March and Rally for Life 2010

Well, it was a cool and rainy day, but the 2010 March and Rally for Life drew thousands of people to Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, OR. Various blogs and news sources have some post-event coverage, including The Oregon Right to Life site, the Catholic Sentinel site, and great images at the Camera 47 blog.  The Oregonian had decent coverage of the event on page A8, Jan 18th. Their story this year was much more balanced that last year.  The print version was basically a word for word copy of this story posted to www.oregonlive.com on the day of the event. I must say, the news media missed the boat again, with not a single mention of this huge gathering of thousands of the good citizens of Portland, including a police escorted march that closed down Broadway. I don't know what it takes to get the local media's attention in this town if they willfully close their eyes to such a significant prayerful and peaceful gathering of thousands.

One of the highlights of the rally for me was Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers' (right) powerful speech which dwelt heavily on the grim abortion statistics within the African American community.  Other wonderful speeches were given by Archbishop John Vlazny, Cindy Brunk of Silent no More, Tamra Johnson for 40 days for life,  and Dr. Frank Rosenbloom from Oregon Right to Life. If/when  transcripts of these speeches become available, I will post some of them here. The point that resonated the deepest with me (and I'm sorry, I don't recall who said it, or the exact quote) was the following:

"The right to life movement's success going forward will be proportional to how much we move away from a message of condemnation, and toward a message of compassion".

The most moving images to me (and the Oregonian included them in their coverage this time) are the courageous women who have experienced healing after abortion though organizations like Rachael's Vineyard, Silent No More, and www.standupgirl.com. We know with absolute certainty that God's mercy is infinite, and true healing after abortion is possible.  My favorite slogans seen on signage:  "I Regret my Abortion",  "Abortion is not Healthcare", "Abortion Hurts Women", and "Men Regret Lost Fatherhood"

Let us pray not only for an end to abortion, but also for continued healing for all who have experienced the pain of abortion in their lives. May those who have experienced this healing continue to be a witness so that others may also experience healing, or choose life if they are contemplating abortion.

On a side note, I also had a chance to meet and talk to a wonderful priest (right) from St. Francis Anglican Parish of Portland.  St. Francis is parish in the Traditional Anglican Communion.  We talked about the recent action by Pope Benedict making it possible for Anglicans to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.  This decision was in response to requests for a way to come into communion from many traditional Anglicans.  It is very possible that we see him become one of the first in Portland to make use of this new avenue to full communion.  He said that some decisions within the Anglican body are expected in February, and more will be known about if/how/when the move could happen.

Photos: personal(1), http://camera47.wordpress.com (2), http://www.ortl.org (3)