100s of Teens from St. Louis Area to March in Washington, D.C.

ST. LOUIS, MO - The Office of Youth Ministry in collaboration with 44 parish groups and Catholic schools will bring nearly 1100 teens and their chaperones to Washington, D.C. for Life Matters - a pro-life youth program that educates high school teens on life issues and legislative advocacy and culminates in the annual March for Life. The youth of the Archdiocese will join tens of thousands of pro-life citizens in the March for Life to protest the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the U.S.

Life Matters participation has increased each of its four years, up from 860 last year. A recent Gallup Poll taken this past August indicates that most teens (ages 13 to 17) do not consider abortion a morally acceptable choice. More than 7 in 10 teens said that abortion is morally wrong.

Life Matters begins with a “send off” program and Mass held at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at UM St. Louis. A special collection of baby items will be taken and donated to area pro-life charities. The night’s program will include presentations by Office of Youth Ministry REAP Team staff Paul Masek and Heather Gallagher. Jill Stanek, a former nurse at a hospital where partial birth abortions were performed, will be the keynote speaker. Stanek speaks often about the abortion issue, has testified before Congress and has been quoted in the national media on television, on radio, in print, and by local and national legislators. Programming includes education on fetal development as they are taken through an actual live ultrasound. Throughout the evening teens will sign large posters thanking pro-life Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent, as well as U.S. Representatives Todd Akin, Kenny Hulshof, and Jo Ann Emerson for their pro-life stance on the abortion issue. Bishop Joseph Naumann, Archdiocesan Administrator and recently announced Coadjutor Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas, will celebrate Mass at the end of the evening. Bishop Naumann is nationally known for his pro-life leadership.

Events organized by the Office of Youth Ministry in D.C. include times for praise and worship, the celebration of the Eucharist, a candle light vigil on the National Mall, a penance service held in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and presentations by Burke Balch of the National Right to Life Committee, well known youth presenter Steve Angrisano, and Tim Goelgein, Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. While in DC some youth will take part in a special service project preparing meals for those in need. The whole group will join a pro-life youth rally organized by the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., expected to draw several thousand youth. Life Matters culminates in joining the Missouri-Illinois Caravan to walk in the March for Life to the U.S. Supreme Court.