Catholics will gather to pray for the unborn

Intermountain Catholic

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A bilingual pro-life vigil will be held Sunday, Jan. 23 at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery.

SALT LAKE CITY - A spiritual battle will begin for an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn humans in Salt Lake City.

People of all faiths are invited to participate in the pro-life rosaries that will be held at three different locations: Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Saint Mary Catholic Church in West Haven and Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Ogden.

"It is very important that all Catholics defend human dignity," said Father Gustavo Vidal, pastor of St. Mary Parish, where 70 or more people will gather Friday, Jan. 21 after a 5 p.m. Mass to do a living rosary – forming a big circle inside the church so that each person can say a part of the rosary.

"We are going to have a ribbon that will unite all the people participating as a symbol of unity," Fr. Vidal said.

What they are trying to do at St. Mary’s is to make people realize that we all are together in prayer; it does not matter their origin, age, or culture – everyone will be together to pray for the unborn, he said.

The parish held a practice rosary last week and the participants were enthusiastic and interested in being united in prayer, Fr. Vidal said.

More than 1.5 million abortions take place in the United States each year; there are more than 100,000 abortions worldwide every day.

"People see abortion as a right," said Veola Burchett, director of the office of Family Life of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. However, "The Church said if life is not defensible in the womb, pretty soon life is not going to be defensible outside the womb, and now we have people that are sick, mentally handicapped, elderly people who are not "perfect,’" she said, adding that some women choose to abort their children if they are diagnosed with Down’s syndrome.

"The reality is that abortions happen in pro-life families, too," Burchett said. "We are getting so used to the fact of the million and a half abortions every year that we are not even shocked. That’s like saying we are going to take all of the people of the Wasatch Front and they are going to be killed in a year."

The respect for life needs to be promoted in all aspects of everyone’s life because nowadays it is not only abortions that kill the defenseless, Burchett said.

"We are in danger, too, every single time that people are talking about cutting budgets, when they are talking about health reforms…that’s why we need to be concerned, not just for the lives inside the wombs because of life itself," she said.

She invited everyone to participate in the pro-life services. "Prayer is the most powerful thing that we have," Burchett said.

In addition to the living rosary at St. Mary Parish, the pro-life service at St. Joseph Parish will be Saturday, Jan. 22, at noon.

The bilingual pro-life vigil prayer will be held at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. All are invited.