40 Days for Life campaign calls for prayer, fasting and outreach to end abortion
MAUREEN BOYLE
Special to the Standard
On the eve of the largest 40 Days for Life campaign ever, David Bereit, the organization's founder and national director, urged pro-lifers to stand up and "speak up for those who can't speak for themselves." In almost 250 cities throughout the country, beginning on Ash Wednesday, 40 Days for Life participants launched peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics.
"You feel as I do that there is a crisis in our nation," Bereit told participants gathered for the March 8 kick-off rally held at St. Bernadette Parish in Silver Spring. "It's time for the tide to turn. Enough is enough." The 40 Days for Life campaign runs from March 9 until April 17.
Bereit said Planned Parenthood performed 332,000 abortions last year and received $362 million in taxpayer funds. "They are destroying our nation, one mother, one child at a time," he said.
The local 40 Days for Life vigils are held seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. outside Planned Parenthood-operated abortion clinics, including locations at 1400 Spring Street in Silver Spring and 1108 16th Street in Northwest DC. Other 40 Days for Life vigil sites in the Archdiocese of Washington are at abortion facilities in Berwyn Heights and in Germantown, where late-term Nebraska abortionist LeRoy Carhart recently started performing abortions.
"We as believers need to build upon a foundation of truth, the truth of God, because when the storms come, we can weather those storms," said Bereit, referring to the abortion-minded culture as a "spiritual crisis, first and foremost."
He said it is important to vote for pro-life officials, but he pointed out that abortions are not performed in the U.S. Supreme Court building or at the White House, but rather "abortion happens in the communities where we live."
"Abortion would not be a reality in America if we had done everything we could," said Bereit, adding that vigil prayer, fasting and grassroots outreach are the key components of 40 Days for Life campaigns. "We need to heal our land."
Bereit told how the first 40 Days for Life campaign began in the summer of 2004 in College Station, Texas, when an abortion facility moved into his hometown neighborhood. "At first, we didn't have a clue as to what to do," he recalled. "Even though we were scared, and there were only four of us, we kicked off the first campaign. And abortion (at that location) fell by 28 percent in that first year."
Since then, Bereit said there have been 1,085 completed campaigns in 337 U.S. cities and in eight other countries. He also said 3,599 lives have been spared from abortion during 40 Days for Life prayer vigils, nine abortion facilities have gone out of business and 43 abortion workers have had conversions, including Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director who now speaks on behalf of 40 Days for Life.
"Our presence pricks the conscience of our community," he said. "All of a sudden, the (abortion workers) can't escape the reality. And sometimes our presence is enough to change a mother's mind and save a life."
Molly Fitzgerald, a parishioner of St. Bernadette and the local 40 Days for Life director for Silver Spring, thanked participants, whom she called "prayer warriors, and urged a strong turnout at vigils. "The abortion facilities are right in our neighborhoods. We need your help...It's a tough place to be. There can be a lot of anger there, but we are full of love and compassion."
Volunteers are needed to join the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils. To learn more about 40 Days for Life campaign, visit: www.40daysforlife.com.
For information about the Germantown campaign, visit: www.40daysforlife.com/Germantown .
40 Days for Life in The Catholic Standard