CATONSVILLE – Around 40 pro-life supporters held vigil the morning of March 6 in front of the Chin Baptist Church in Catonsville, across Johnnycake Road from the Hillcrest abortion facility.
The gathering’s featured speaker was Matt Britton, board member and general counsel for 40 Days for Life, who would make similar appearances in Owings Mills and College Park before the day was done.
Based in Bryan, Texas, 40 Days for Life is an international ecumenical organization that works against abortion through fasting, prayer and community outreach. Its membership and leadership is predominantly Catholic, but also has Evangelical Christians and other Protestants.
“You fight in the legislature,” Britton said. “You fight in the courts. But you win on your knees.”
Britton and those listening in Catonsville stood in 30-degree temperatures for about an hour in solidarity with the pro-life movement, all while practicing social distancing because of COVID-19. Under bright sunshine, they heard from upbeat speakers, as another six pro-life advocates prayed together across Johnnycake Road.
“Our mission is to fight and pray and counsel to end abortion, as part of the pro-life movement,” Britton said during a telephone interview before the vigils. “The name was birthed from Lent. Lent is time for the preparation for the resurrection.”
The 40 Days for Life movement began in 2004 with a small group of pro-life advocates holding vigil in front of a single abortion clinic in Texas. It’s grown to encompass two different 40-day campaigns – one during Lent as well as another from late September to early November. The organization recently started a 40 Day 365 campaign, encouraging vigils all year long.
Britton said 40 Days for Life has 900,000 participants in 63 countries, who hold 1,100 vigils annually. He said more than 18,000 mothers have told the organization they proceeded with pregnancies and gave birth to their children, and that more than 200 abortion clinic workers have left the field and more than 100 abortion clinics have closed because of the mission.
Kim Frazier, a parishioner of Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City, is the campaign director of the Catonsville chapter of 40 Days for Life and helped organize its first stop March 6. Her chapter has signed up 95 people to stand vigil outside the Hillcrest abortion clinic during this year’s Lenten campaign.
“We could always use more (people),” said Frazier, who prays outside the clinic once a week, throughout the year. “Still, I feel like we got a lot of participation. We had a baby saved in December and in January. We need to be here.”
Members of 40 Days for Life said local communities in Maryland often don’t realize there is a clinic ending the lives of unborn children in their own backyard. The vigils can often elicit support from the public, but there are detractors too.
It is not uncommon for those driving by to offer unfriendly hand gestures or unkind words to the pro-life advocates. It is also not uncommon for the vigils to stir compassion in strangers. Some passing pedestrians and drivers have bought pro-life advocates coffee as they stood in the cold. One recently came up and donated $100, Britton said.
Deacon Skip Comegna, who serves at Resurrection in Ellicott City, led a prayer for those attending the vigil, and spoke to those gathered.
“We should never despair, no matter what the obstacle, no matter what the challenges,” he said. “Hope is so important. You are witnesses to God’s love and the gift of life.”
Dr. Jay Walton organized the next stop for Britton, outside an abortion clinic on Painters Mill Road in Owings Mills.
“We are here today to tell these young women (considering terminating their pregnancy) that there is hope,” said Walton, a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. “They might feel like they are alone, but the volunteers of 40 Days for Life to let them know that they are not alone.”
Participants included Father Brendan Fitzgerald, associate pastor of Sacred Heart in Glyndon, who was attending his first 40 Days for Life event.
“This is a beautiful way to defend life, promote the Gospel of life, to fight for justice in our society,” he said. “We tend to think of the church as this top-down organization. To be able to see the work people do tirelessly, a fight for causes of such great importance, is a beautiful reality. It’s a gift to me as a priest to be able to see it.”
“It does lift me up,” he said. “Not the speeches, or the talking, but telling people that you’re not alone. We support you. We pray with you. We love you. And knowing we’re going to win.”
Britton, meanwhile, said that of all his duties with 40 Days for Life, his favorite is being present at small gatherings like the ones in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Kevin J. Parks contributed to this article from Owings Mills.
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