Whether in Washington or in Metro Detroit, students learn to show 'authentic, joyful witness' to the sacredness of human life
FARMINGTON HILLS — Middle schoolers at St. Fabian Catholic School in Farmington Hills pre-launched Catholic Schools Week by standing for the dignity of human life, staging a mini-March for Life in their school parking lot with handmade pro-life signs Friday, Jan. 24.
Across the Archdiocese of Detroit, Catholics devoted their day to praying for and promoting the dignity of the unborn as the 52nd annual March for Life took place in Washington, D.C., with tens of thousands gathering to march in the nation's capital and elsewhere.
In addition to the observance at St. Fabian and other Catholic schools, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton led an early morning holy hour and Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth, saying God blesses those who make God their all.
“It has been said that human authenticity is achieved in self-transcendence; it is not achieved in self-absorption,” Bishop Monforton said. “You see, it is the very spirit of self-absorption that fails to promote the dignity of all human life. However, it is in self-transcendence — the lives created in God’s image and likeness — where we defend and protect human life without qualification or discrimination.”
There may be a worldly cost to protecting all human life, Bishop Monforton added, but Jesus’ loving presence liberates from self-absorption into a “wonderful sacred horizon.” Jesus is our “endgame,” the bishop said.
Although Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court that ruled that abortion was protected by the U.S. Constitution, was repealed by the Supreme Court in the historic 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, the March for Life and other pro-life efforts have continued with renewed vigor as the issue of abortion moves to the states.
Catholics from Metro Detroit arrived in Washington, D.C., by the busload to march for the protection of the unborn, including groups from archdiocesan schools such as Divine Child in Dearborn, Detroit Catholic Central in Novi, and St. Catherine of Siena Academy in Wixom, among others.
Mary Wilkerson, director of campus ministry at Divine Child, told Detroit Catholic that having 86 students attend this year's March for Life is an important pilgrimage to a Catholic school's identity.
“It is a concrete way of showing students that authentic, joyful, witness to the dignity of the human person is a priority,” Wilkerson explained. “Being pro-life is an often isolating stance to take; for the young Church to have an opportunity to experience community while standing up for life is priceless. The importance of the march isn’t just the march, though; it’s taking the message back to students, staff, and family members. It’s living boldly as heralds of a different way of looking at people, as gifts meant to be cherished.”
However, attending in person is not an option for all, and for the second year in a row, St. Fabian students made their own march through the snow and slush in their school’s parking lot while holding up signs and praying the rosary for the unborn.
Stephanie Tierney, director of Christian Services, youth ministry and confirmation at St. Fabian Parish, explained to Detroit Catholic that the event was timed not only to coincide with the March for Life in Washington but also to launch the students into Catholic Schools Week, which officially runs from Sunday, Jan. 26, to Saturday, Feb. 1.
Prior to the march, students listened to the pro-life testimony of Our Lady of Good Counsel parishioner Katy Conners, who, when told she needed to abort her seventh child in order to save her own life, chose to place her pregnancy and trust in God’s hands.
Conners shared her lifelong journey toward becoming fully pro-life with the middle schoolers and recounted her most recent pro-life testimony: her unfaltering faith in God as she chose life for her son, Teddy, despite doctors telling her it would kill her. Conners, who has a congenital heart condition, staunchly chose to defend the life of her now 2-year-old son, Teddy, entrusting her life and his to God.
Conners encouraged St. Fabian students to look for “small things” they could do to be pro-life, reassuring them that not every pro-life act needs to be on a large scale.
“You can be a supportive community,” Conners said. "When you hear someone's stories, you can pray for them, or if someone has a baby or is sick, sometimes your family might make them a meal – so you can help with that meal. You can be there. When you get older, you guys can go to the march. It's not always the huge things you need to do. It's the small things. It's a small step you can make. Starts with prayer and knowing that God loves you, God will provide for you, and that through your prayers, God uses those and can make big changes.”
St. Fabian seventh-grader Francis Kaskorkis proudly held up his sign “Pro-life forever” during the school march, explaining that he has and always will be pro-life and hopes to attend the March in Washington in the future.
“It really (makes) an impact on people who see these signs,” Kaskorkis told Detroit Catholic. “It shows that we really believe in God and that He can care for the babies and stop abortion.”
