Dates: Jan. 17-20, 2019
Location: Washington, D.C.
The Office for Family, Youth, and Young Adults once again offered the opportunity for high school age young people in the diocese to participate in the 2019 March for Life in Washington, D.C. The event is an opportunity to pray and peacefully protest the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision and to promote the gift and sanctity of life. Along with students from colleges/universities throughout our diocese, more than 300 youth and adults representing many of our parishes, all five high schools as well as Grand Rapids Right to Life will be present at the March.
Please pray for our pilgrims and pray for and do your part to advocate for the sanctity of life.
Watch coverage of the March for Life
Watch on the EWTN website, via Facebook Live (http://facebook.com/ewtnonline), or on the free EWTN mobile app available in the Google Play Store or on Apple iTunes. Also on CatholicTV.
Stay connected on social media
Stay connected with our March for Life pilgrims on Facebook (Diocese of Grand Rapids) and Twitter (@GRDiocese).
Plenary indulgence available to March for Life participants
Individuals who wish to obtain the plenary indulgence must take part in the sacred celebrations related to the March for Life this year in Washington, D.C. In addition, the usual conditions for a plenary indulgence need to be met: that an individual be in the state of grace by the completion of the acts, have complete detachment from sin, and pray for the Pope’s intentions. The person must also sacramentally confess their sins and receive Communion, up to about twenty days before or after the indulgenced act.
According to the Vatican declaration, “the aged, sick and all those who due to grave reason are not able to leave home” are also able to receive the plenary indulgence so long as they consciously reject all sin, have the intention to, as soon as possible, complete the usual conditions for a plenary indulgence, and “spiritually join themselves to the holy ceremonies, while also having offered prayers and their sufferings or the ailments of their own life to the merciful God.”
Questions about the March for Life pilgrimage? Please contact Marianne Verner, 616-246-0588 or mverner@dioceseofgrandrapids.org.
Bishop Walkowiak celebrates Mass on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade Jan. 22
On Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, our nation marked the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion in our country. Bishop Walkowiak encouraged all people of the diocese to observe that day as a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. On Jan. 22, he celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew to reaffirm our commitment to the Gospel of life and to the protection of all human life from conception to natural death.
Three ways to participate in Nine Days for Life
Since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision 46 years ago, more than 58 million children’s lives have been lost to abortion, and the lives of millions of their parents have been shattered. In prayerful recognition of these lost and broken lives, the U.S. Bishops invited Catholics and others nationwide to participate in nine days of prayer, penance and pilgrimage Jan. 14-22. Click the link above for details or to receive the daily novena in English and Spanish each day by email, text message, or through their app.
Additional resources & information
March for Life Flyer | General information
View March for Life photos on Flickr
Respect Life Ministry in our diocese
U.S. Bishops’ Office of Pro-Life Activities
