Today, we march here in Charlotte. Next week, many of us will march in our state capital of Raleigh. And the week after that, many of us will join many thousands more and march in our nation’s capital of Washington, D.C.
We march, and we say that we march for life because there are so many threats to life, threats will seek to disrupt the heartbeat of the most vulnerable among us.
We march for life because so many who cannot march are being deprived of their life.
The unborn are the most vulnerable class of people in the strictest, most literal biological sense. From the time of conception up to the time of birth, the child in the womb is among the most fragile of creatures, and so it is that the mother’s own body becomes a haven for it, a place of shelter and nourishment.
Rather than upholding justice, the rule of law now furthers injustice against the unborn child, allowing their termination for virtually any reason and virtually any stage of pregnancy.
The mother’s womb, once synonymous with nurturing and care, has now become a domain of death; once a safe haven, it has now become a perilous place.
We march because we cannot abide this reversal, we cannot allow this injustice, we cannot tolerate this destruction.
We march firstly for the unborn, for the memory of those who are already lost, and in hope for those who are threatened. We march in the name of their precious souls and their unfulfilled dreams.
We march also for those women whose their lives become so difficult, so painful, so desperate, that they feel that the choice to terminate their unborn child is their only option.
We march for those men whose woundedness and fear make deny their fatherhood, or whose fatherhood has been denied them by the choices of another.
We march for those who are trained in the medical professions, who have turned from their profession’s creed of “first, do not harm” and twisted the healing arts into the destruction.
We march for our city, our state, our nation and their leaders and lawmakers and judges, for those who uphold the sanctity of life, and indeed for those who oppose it.
We march, then, for ourselves, and for those who come together for the cause of the protection of the unborn and the respect of human life, the preservation of human dignity.
We march with our hearts aimed at the good, and that by marching that force of will for the good may ever increase within us.
We march with our feet to obey the command of God in our hearts, that our heart may ever be more attuned to that, so that we may march and act and work for the good of others with ever greater courage and boldness.
And so let us march. Let us march for healing and compassion. Let us march for justice and peace. Let us march for the glory of God, the author of life. Let us never waver, as we boldly march for hope.
Condensed from the speech delivered by Father Cory Catron, parochial vicar of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, during the 2020 March for Life Charlotte.