RSM students pray for life during morning of silence

BY KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
Feb.1, 2007

REMSEN - St. Mary's High School students in Remsen gathered on Jan. 22 for a prayer service and spent part of the day in silence, protesting abortion.

"The Right-to-Life movement is very important to us at St. Mary's," said Mary Arens, spiritual life director at St. Mary's. "We always want to be trying something new to get them excited about the movement or keep them involved in the movement. We want it to be new and invigorating - something that will really strike the students."

The high school students gathered in the gym, all wearing their red Right to Life T-shirts, to listen to Scripture, view a PowerPoint presentation and listen to a testimony and reflection.

"We wanted to start the day immediately with the prayer service because we thought the prayer service would really set the tone for the importance of the day," said Arens.

The testimony was a tape of "Jenny's Story," a young girl's story about the abortions she had at Planned Parenthood. The reflection was by Remsen St. Mary's student, Dustin Steichen, about adoption.

"Right-to-Life is very pivotal at our school," stated Dustin Steichen. "It has a special significance for me because I am adopted and could just as easily been aborted."

Arens, told the students, "I am especially proud to proclaim, 'I am Catholic,' whenever I hear the church's stance on the 'Right to Life' issue. The Catholic Church calls each one of us to be the voice for the voiceless and defend life from conception until natural death."

She quoted a Latin phrase from Thomas Aquinas, "Lex Mala, Lex Nula," which translates "An evil law - is no law."

Another quote stated during the service was by Pope Benedict the XVI at his Inaugural Mass, as he stressed the importance of "Respect for all Life," was repeated during the RSM prayer service.

"We are not some casual or meaningless product of evolution," said the pope. "Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us loved, each of us is necessary."

With a screen in the background showing a young person with a tape over his/her mouth with "Life" written on it, Arens explained that "others in the past have taken the vow of silence in hopes of creating awareness to the evil and the heartlessness of ending a child's life within the warmth of its mother's womb."

"As Catholics we are taught sacrificing is a beautiful way to pray," said Arens. "Today we ask our students to sacrifice just three hours of conversation - to those of you who have studied the Scriptures you know the sacredness of the number three. Without a voice the voiceless have no hope; abortion will never be brought to an end and millions and millions of more children will be killed."

At the conclusion of the prayer service, eight students came to the microphone, and declared, "I will take the vow of silence."

These students proceeded to distribute Red cloth tape squares with "Life" penned in black. The students could choose to put the tape over their lips, stick it on their clothing or not participate at all. They wore the pieces of tape during the morning after the prayer service.

"Throughout the morning, the halls were silent, the classrooms were silent," said Arens. "We never anticipated the results that we got. The kids all participated. Our students are so pro-life."

The idea for the day was brought to Arens last year by Danika Portz, a senior at St. Mary's, who got the idea when she saw a picture of a woman with a tape on her mouth with "Life" written on it. Danika insisted that the school take it a step farther and incorporate a period of silence for the entire RSM High School as an awareness tool as well as a prayer to end abortion.

"By taking the vow of silence, we are silencing ourselves just like all innocent children who are silenced by abortion every day," said Portz.

When word got around about the plans for the day, there was a lot of skepticism.

"A few times we were on the verge of throwing in the towel for fear of non-participation," said Arens. "As it turned out, teachers incorporated unique ways of teaching without talking, and the classrooms and hallways were nearly silent with the majority of students and teachers participating. We even had students suggest the vow of silence should be for the full day instead of just the morning."