D.C. Mass for Life

On the Mass for Life, the Washington Post Belief Blog.  Excerpts:

Hundreds of priests filed into Verizon Center in downtown Washington on Monday morning as contemporary praise music boomed from the speakers.

The arena was packed with thousands of swaying, praying teenagers, many wearing sweat shirts from the Catholic schools they attend or knit hats that said "We believe" or "March for Life."

On the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion (Roe v. Wade), the clerics and young people were celebrating Mass before participating in the annual anti-abortion march known as the March for Life...

The homily was given by the Rev. Mark Ivany, a priest at Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda. He compared the crowd to civil rights advocates of the past, such as those opposing slavery and advocating for women's right to vote.

"The greatest difference between other civil rights movements and this one is that most of the people affected by Roe v. Wade can't march on Washington," Ivany said. "They can't give great speeches."

...A few signs hung from the stair railings. "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born," read one. Said another, "A mother's womb should be the safest place on Earth..."

The college students are responding, Minter said, to church efforts to use technology and social media to inform the faithful about important social justice issues - from abortion to poverty to health care.

"It's reverence for life," Minter said. "It's interesting to me to see young kids want to respect life at every single level - birth to death..."