February 16, 2021

Lenten 40 Days for Life campaign to be held Feb. 17-March 28

REGIONAL
By Carolee McGrath

SPRINGFIELD – The 40 Days for Life campaign will kick off Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, and run through Sunday, March 28, which is also Palm Sunday. The peaceful, pro-life vigil has three components: prayer and fasting, constant vigil, and community outreach. Volunteers from parishes in the Diocese of Springfield are needed to cover hours praying for life in front of Planned Parenthood in downtown Springfield.

“This International Campaign is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14: ‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land,’” explained Tim Biggins, the chair of the pro-life Commission of the Diocese of Springfield, in a letter to parishes.

He said the 40 Days for Life is an ecumenical, faith-based effort.

“One way that parishes can participate is to ‘Adopt a Day’ during the forty days. Parishioners can make their prayer and fasting in any way that works for them, in simple ways in their daily lives, at their parish, but all are encouraged to visit the vigil site, 3550 Main Street, Springfield, near Wason Avenue,” he said.

The goal of the peaceful, prayerful witness is to change hearts and minds on the issue of abortion. The first nationally coordinated 40 Days for Life campaign took place at a now-closed Planned Parenthood in Bryan/College Station, Texas in 2007. That was the same clinic that pro-life advocate Abby Johnson worked at as the clinic director. Johnson, who wrote the book Unplanned, has shared the pain of her two past abortions, and the trauma of witnessing an ultrasound-guided abortion which led to her conversion. Her book was turned into a movie and was released in theaters in 2019.

National organizers report that since the first 40 Days for Life campaign in 2007, more than 18,000 babies have been spared from abortion; 107 abortion facilities have closed, and 211 abortion workers have quit their jobs.

Locally, organizers report more than 20 babies have been spared from abortion in the last 12 years because of the public prayer and alternative resources offered to women in crisis.

The 40 Days for Life campaign is scheduled each spring to coincide with Lent and again during Respect Life Month in October.

For more information, log on to www.40daysforlife.com.