Utah Catholics invited to pray the rosary for the unborn at cemetery

Friday, Jan. 23, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The annual Spanish/ English rosary will be held Jan. 25 at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery as the Diocese of Salt Lake City participates in the 9 Days for Life, a pro-life novena that has been called by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The novena began Jan. 17 and continues through Jan. 25. On the national level, the event will be marked by the National Prayer Vigil for Life on Jan. 21 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., followed the next day by the March for Life. Jan. 22 will be the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the U.S. At the vigil, which is expected to draw more than 20,000 pilgrims from across the nation, people pray for an end to abortion; the march the next day also draws attention to the call for a greater respect for all human life.

The rosary and other similar commemorative events are necessary because “it is important for us to give witness to the 50 million children who have died as a result of abortion,” said Veola Burchett, director of the Office of Family Life for the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

Burchett said that sometimes when speaking of abortion, people tend to forget that they are referring to human beings who are being killed –“tiny, but human nonetheless.”

The Catholic Church has consistently stood for the rights of the unborn, she said, and “if we stop bearing witness, there will be silence.”

The Catholic Church also has always stood by women in crisis pregnancies, Burchett added. “We don’t abandon either mother or child.  Sometimes we work alone, most often we work with our non-Catholic brothers and sisters who also value life at all stages.”

The rosary will be bilingual Spanish/English because the Catholic Church “is inclusive, not exclusive.  Spanish is spoken in many households in this diocese, so it only makes sense to pray in both languages,” she said.

Burchett added that the Virgin Mary “is the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of God. She was also a woman with an unplanned pregnancy. Who better to ask for intercession?”

 

WHAT: Respect for Life bilingual rosary

WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 25, 2 p.m. 

WHERE: Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 275 U St., Salt Lake City

Attendees are asked to meet at the Monument to the Unborn, which is located in front of the mausoleum.