TOOELE — In a prominent place near the entrance of the Tooele Cemetery rests a dark gray, heart-shaped monument embraced by an angel’s wings. The inscription reads in part, "For the children that did not reach this world, May the angels guide them to the next…." The monument is the result of two years of effort by Saint Marguerite Parish’s 2008 confirmation class, which led community-wide fundraising and worked with the city’s Parks & Recreation Department to secure the site. Although members of the Catholic Church spearheaded the effort, other Christians in the community joined in, said Kyle Palmer, chair of the confirmation class committee for the monument. "It is the view of the Catholic Church, as well as many other Christian churches, that life should be protected from conception to a natural death," he said at the May 20 ceremony during which the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, blessed the monument. In an interview after the ceremony, he said the hardest part was getting the fundraising started, after the initial amount was raised, people responded well. "I love the fact that people have an open mind and have an open heart toward those that have been unborn," he said. Father Hernando Diaz, St. Marguerite pastor, opened the ceremony with a prayer for the innocent, those who were unborn because of abortion, miscarriage or still birth. "This is the end of a great project that the confirmation class of 2008-09 had under the leadership of JoAnn Torres and Patty Snow, the teachers of that class, talking about the importance and the dignity of human life, especially those who are killed by abortion," Fr. Diaz said. Prior to the blessing, Bishop Wester said the monument is "a wonderful source of hope…. It’s great to see these young people who have such a reverence for life and appreciation for God’s most precious gift. "So many times in our society we get the impression – overtly or covertly – that life is what we make out of it; if we amass a lot of money or possessions or power, that somehow then our lives are worthwhile," Bishop Wester continued, adding that one of the tenets of many Christian faiths is "that God’s gift of life is precious in and of itself." The proper response for this gift is gratitude, the bishop said, as well as humility in the face of the mystery of life. "We acknowledge that with all of our science, as good as it is … that there is so much about life that we do not understand." The monument also evokes sorrow for those who weren’t born, through abortion, still birth, or miscarriage, he said, and is also an acknowledgement of the suffering that accompanies this loss. Nevertheless, "We come here as well today…, in the hope that each of us, because of this monument and all that it represents, and the wonderful people who have made it come to pass, the hope that we will all deepen our appreciation of life, and that we will display that hope in very real terms."
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