with his family and the College seven times, says “I think fasting and praying are the best things we can do right now, and I find it inspiring that we are able to come together as a College and further join spiritually with all those around the nation praying for an end to abortion. My own mother had a powerful conversion experience in which she came to realize the horrors of abortion,” he says, “and she has instilled her passion for defending life in her children. Here at Thomas More College we are doing what we can to fight for the innocent.”
Senior Eva Solak agrees. “The March for Life is a visible sign crying against a horrible violence to women
and children. Though forces of ill may consider preventing our physical gathering a victory of flesh, we know that ours is a victory of the spirit, as we unite our voices with the saints and angels in prayer for the hearts of those in darkness.
One of the greatest things a person can do in this life is to give life to another; one of the greatest evils is to take that life, in a warped servitude to the self. Today we are reminded to cherish those living and hope for those not yet born.”
The killing of unborn babies is a grave evil in our time, an evil promoted even by those in high authority claiming to be Catholic. But as Sister Lucia, to whom Our Lady appeared in Fatima in 1917, reminded us, “there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.” And so today Thomas More College unites to ask Our Lady in the Most Holy Rosary to intercede with Christ on behalf of innocent human life.
For further reading:
A Light in Dark Times: Thomas More College at the March for Life
