INDIANAPOLIS – Rallying around a message of “loving them both,” and keeping the flame of the Right to Life movement alive in Indiana, hundreds of Catholic youth gathered for a Mass and rally that were part of the state March for Life events on Jan. 22.
More than 50 people from throughout Northwest Indiana boarded a charter bus in the early morning to arrive in the Circle City to attend Mass at the Indiana Convention Center with mainly Catholic high school youth from each of the five dioceses.
In one of the halls that hosted National Eucharistic Congress events last summer, many young faithful came prepared to brave temperatures near 20 degrees for the downtown march scheduled to follow Mass, and temporarily set down their coats, scarves and caps. Vibrant music warmed those gathered for the liturgy on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which from 1973-2022 allowed for a permissive national abortion regime.
Archbishop Charles C. Thompson delivered his homily from a stage where Bishop of Evansville Joseph M. Siegel, and Bishop of Lafayette Timothy L. Doherty were assembled. He asked the faithful if they had seen his favorite Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He spoke of the protagonist’s eventual realization that “life is worth living.”
Abortion, the archbishop said, robs the world of life. “How our existence and our world is lessened by their absence. We all suffer the loss of these millions of our brothers and sisters. We also recognize the countless men, women and families who continue to endure gilt and grief and pain, which is a bitter aftermath of abortion.”
He continued, saying Catholics and other people of goodwill must persevere.
“So, as we march and pray for an end to abortion in our country, we also extend our prayer and outreach to these other victims of abortion,” said Archbishop Thompson. “Like the prophet Isaiah, God sends us forth to be a light to the nations, to proclaim the truth of the Gospel of Life to the world around us and to change hearts and minds, and, yes, laws.”
Showing that Andrean students come to Indianapolis for more than state title games, several 59ers were part of the March for Life event. After Mass, they gathered in the hall with floor-to-ceiling windows facing St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. There, senior Rosie Yurechko held aloft a respect life flag featuring little footprints as they waited to go outdoors.
Among the AHS contingent, including senior Caroline Linklater and junior Sebastian DeLuna, discussions ensued about the cardinal virtues related to defending the sacredness of human life – to oppose abortion and support mothers and all others until natural death.
Linklater said she was “excited to see many other young Catholics who have the same view” regarding life issues.
DeLuna said he wishes to, as he similarly advocated in a previous year at the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., “influence our lawmakers here in Indiana to ensure that it is a pro-life state.”
Through a lively pro-life experience, first-year archdiocesan youth ministry coordinator Megan Lauritsen hopes to equip young Catholics with the inspiration they need to live their faith and respond to their civic duty.
“It has been a great gift to see the joy, the passion, and the desire among young people to rally for life,” said Lauritsen. “They get to see that they are not alone in their beliefs ... I’d like to send them forth inspired and with an endurance to continue on in the pro-life mission.”
Rosanne Kouris, of the Diocese of Gary Missionary Discipleship & Evangelization Office’s marriage & family life ministry, coordinated the travel and logistics for the local group’s Indianapolis excursion. She said there is a strategy at play to win hearts and minds across the map.
“Particularly now, since the fight for the right to life is at the states, I think it is more important for us to come to something like this, where we are showing our state representatives that we really are pro-life and that we’re going to vote that way, too,” Kouris explained.
Among the estimated 1,500 marchers who navigated a route from Pan American Plaza to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument to the state capitol campus were children and young teens. Attending with cousins and supervised by their grandmother Debbie Keelan of St. Joseph in Dyer, Brooklyn Keelan, 13, and John Keelan, 9, kept pace with the older, more collegiate crowd.
As in past years, MFL and Indianapolis Right to Life officials secured rally space on the south lawn of the capitol building. Several legislators appeared at the staircase while those who led the march unfurled event signage. For the first time, the state’s governor spoke at the event.
“When I see everyone out here for the March for Life, it says a lot about what we stand for,” said first-term Gov. Mike Braun. “We believe in the sanctity of life.”
Standing near the governor was attorney general Todd Rokita, a Munster native and St. Thomas More School alumnus. Fresh from his attendance at the inauguration in Washington, D.C., the state leader encouraged participants to raise their voices to remind those legislators working in the statehouse that Indiana is pro-life country.
“Let me add my thanks to all of you for joining us on this very, very cold day,” Rokita said. “I’m going to continue to fight, fight, fight for you and the pro-life issues in the statehouse.”
March participants were invited into the capitol for a tour. Diocesan visitors, however, had a date to keep with their charter bus and quickly boarded the warm vehicle. Among the conversations there, it was clear that the Mass, march and rally made an impression on some of the youngest attendees.
“I’m pro-life,” Brooklyn Keelan said. “We value life because God made everyone with a purpose.”
Her little brother agreed with her, stating his views from beneath a warm Miami Dolphins winter cap.
“I will tell my friends that I went to Indianapolis to the March for Life and it is about life being important,” explained John Keelan.
Caption: The leading throng of mainly Catholic youth carry a pro-life banner near Monument Circle during the Indiana March for Life on Jan. 22 in Indianapolis. The state march, in its eighth year, is a localized version of the National March for Life, which, since 1974, has brought together millions of concerned Americans who wish to publicly proclaim the Gospel of Life – to establish legal protections for the unborn from abortion and promote a womb-to-tomb respect for human life. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)