• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pro-life advocates in San Francisco are seen at Civic Center Plaza Jan. 22, 2022, during the 18th annual Walk for Life West Coast. With the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade June 2022, organizers of the San Francisco walk said the event taking place Jan. 21, 2023, is as necessary as ever to promote ongoing efforts to help make pregnant women in need aware of alternatives to abortion, to change minds and hearts on the abortion issue, and to uphold the dignity of all human life. (OSV News photo/CNS file/Dennis Callahan, Catholic San Francisco)

West Coast rallies, marches ‘reinvigorate’ people about pro-life issues

January 20, 2023
By Julie Asher
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News

This year for the first time the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco takes place “in a country where the so-called right to kill an unborn child is no longer the law of the land,” Eva Muntean, co-chair of the walk, told OSV News.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that declared abortion a constitutionally protected right, with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a result which Muntean called “stupendous, just fantastic.”

But Muntean and other pro-life leaders stress in the wake of Dobbs that the work of changing hearts and minds about abortion, providing women with alternatives to abortion and cultivating a culture of life continues.

“We must and will continue to work, to pray, to provide alternatives, like supporting pro-life medical centers, and above all be a beacon of hope to women from coast to coast,” said Muntean.

Pro-life advocates march during the OneLife LA rally Jan. 18, 2020, in Los Angeles. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Victor Aleman, Angelus News)

She and co-chair Dolores Meehan said the Walk for Life West Coast, planned for Jan. 21, is as important as ever. Contingents from the dioceses of Stockton, Santa Rosa and Sacramento will be among those joining participants from the San Francisco archdiocese.

In San Francisco, a 9:30 a.m. Mass of the Memorial of St. Agnes precedes an hourlong rally in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, followed by a walk through the city streets. It features a newly composed choral setting of the Mass, commissioned by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, to be sung in English, Spanish and Latin.

Farther south in California, the OneLife LA event remains just as vital too. It takes place the same day and will bring thousands of people together in Los Angeles, said Michael Donaldson, senior director of the Los Angeles archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace, which is the event’s chief organizer.

The events in both cities always take place on the Saturday closest to the Jan. 22 anniversary of the 1973’s Roe decision.

Participants in OneLifeLA walk through downtown Los Angeles to a park featuring speakers, live music, food trucks and booths offering “works of mercy,” such as assistance and information on supporting immigrants and refugees, sheltering the homeless and ministering to families of the incarcerated.

The event concludes with the Requiem Mass for the Unborn at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels celebrated by Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez.

First held in 2015, OneLife LA is not just a one-day event but is “meant to be a movement” to honor the beauty of every life and human dignity throughout the year, Donaldson said. In partnership with several organizations, the archdiocese promotes advocacy across the “full spectrum” of life issues, from conception to natural death and including immigration, homelessness, trafficking, the disabled, and the needs of fostered and adopted children.

But the abortion “battle,” Donaldson said, remains clear.

The passage of Proposition 1 in November has thrown the issue into high relief in California. Voters approved the ballot initiative that explicitly adds rights to abortion and contraception to the state constitution.

Even before the 2022 elections, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared California to be an abortion “sanctuary state.” He signed a number of laws that among other things increase the number of people who can perform abortions and help lower traveling costs for women from abortion-restrictive states who want to get an abortion in the Golden State.

While some states have chosen “to value and protect innocent human life,” Muntean said, “others, like our state of California, have doubled down on the massacre of the innocents.”

News reports said voters “overwhelmingly” voted for Proposition 1, but it was the lowest overall voter turnout since 2014, according to the California secretary of state. Out of California’s 22 million registered voters, just 11 million voted.

“Where were the rest of the voters?” remarked Donaldson.

But amid such voter apathy, he sees an opportunity for the Catholic Church and the pro-life movement in general “to recharge, inspire, instill hope and just enliven people’s drive to stand up for life and honor life in all stages.”

Donaldson sees this as an opportunity for the church to evangelize, “to be more intentional in our efforts as we inform parishioners, engage with them more, provide more opportunity for dialogue” and do “more family catechesis, walking with our parents more, and with different generations.”

San Francisco’s Archbishop Cordileone told OSV News, “We need to help people envision a world without abortion, where every baby is welcomed.”

Some people say such a world will never be, so why keep trying, he remarked, “but we want people to envision a world without war, and that may seem impossible but people still are working for that.”

Despite the fact abortion is now enshrined in California’s constitution, pro-life advocates are not discouraged, the archbishop added.

“Are we hopeful? We fought Roe for 49 years, and, lo and behold, it did not reach 50,” Muntean said. “We started the Walk for Life in San Francisco, the most anti-life city in the country in the face of media and governmental opposition. We thrive on hope; as Christians we live in hope.”

Meehan said the Walk for Life West Coast, which was first held in 2005, “is such a shot in the arm.”

“It invigorates people. It shows them they are not alone,” she said. “It encourages (people), it gives them courage, it inspires the clergy and the faithful who are there and lets young people know they’re not alone, that they are very hip being a part of something greater than yourself.”

She added that the young people who attend the Walk for Life West Coast “are on fire” with their pro-life involvement even beyond the annual event, whether they are praying outside Planned Parenthood clinics or starting pro-life clubs at their schools or holding baby showers for expectant mothers.

“Young people want to be useful — we all do,” she said, adding that it’s great to see young people who met their spouse at the walk and are now bringing their own children to the walk.

Julie Asher is senior editor for OSV News.

Read More Respect Life

Jérôme Lejeune’s legacy advances ‘abundant life’ for people with Down syndrome in world and church

Federal judge’s pending ruling could block abortion drug from nationwide sale

Pro-life groups seek commitments on federal abortion limits from 2024 GOP contenders

Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university

Wyoming becomes first state to ban abortion pills

‘New pro-life agenda’ sees wins in state battles to expand Medicaid coverage for new moms

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Julie Asher

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • Fire guts historic Catholic school in parish connected to St. John Neumann
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell
  • Movie Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4, a festival of fatality’

| Latest Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

| Latest World News |

National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series

Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts

Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series
  • Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests
  • Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts
  • Praying for healing for our pet
  • Jérôme Lejeune’s legacy advances ‘abundant life’ for people with Down syndrome in world and church
  • Texas parishioners affected by Ukrainian war, a wildfire have relied on faith, community to survive turmoil
  • Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions
  • Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher
  • Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED