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Published: January 29, 2008

“It is not every day you see a bishop leading the faithful in procession through the streets of a major city”

Hundreds join pro-life procession through streets of San Diego

News from the Trenches

On Sunday, Jan. 20, more than 700 faithful gathered at San Diego’s St. Joseph’s Cathedral for prayer and a procession to condemn 35 years of legalized abortion in the United States. The procession was led by Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, and was blessed with the presence of the famous International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

Thomas McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, organized the event. He called it a “Procession of Reparation” to decry the Jan. 22 anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States.

McKenna said that the infamous anniversary coincided with the three week tour of the statue he had organized for the diocese in January, so he tied the two together. “In the past 35 years more than 48 million children have been killed in their mother’s womb and the message Our Lady gave at Fatima in 1917 spoke of this type of extreme moral decay,” he said. “At Fatima the Blessed Mother asked for prayer and reparation, and that is what we did.”

In the early afternoon people gathered in the cathedral where the Fatima Statue was displayed. As the choir intoned hymns, the faithful filed out onto the street. Some of the participants stayed in the cathedral in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, which was exposed on the main altar.

The procession stretched over three city blocks, with the Fatima statue carried aloft by four men. As they walked, the people prayed the rosary in unison and chanted hymns. A police escort stopped traffic at intersections as the faithful walked just over a mile to the Family Planning Associates abortion center located across the street from San Diego’s Balboa Park.

At the park, people gathered on the lawn across the street from the clinic for a brief addresses by Bishop Cordileone and Mr. Kent Peters, director of the diocesan office of Social Ministry. After the bishop gave his episcopal blessing, the procession returned to the cathedral along the same route.

“It is not every day you see a bishop in beautiful liturgical vestments, with miter and crosier, leading hundreds of the faithful in procession through the streets of a major city in our country,” commented Sue Lopez of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, who leads weekly prayer vigils at the clinic. “It was very inspiring, a day to be remembered,” she said. The presence of many religious in their habits added to the solemnity of the day.

Upon arriving at the cathedral, people filled the pews and sang the Salve Regina as the beautiful statue entered the church, led by the bishop and a color guard escort from the Knights of Columbus. With Our Lady beside the altar and the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance, the bishop delivered a very inspiring meditation followed by benediction.

As the bishop slowly walked out of the cathedral blessing the faithful along the way, the church was filled with voices singing Holy God We Praise Thy Name, and tears could be seen in the eyes of many.

© California Catholic Daily 2008. All Rights Reserved.