March for Life inspires Nashville high school participants

Photo by Maggie Musacchio

Ryan Phillips, left, and Andrew Gould embrace at the end of the March for Life in Washington, D.C. They were part of the delegation from the Diocese of Nashville at the march, including groups from Pope John Paul II High School, Father Ryan High School, St. Cecilia Academy, the Catholic Youth Office, Our Lady of the Lake Church and Aquinas College.

Andy Telli, Tennessee Register

Piling into buses and cars for a long ride to Washington, D.C., more than 300 people, primarily high school and college students, from the Diocese of Nashville traveled to join hundreds of thousands from across the country for the annual March for Life to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

“There’re so many people it’s moving to be there,” said Caroline Vaughn, a junior at Pope John Paul II High School and a parishioner at St. Joseph Church in Madison. “We’re all there for the same thing and we all have such strong feelings about it. It is powerful.”

The march is an important public expression of the participants’ faith, said Father Jacek Kopera, O.P., chaplain at Aquinas College in Nashville, who led a group of 17 to the march.

“There in the moment, in a very special way, students realize faith has to have a manifestation in their public life,” he said. “The importance of human life goes far beyond the private scope … of thinking.”

Groups organized by JPII, Aquinas, Father Ryan High School, St. Cecilia Academy, Our Lady of the Lake Parish and the diocesan Catholic Youth Office participated in this years march to the steps of the Supreme Court building. The marchers from Nashville also participated in the youth rally and Mass at the Verizon Center in Washington before the march on Monday, Jan. 23.

Photo courtesy of the Catholic Youth Office

“The students enjoyed the youth rally, being there with 23,000 other Catholic youth,” said Tim Forbes, director of campus ministries and student Life at Father Ryan, who led a group of more than 100 to the march. “It’s really affirming to our youth their value and their place in the church.”

“They see themselves as part of something so much bigger than themselves, something that is at the core of who they are, the sacredness and dignity of human life,” said Deacon Brian Edwards, campus minister at JPII, where about 70 students attended the march, the largest group ever from the school.

Over the years, the march has become an event that has attracted more and more young people.

“I was surprised to see how many young people went,” said Becca Thompson, who participated in her first march in Washington as part of the Aquinas group.

“It’s important for them to experience a spiritual and political movement that has been so adopted by their generation,” said Patti Deffendall, youth director at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Hendersonville. She brought a group of 21 high school students from her parish to the march.

Photo courtesy of Father Ryan High School

Nearly 100 students from Father Ryan participated in the March for Life. The trip to Washington for the march was organized by the school’s Respect for Life club.

“I expected it to be much, much smaller,” added Cory Maynord, another member of the Aquinas group at the march. “I was astonished at the numbers of people and the unity of the people marching.”

“One of the highlights of the trip (for the Nashville marchers) was being impacted by how many people showed up … to see how many people care about this and how this is such a big issue for the church,” echoed Bill Staley, coordinator of the Catholic Youth Office, who led a group of 43 from 11 parishes and Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville to the march.

The March for Life can be an important teaching moment, Deffendall said. “We talked about the connection of their personal chastity and the very public issue of abortion,” she said. “Their actions regarding their own sexuality make a difference in this very public conflict in our society.”

“The kids understand it comes to them … living by their faith,” said Staley. “Making right choices, that speaks louder than anything they could scream in the streets of Washington.”

The March for Life has become an important event at St. Cecilia Academy, where once again students filled two buses for the trip. Nearly 100 students, or about 38 percent of the school’s total enrollment, participated, said Michael LaHaie, dean of student affairs at St. Cecilia.

Photo by Maggie Musacchio

Taylor Dunn photographs Greg Mills, left, Katy King, center, and Aidan Leonard during the March for Life to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

School officials describe the trip as a pilgrimage, not a sight-seeing excursion, LaHaie said, and the students continue to respond. The experience ends up touching all of the students emotionally in some way, LaHaie added.

The youth leaders and ministers hope to channel the enthusiasm generated at the march into action closer to home. The CYO Social Justice Committee is organizing students to pray outside the abortion clinic on Welshwood Drive in Nashville on Saturday, Feb. 4, according to Vaughn, the committee’s chair. “We’re opening it up to anyone who wants to come,” she said.

At Father Ryan, school leaders would like “to parlay the success of this trip” into more opportunities for students to volunteer at the Grace Crisis Pregnancy Center and the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil held each fall, Forbes said.

Jeffrey LeCave, a JPII sophomore, who has participated in the Washington march the last two years, wants to help others avoid abortion. “Society should support those who do choose life,” he said. “It seems like when you make a mistake, there’s no one there to support you. I want to be there to support them.”

LeCave plans to continue participating in the Washington march. “I’ll keep going back until we get heard.”