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Coming together to celebrate the dignity of human life
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February 2, 2024The Young Catholic Adults group buzzed excitedly for weeks in anticipation of this year’s Texas Rally for Life, scheduled in Austin, Texas. Word came from the Chancery that Sr. Caritas Sparke, SOLT, Director of Youth Ministry, had chartered a handful of buses to shuttle as many young adults and high school students to the rally as she could. In the darkness of the early morning of January 27, Sr. Caritas and her convoy of three buses loaded up at Our Lady of Corpus Christi and set off for the capitol building in Austin.
The Diocese of Corpus Christi group joined the crowd of passionate pro-life advocates from all over Texas on 14th and Brazos Streets in the early afternoon. Thousands peacefully and prayerfully walked the city sidewalks and then up to the South Steps of the Capitol building, where several pro-life organizations had set up advocacy booths. Joyful Christian music blared over the crowd as mounted police watched them march from the streets and flood into the grounds of the Capitol.
Once the live music stopped, several impactful speakers – a doctor who previously performed abortions, a rape survivor, an abortion survivor, medical doctors, and clergy – testified and prayed over the crowd. One speaker, Janis Pinson, Executive Director of the Pregnancy Center of the Coastal Bend, said, “We must protect our borders [from abortion]. We must give mothers anything – diapers, wipes, cribs – to help them choose life.”
Sisters, seminarians, priests, pastors, Knights of Columbus, families, singles, Catholics, Protestants, atheists – all were gathered in defense of life and in celebration of the lives that have been saved through the efforts of the Pro-life Movement. “Texas is pro-life!” was the slogan of the day.
Marie, Joseph, and Teresa Webb from Kingsville were part of the Corpus Christi convoy with Sr. Caritas, and they are just three out of eleven Webb siblings. The Webb family loves and holds fast to the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life, so the three siblings eagerly joined the rally for the first time.
Joseph Webb is a 21-year-old Traveling Wind Farm Technician. He wanted to be physically present to witness the event and show his support for the cause. He was surprised by the lack of counter-protestors there and was happy to hear from the rally speakers that the pro-life movement is saving lives across the nation. “The bus ride was cramped but fun,” he also reflected. “We prayed the Rosary together on the way as well.”
His older sister Marie, 23, is a Cashier Clerk. She encouraged her 18-year-old sister Teresa to join the trip to Austin. After seeing three communication posts about it, she felt called to join this year's rally. “I asked God to make it possible, and everything fell into place,” she shared. “I have never been on a shuttle bus like that, so it was cool. I grew up with ten siblings, which was like road trips with my family.”
At the rally, she was struck by the number of people of various ages and backgrounds united under one banner. She heard one speaker talk about losing a baby to Trisomy 18, and that touched Marie because she had a little cousin who’d passed because of the same condition. Her takeaway from the event is that there is always more that can be done to advance the pro-life cause.
The youngest of the trio, Teresa, is still a student. She needed a nudge from Marie to decide to attend because she felt hesitant to be immersed in such a vast crowd. Despite not knowing many of her travel buddies at the trip's start, she has no regrets about going. “At first, not much was said between everyone. But, as the day progressed, we laughed, joked, and sang songs to a little toddler running around. By the end of the day, I felt I had more friends on that bus than I had in a lifetime,” she said. “I loved how happy everyone was at the rally. It was amazing to see many different people coming together to support and celebrate the Pro-Life Movement.”
Teresa also observed that, even in the face of the sadness of the lives lost to the horror that is abortion, we can celebrate the thousands of lives that have been saved. The speakers sharing their stories further cemented for her the importance of the Pro-Life Movement and the steadfast teachings of the Church to protect all human life, from natural conception to natural death.
