Birmingham - March for Life

The Annual March for Life in Birmingham took place on Saturday 22nd March.   The event started in St Chad’s Cathedral where participants prayed, sung hymns, and listened to testimony from speakers from across the UK, including Sister Roseann from the Gospel of Life, Edinburgh.

Following this,  the congregation walked in procession past Snow Hill Station, along Colmore Row past the Anglican Cathedral, and alongside the Council House.  During this time, the Rosary was recited, and more hymns were sung.

 On arrival at Chamberlain Square at the rear of the Town Hall, a further rally took place where the group was swelled to about 400 people.  Further testimony was heard from women who have had abortions and who were able to explain the hurt it had caused them.

Co-organiser Isabel Vaughan-Sp​ruce said, “Abortion causes so much damage, division and heartache that I felt it was very inspiring to be united with people from all over the UK; Ireland, Scotland and Wales, who want to help bring it to an end."

Pope

In his Encyclical “Evangelium Vitae”, Pope John Paul II wrote, “I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed.

Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly.

If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To the same Father and his mercy you can with sure hope entrust your child.

With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life.

The event was endorsed by the Archdiocese of Birmingham