Boston pro-life pilgrims take part in the 2024 March for Life in Washington, D.C. Hundreds from the archdiocese are planning to make the trip again this year. Pilot photo/Gregory L. Tracy
BRAINTREE -- Pilgrims from all over the Archdiocese of Boston, including Archbishop Richard G. Henning, will be heading down to Washington, D.C., next week for the 52nd annual March for Life, which will be held Jan. 24.
"It's a tradition that has long been outstanding in the archdiocese," Liz Cotrupi, the Archdiocese of Boston's director of family life and ecclesial movements, told The Pilot on Jan. 14, adding: "The cause of witnessing to the sanctity of life has always been important in our church and remains important."
Cotrupi herself is leading a group of over 40 pilgrims, some of them first-time March for Life attendees. Some of the pilgrims are older, but they are not afraid of marching in the freezing temperatures.
"I remember when I went for the first time," Cotrupi said. "I took a bunch of teenagers as a youth minister, and you really couldn't imagine it until you've seen it."
Cotrupi expects pilgrims to be "taken aback" when they see the same sight she once did -- thousands of people of all backgrounds, from across the U.S., praying together in the cold.
On Jan. 23 at 9:30 p.m., Cotrupi's group will gather at the Archdiocese of Boston Pastoral Center in Braintree, where they will attend a Mass in the Bethany Chapel celebrated by Father Matt Conley, pastor of St. Mary of the Nativity Parish in Scituate. After Mass, the pilgrims will board a bus and drive overnight to the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, where the annual LifeFest will take place. Sponsored by the Sisters of Life, the Knights of Columbus, and the Diocese of Arlington's Life is Very Good Ministry, LifeFest will be a morning of speakers, music, and Mass, celebrated by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore.
After LifeFest, Cotrupi will meet up with the rest of Boston's pilgrims at the National Mall and march with Archbishop Henning. After the march, they will get on the bus for the long journey back to Boston.
Although the pro-life movement scored a major victory with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Cotrupi said that the March for Life is still a way to let politicians know how significant the issue is to voters.
"I think there's an impact in seeing the greater church come together from all over to stand up for the sanctity of life," she said.
Jan. 24 will be Archbishop Henning's first March for Life as Archbishop of Boston. At 9 a.m. that day, he will celebrate Mass for Boston's seminarians at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
Parishes and schools in the archdiocese are also organizing their own groups to attend the march. Six freshman boys from Malden Catholic will be attending the March for Life, marking the school's third time at the march since the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is importantly for the students to "hear the message of the dignity of all human life and to see how many people are willing to battle the cold of January to give witness to it," Malden Catholic theology teacher Francis Stanton told The Pilot on Jan. 14.
The freshmen will arrive in Washington on Jan. 23 to tour the Catholic University of America and attend the Vigil Mass for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. They will then pray the Liturgy of the Hours at the Dominican House of Studies. On Jan. 24, they will attend LifeFest and the March for Life, and return to Boston on Saturday after some sightseeing, including the replica of the Holy Sepulcher in the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America.
Father Eric Cadin, Archdiocese of Boston director of the Office of Vocations and Office of University Ministries, will be leading a group of young adult pilgrims to Washington. They will be joined by 56 young adults led by Father Steven Clemence, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Marlborough.
The Pro-Life Office of the Archdiocese of Boston is currently considering plans for future Marches for Life, including hosting its own event in Boston.
"Until further notice," Cotrupi said, "we will come together and we will stand up and be a witness."