Thursday, March 31, 2011

Day 23: Halfway Rally Tonight!

Today we are holding our halfway rally at the vigil site, beginning at 6pm this evening. Fr. Kelly our chaplain will lead the prayers, and Bob and Susan will lead the singing. Bring your prayer book and your pro-life signs (including any with the problematic number on them, as described yesterday) and join us for prayer and fellowship!

If anyone has a big extra umbrella, please bring it for Bob! He's going to bring his guitar, but he's not going to play it out in the rain! Finally, please let me know if you have a vigil story to share, and we might be able to incorporate it at the rally tonight! Hope to see you then!

The following is a note from Keith, our outreach coordinator, who relates the following experience from his vigil shift a few days ago:
When we are standing vigil at the Duke Street abortion clinic we expect a range of reactions from passerbys. Many ignore us. A good number wave or give a thumbs up, which makes us feel good. On Tuesday morning, however, we faced a very angry drive-by. As five of us, one a priest from St. Louis, were praying the rosary a young man (early 30s?) drove by in his jeep, honked angrily, gave us a prolonged finger salute and shouted a number of things, including "Get the @(!* out of here." He then sped off.

We were momentarily shocked, or course, but then continued our prayer. At the conclusion we talked about it. One of us apologized to the priest for the behavior, and he acknowledged that it happens. We also discussed how it was good to see the anger. We should confront people with the horror of abortion, we should make them think about it, and we should expect some to react with anger. It's the people who ignore us who concern me. Clearly, that young man has a personal problem that we are bringing to the surface. Perhaps it will end with a change in his heart and mind. We all should pray for those who are similarly angry, and we should never respond with anger. Be ready to talk to them and let them know that we are not judging their actions, but working to bring God's grace to all who are considering the termination of a life.
In our national update for today, national campaign coordinator Shawn Carney references a letter to the editor which he calls "one of the best we've ever seen." In fact, I've read the letter myself, and found it really good. It presents a realistic and hard-hitting response to anti-prolifer violence, such as described above by Keith. You can go to the national blog for Shawn's commentary, or read the letter for yourself here.

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