Catholic students from Cal State San Bernardino attend OneLife LA 2023.
By Maria Valadez
On Saturday, Jan. 21, the offices of Marriage & Family Life, Young Catholics, and Respect Life & Pastoral Care, with the blessing of Bishop Alberto Rojas, led a delegation of faithful Catholics from the Diocese of San Bernardino to attend the OneLife LA Walk for Life in downtown Los Angeles. This was the ninth walk hosted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that gathers thousands of people to give witness to the beauty and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. The theme for this year was “Our Mission is Love”—a resounding response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade last June.
The journey for the San Bernardino delegates began on the night before OneLife LA with a Holy Hour of Adoration in a parish in each vicariate. All people throughout the diocese were invited to join in praying for life, and the pro-life pilgrims attending the walk received a special blessing. The purpose of this night of adoration was to center all efforts in Christ.
Saturday morning, the event began around the gazebo in Olvera Street with live music. People from all over began to arrive and gather. The attendees wore T-shirts and carried signs with pro-life messages as a visible witness of why they walk.
The Diocese of San Bernardino was represented by several parishes, some priests, seminarians, ministry groups and young adults. The Post-Roe generation began walking down Olvera Street and up Cesar Chavez Avenue chanting, praying and singing. Each group had their own way of manifesting their respect for human life. Overall, everyone present, led by the same spirit of joy and hope, demonstrated to the city of Los Angeles their commitment to safeguarding the sanctity of human life.
The walk ended at the LA State Historic Park where the celebration of life continued with live music, speakers, food trucks and more. Archbishop Jose H. Gomez gave a powerful speech to begin the event. “The movement for life is a movement for love,” he said, reminding the crowd once again that any efforts in the pro-life movement must be moved by love. Love is the antidote to the throwaway culture.
Lauren Costabile, founder of Hearts of Joy International, said, “These children are not a burden, but the greatest gift.” Her organization provides lifesaving heart surgery for individuals with Down syndrome throughout the world. The witness of these speakers is an essential part of OneLife LA; they give motivation and hope to keep going in the pro-life cause.
After the celebration at the park, many made their way to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for the Requiem Mass for the Unborn, to remember all the lives lost to abortion. The Cathedral was full of people that had been at OneLife LA since the morning and new people that joined. All were there to mourn the lives of the precious children that throughout all these years have been taken away.
It is a corporal act of mercy to give proper burial to the dead and although we do not have the little bodies of these children, this Mass is a way to honor their short life through this earth. The candles representing each child lost that day only in Los Angeles County were too many to count. The goal is to reduce this number by joining in prayer, fasting, advocacy and service, remembering to do all of these with love.
Maria Valadez is the Director of the Office of Respect Life & Pastoral Care Programs.