Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to Washington to take part in the annual March for Life to pilgrims.<\/p>\n
And in that effort, they are linked to \u201cthe most blessed of all pilgrims\u2014the Blessed Virgin Mary,\u201d Bishop Lori said in his homily at a Jan. 24 Mass that concluded an overnight National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur journey is not necessarily an easy one,\u201d Bishop Lori said. \u201cWe got up earlier than we ever thought imaginable to get on a plane to be here\u201d or \u201chad to be cooped up for hours in bus rides\u201d for the march, which is held each year to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision that permitted abortion virtually on demand.<\/p>\n
But Mary\u2019s pilgrimage to see her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, \u201cwas not easy,\u201d he noted. \u201cShe didn\u2019t have buses or roads or fast-food franchises. She made her way along narrow paths or mountain roads upon which she walked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Bishop Lori said, \u201cMary joins us in this pilgrimage dedicated to the cause of life \u2026 from the moment of conception until natural death.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mass texts and readings were from the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.<\/p>\n
Bishop Lori said some march participants may feel downhearted because, after so many years, \u201cabortion remains the law of the land\u201d and \u201cnew threats (to life) are on the horizon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Mary appeared at Tepeyac in the 16th century in the midst of great disrespect for life, and \u201cwithin a few generations, 9 million people in the New World opened their hearts to Christ,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The bishop said a similar phenomenon is happening in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time since Roe v. Wade in 1973, a solid majority of Americans are pro-life,\u201d Bishop Lori said, citing a Knights of Columbus-commissioned poll in which eight out of 10 people surveyed favor greater restrictions on abortion; their number, he added, include \u201ctwo-thirds of those who say they are pro-choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth,\u201d Bishop Lori said, \u201cis having an effect.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read more.<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to Washington to take part in the annual March for Life to pilgrims. And in that effort, they are linked to \u201cthe most blessed of all pilgrims\u2014the Blessed Virgin Mary,\u201d Bishop Lori said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[543],"class_list":["post-1281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-life","tag-march-for-life"],"yoast_head":"\n
Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-24T21:03:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T21:47:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/files\/2011\/01\/marchforlife-300x230.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/\",\"name\":\"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-24T21:03:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T21:47:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary","description":"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary","og_description":"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2011-01-24T21:03:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T21:47:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/files\/2011\/01\/marchforlife-300x230.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/","name":"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-24T21:03:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T21:47:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"A powerful message, for those journeying to Washington this day. From CNS: Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., likened people coming to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/bishop-to-pro-lifers-you-are-on-a-pilgrimage-like-mary\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bishop to pro-lifers: you are on a pilgrimage, like Mary"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/56\/2011\/01\/marchforlife.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n