Area Individuals March for Life
by Erin Hermesch
February 01, 2010
On Tuesday, January 19th, 26 individuals from the Nemaha-Marshall area climbed aboard the charter bus waiting for them at Sts. Peter and Paul parish ready to travel to Washington D.C. With ages ranging from fifth grade boys to elderly women, the individuals were full of anticipation and excitement for the 37th Annual March for Life. After a stop at Hayden High School, the bus was filled and ready to begin the trek to the Nation's Capitol.
25 hours, approximately 10 stops, 5 rosaries, and multiple bathroom breaks later, the pilgrims arrived in Washington and began their adventure by sight-seeing around the city on Wednesday afternoon. After checking into the Holiday Inn, they cleaned up and decided to go to Chinatown. Getting there was the hard part. The small-town travelers experienced riding the subway.
“Chinatown was scary! I didn't like having to constantly guard my stuff with my life. There were lots of people there and it was definitely something I have never experienced,” Nikki Henry said.
Some then decided to travel to the White House to do some final sight-seeing for the night before turning in for the night. After some very much needed sleep, the group woke up the next morning and visited the Holocaust Museum. The group experienced going through metal detectors and getting their bags checked before finally entering the museum full of stories, pictures, and actual victims from the Holocaust.
Thursday's main focus, however, was not the Holocaust Museum. A mass was going to be taking place at the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception. Mass was not scheduled to start until 6:30 p.m., but the group decided to get there at 1:00 in order to have the most ideal seats possible. Amazed as they pulled up to the front of the church, mouths dropped and pictures were taken. The group had to work to save their section's seats up until the last minute before mass started. With the aisles and pews packed full of people, the 45 minute priest procession began. The procession consisted of over 400 seminarians and lots of priests, archbishops, and cardinals from all across the country. There were over 10,000 people in attendance. After mass, the group had to walk through and endless supply of charter buses and rain to find their bus to bring them back to their hotel.
Friday morning, the pilgrims traveled to an area Catholic church to have adoration, confession, and mass with the rest of the Kansans who made the journey to Washington D.C. At Thursday night's mass and Friday morning's mass, Senator Sam Brownback was in attendance. After participating mass, the group hurried back to the hotel to add more layers to their attire for the March. 15 minutes later, the group was walking to the site of the rally.
The rally consisted of a singing group called Sounds of Liberty, talks from mothers who regretted their abortion, archbishops, senators and congressmen who are pro-life, Terri Schiavo's family, and Jewish and orthodox leaders. Each speaker voiced their opinion on abortion and some even had stories to go along with their speech. After standing in the mud for an hour and half, the March began.
An estimated over 300,000 people pushed their way up Constitution Avenue and up to the Supreme Court. Signs were waving, chants were said, and beliefs were being made known. Everyone was there for the same cause--to end abortion.
“It was an amazing experience seeing all of us come together for one belief. It didn't matter what religion or race you were. Everyone was there as a whole.” Kaitlin Heinen said. Everyone that made the journey agreed. After the March, the Nemaha and Marshall county pilgrims ventured to the ESPN zone for some relaxation and then back to the hotel. Around midnight, a fire alarm went off in the hotel. While most of the group walked down the seven flights of stairs, others stayed in their rooms. In the end, it was just a false alarm and everyone went back to bed. Seven hours later, the group participated in a mass held by Fr. Greg Hammes in the hotel.
The group then loaded everything back onto the bus and made one last stop in Washington at Arlington Cemetery. After taking the time to visit John F. Kennedy's grave and watch the changing of the guards, the group was on their way back to Kansas and arrived shortly less than 24 hours later.
March for Life was an eye-opening experience. The group was a part of history and brought back the strong belief of pro-life home with them.
Donna Elder, Sts. Peter and Paul Coordinator said, “The mix of generations on the trip provided us to share our faith, political views and lives in an extraordinary way. It was an awesome trip.”
NVHS students that attended this event in Washington DC were: Erin Hermesch, Nikki Henry, Michele Heinen, Kelly Runnebaum, Kaitlin Heinen, Kristi Clark, Melissa Sperfslage, Taylor Kuckelman, Annie Elder, and Kaylee Bontrager.
