September 10, 2018

Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children held at local parish

REGIONAL
Story and photo by David Martin

 

 

SOUTHWICK – Members of Pro-life of Pioneer Valley congregated at Our Lady of the Lake Church to pray for an end to abortion and also remembered the souls of unborn children lost to generations of families because of abortion.

The gathering on Saturday, Sept. 8 was part of the sixth annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children sponsored by Pro-Life of Pioneer Valley. Approximately 40 people attended a Pro-life Mass offered at the church at 11 a.m. by Father Henry L. Dorsch, pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish. Father Dorsch said in his homily, that it was a day to celebrate life and to pray for continued openness to life and also for whatever changes are needed to protect human life in the world.

“We pray also for all those who have had abortions and we pray for conversion if necessary, but a healing remedy for all those who regret what they have allowed to happen within them,” said Father Dorsch.

The National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children always takes place on the birth date of the Blessed Mother, Sept. 8. It is a nationwide event co-sponsored by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life and the Pro-Life Action League, who call on pro-life Americans to honor the gravesites and monuments of aborted children.

Father Dorsch explained that the monument to the unborn at Our Lady of the Lake Parish, before he became pastor, was donated by the Knights of Columbus, who are very active in the pro-life movement. He said when they built an addition to the church, the monument was relocated to St. Joseph’s Courtyard, which he thinks is a fitting place for prayer.

“I am one of many others who want to stand up for life from the moment of conception until natural death. Any time I can participate in the pro-life movement or host a Mass, as I did today, I am always happy to do that,” said Father Dorsch.

After the Mass, members of Pro-life of Pioneer Valley and parishioners gathered in St. Joseph’s Courtyard before the monument to the unborn to offer prayers.

Pro-life of Pioneer Valley President Harold Brunault said he finds it hard reconcile how a woman can feel a baby in the womb and yet have an abortion, but he acknowledged it may be difficult since he is a man. However, he said that there is a critical negative aspect to abortion that people fail to realize.

“Abortion does break the chain of a family, because those little babies that are aborted, if they became children and became parents themselves, it shows the heritage, but without the birth, that heritage is broken,” said Brunault.

After the prayer ceremony, Brunault led those present in a rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” in honor of the Blessed Mother’s birthday. He said he is looking forward to the upcoming March for Life and Mass at 10:30 a.m. at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield on Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe V.S. Wade.

Pro-Life of Pioneer Valley also will be sponsoring a Pro-Life Chain at St. Mary Church in Longmeadow at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13. For more information, call Tony Moran at 413-209-4131.

For a video version of this story, tune into an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” the Diocese of Springfield’s weekly television newsmagazine that airs Saturday evenings  at 7 on WWLP-22NEWS.