On January 16th twelve girls who attend Regina Mater ranging in age from thirteen to eighteen boarded an early flight for Virginia. We were all excited for the March for Life in D.C. that we would be participating in for the first time.
Once we arrived in D.C. we filed into the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Everyone was moved by the artifacts, stories, and pictures. It did not escape us that we would be marching for the same cause as hundreds of Allies in World War Two: the protection of life. We noticed several parallels between the atrocities committed in World War Two and the practices of abortion clinics today. Visiting the museum motivated us even more to stand up for the right to life.
We also saw the Washington Memorial, touched the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and traipsed the Library of Congress. We learned several facts including the reason for the Pentagon's shape, and that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed by a college student as an assignment! The night before the March for Life we went to Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception which is the largest Catholic church in the U.S. We arrived three hours early but it was so crowded that we still had to sit on the floor! It is estimated that there were more than 10,000 attendees. The procession alone included three hundred priests, and a choir of religious brothers and sisters led the singing. The recessional hymn was sung so loudly by the congregation that we could barely hear the organ! The Mass was beautiful.
When we were not sight-seeing or attending Mass, we talked, played in the snow, and visited a cozy coffee shop. We also had a lot of fun on the metros and buses, though some of us had a hard time figuring out how to insert money in the machine.
On our third day in Virginia we set out from our airbnb via metro and bus for the March for Life. We wore several layers to keep out the cold, and matching neon beanies to keep us from getting separated. Though we missed Ben Shapiro's main speech, several other speakers made up for it. The speakers included a fellow Texan, Abby Johnson, the archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas, and several Democrat and Republicans. Then to our surprise, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife walked on stage! We even got a message from the President himself!
The march was beautiful. I couldn't see the beginning or the end of the colossal crowd, of which a large part was students. It was amazing to see the devotion and courage of so many fellow Americans, and even a few people from Scotland, Ireland, and India! Though the media has not covered the march in this light, the march itself has greatly impacted myself and the other girls that went. The trip was a lot of fun but it also made me realize that I have to actively stand up for life every day. We thank everyone who made our trip possible. It was truly life-changing.
--Written by Clara, a Regina Mater student