This past weekend CEC For Life attended the 2011 March For Life in Washington D.C.. Fr. Terry Gensemer and I actually went up to Bel Air, MD a couple days before to take part in a youth rally put on by Fr. Rob Northwood. The rally was attended not only by youth from the Northeast diocese, but also by the group that drove up with Jamie and Arsella Tellier all the way from Selma, AL. We enjoyed fellowship, food, and worship on Saturday, and then were able to take the Eucharist together that Sunday.
After church, and a quick and gracious lunch from the parish, the youth leaders gathered their young folk and we all headed to D.C. to check in with our hotels and get ready for the Annual CEC For Life Youth Rally.
This year’s rally focused more on worship than speaking. While we did hear from leaders such as Pat Mahoney, Brandi Swindell, Bryan Kemper, Jerry Horn, and our own Fr. Terry Gensemer, most of our time was spent in intense, prophetic worship with the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace. Watching our youth worship with such fervency, and seeing them lay hands on one another with such compassion, was a huge blessing. We really do have some great kids in the CEC, and they really do know the face of their Lord.
The following morning we took young people from Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, Kansas and New York over to Planned Parenthood for a morning prayer vigil. Several of the clergy accompanied Fr. Terry to the Capitol Hill Visitor Center where he, Fr. Frank Pavone and others had the privilege to present two special Pro-life awards to Pastor Stephen Broden, an African American cutting edge leader from the Dallas area, and to Mrs. Naomi King, the widow of Dr. A.D. King who was the brother of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Naomi is also the mother of Dr. Alveda King. Then at 12:30 everybody met at the steps of the Supreme Court to pray a Liturgy for the Pre-born. During the Liturgy we were encouraged by the words of our Patriarch, as well as a few words from pro-life ladies Star Parker and Bernie Smyth. Afterwards, we headed over to join the March.
We are so thankful for the young people in this movement, as well as for the older members who work to encourage and strengthen those just entering the fight. This whole year through, CEC For Life will be continuing to encourage everyone to be consistently involved in Pro-life work and we will be ardently praying that the Lord draws more youth and more members of the CEC to the March for Life than ever before. And we believe that God will be faithful, because we believe that the pro-life movement is close to His heart, just as it is close to ours.
Peace of the Lord,
Sarah Howell
Assistant
Fr. Terry Gensemer
Director of CEC For Life