Ecumenical pro-life service set for Jan. 18

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
January 15, 2004

The annual Pro-Life Interfaith Prayer Memorial, mourning the 31 years of legalized abortion in the United States, will be held at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 18, at Central Baptist Church, Sioux City.

In recent years this interfaith service has drawn between 700 and 900 people.

"I think this is one of the unifying events of our religious world - that we realize that life is a gift from God and to have it ripped out of a womb and cast aside is wrong," noted Larry Walsh, a member of the planning committee that organized the service.

People of all religions are encouraged to attend the service, focusing on prayers for an end to abortion.

"This is an ecumenical effort to change the hearts not only of the populous, but also of our politicians," explained Walsh. "We firmly believe that this is happening as we see the end of late-term abortions, partial-birth abortion, being signed by the president."

He said it showed that an increasing number of citizens in the United States want abortion to come to an end.

Unfortunately, Walsh added, that were it not for the pro-choice position of many Catholic politicians, Roe vs. Wade would have been overturned long ago.

"To be pro-choice is not only wrong, but it is against the teaching of the Catholic Church and our pope," he said. "The term pro-choice is a fraud in itself for the unborn child has no choice. The father often has no choice and the parents of the mother often has no choice."

Walsh pointed out that it is unfortunate that knowledge of the pregnancy is often hidden.

"School nurses will refer a girl to Planned Parenthood for 'counseling,' and yet if a girl wanted to have her ears pierced, she would have to have a note from her parents," he said. "In many cases the mother herself has no choice because she is being coerced. To be pro-choice is to be pro-death."

The interfaith memorial will include the children's choir of third and fourth graders from Mater Dei School, a welcome by Pastor Tim Blanchard of Central Baptist Church and opening prayer by Pastor Merrill Muller of the Church of All Nations in Sioux City.

The keynote speaker will be Greg Schleppenbach of Lincoln. Greg is the State Director for the Bishops' Plan for Pro-Life Activities in the state of Nebraska. He is in charge of coordinating and directing pro-life programs for all three Catholic dioceses and their parishes in Nebraska. The Pastoral Plan is the official pro-life program of the Catholic Church in the United States and focuses on three main objectives: public information/education, pastoral efforts and public policy as it relates to abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and infanticide.

As with year's past, a presentation of 31 roses by people ages 31 to one, representing the years of legalized abortion will provide a dramatic, reflective component to the service.

The prayer memorial will also include a solo by Nativity Parish Jubilation Choir Director, Sherri Rossiter and closing prayer by Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo of the Diocese of Sioux City. Members of the Knights of Columbus, Garrigan Assembly 4th Degree, will form the Honor Guard.

Following the program, women of Central Baptist will host a coffee social.

At 3:45 p.m. all are invited to join in a brief closing ceremony at the Circle of Life Memorial to the Unborn at Trinity Heights, 33rd and Floyd Blvd. Pastor Al Weiss of the First Assembly of God in Sioux City will lead a short prayer service at Trinity Heights during which the 31 roses presented earlier in the church will be laid at the Tomb of the Unborn Child.

"These roses will be left in the cold to wither, to die in the cruel harshness of winter just as all of those future sons and daughters of this world have died in the cold reality of abortion," said Walsh.

While it is difficult to determine the number of abortions that occur in this country, many pro-life advocates estimate about 4,000 daily. With the increasing use of the morning after pill, the number of abortions is even harder to determine.

He believes that if ultrasounds were used at Planned Parenthood, it would change the hearts and minds of many of them so they would bear the child and possibly give it up for adoption.

This annual interfaith program is coordinated by The Alpha Center, a crisis pregnancy center here in Sioux City; by Queen of Peace, Inc. (Trinity Heights) and by Siouxland Right to Life.

Walsh extended gratitude to the people at Central Baptist Church who have contributed to this service for a number of years by offering their facility as a host site along with generating several volunteers.

Central Baptist Church is located at 4001 Indian Hills Drive in Sioux City.