Earlier this month, Fr. Dana Jackson and his wife, along with Dcn. Joshua Bautista and parishioner Lloyd Cornell, attended the March for Life UK. According to the main organizers, it was a record year. Police estimated around 7,000 attendees — a huge jump from the 4,500 present last year. Many seemed to be attending for the very first time.
Among the throngs, wielding the flag Fr. Dana often carried years previous at the March in DC, and even donning a few vintage CEC For Life tees (we see that Pilgrimage shirt, Lloyd!), the little group joined thousands upon thousands of UK pro-lifers declaring “10 Million Too Many.” According to March for Life UK’s press release, 10 million is the number of abortions the have occurred since the Abortion Act was passed in the UK in 1967.
Fr. Dana Jackson, rector at St. Stephen CEC, shares this statement:
“Like its American counterpart, the March for Life UK is about choice — but not the choice that abortion advocates speak of. From the beginning in the Garden of Eden mankind was given a choice: to obey God and receive the very best He had for us, or to choose our own way and suffer the penalty of death. Adam made the wrong choice and we all bear the consequences. But the death penalty wasn’t just an event at the end of a life, but an entirely different and more difficult process of living.
“We cannot reverse Adam’s choice, but each of us can learn from our sin and make the right choice. We can choose to believe what God says about us; choose the life He offers us; choose to receive the identity, the provision, the challenges, and the destiny He has for us. God holds us responsible to make these choices for ourselves, but as the Body of Christ we are also commanded to love our neighbour: to stand and fight on behalf of those who are too young, too old, or too weak to choose for themselves. We stand with God on the sanctity of all human life, and that sanctity is not only about the length of life but about its very nature. I thank God for the honour of standing with His army in this nation at this time in history. Non nobis Domine!“
Dcn. Joshua Bautista adds:
“The Church must always be Pro-Life because Life comes from God; it’s as simple as that. We didn’t create Life, we never will. We can only reproduce it. God created Life. In fact His own breath is in Mankind. Therefore, every human life has inherent value: God’s DNA is in His Creation.”
“Psalm 139 says, ‘For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.‘”
