CV NEWS FEED // Archbishop Timothy Broglio for the Military Services led a group of pro-life cadets and midshipmen in the March for Life last week, and encouraged them to “ensure the rights and the dignity of the defenseless,” and to “be the voice of the voiceless.”
On January 19, “Dozens of future U.S. Army and Navy officers braved freezing temperatures, ice, wind, and snow in the Nation’s Capital on Friday to walk in the 51st annual March for Life—the second in a post-Roe America—along the National Mall,” an email press release stated.
Forty “cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, and 36 midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, among others” participated in the March, joining in with “tens of thousands of [other] pro-lifers from around the country.”
Broglio celebrated Mass at noon before the March began in the main chapel of the Edwin Cardinal O’Brien Pastoral Center, headquarters for the Archdiocese for the Military Services in Northeast Washington.
During the homily, Broglio preached on the dignity of every human life, stressing that much of the violence in society “can find a root cause in the disrespect for the unborn.”
The first Mass reading on Friday detailed David’s decision to not kill King Saul in 1 Samuel. “Today as we walk in testimony to the dignity of the human person, especially of the unborn, let us remember David’s example of respect,” Broglio said. “We must raise our voices and ensure the rights and the dignity of the defenseless. We must be the voice of the voiceless. But we do so with respect.”
“There are always those with other points of view, and in dialogue we must never forget that they are also created in the image and likeness of God. They too have a dignity,” Broglio said:
Sometimes in the midst of the shouting there is a tendency to forget that fact and identify the error with the person who is mistaken. Remember that Jesus calls sinners to repentance. He calls each one of us to be the best we can be. But He also ate with the sinners and He eats with us.
“I firmly believe that the violence in our society, the criminality, the mass shootings, and the inability to sustain civil discourse can find a root cause in the disrespect for the unborn,” Broglio said. “If the defenseless child in her mother’s womb can be snuffed out, then why not someone else who blocks my way. Or has what I want.”
Among the March for Life participants were many “staff and clergy of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), including the Rev. Monsignor Anthony R. Frontiero, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia; Father Mark Rutherford, J.C.L., Judicial Vicar; and Father Curtiss P. Dwyer, LCDR, CHC, USN, 2nd Battalion Chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy,” the press release stated:
The theme of this year’s March for Life was “With every woman, for every child,” focusing on the need to care for both mother and child during the nine months of pregnancy and in the years after.
Speakers included U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who told marchers he was born as the result of a surprise pregnancy when his parents were teenagers; Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), Focus on the Family President and CEO Jim Daly, and former NFL tight end Benjamin Watson.
In his homily, Broglio also recalled his first March for Life in 1978, when he was a newly-ordained priest. That March “was also in the snow,” he said.“We should not be daunted. We renew our commitment to insert this notion of respect for the other in everything that we do.”
