Fluorescent green is becoming the unofficial colour of pro-life activism at St. Joseph’s Parish in Port Moody.
Father Mark McGuckin said his parish is ordering several brightly-coloured T-shirts with “Pro-life” stamped on them for parishioners to wear as they walk a loop in a busy area of Port Moody March 20.
“It’s a novel idea,” he said. It’s also part of the parish’s participation in 40 Days for Life, an international movement of prayer, fasting, and outdoor activism in support of human rights for the unborn for 40 consecutive days. Typically, 40 Days for Life participants gather in peaceful protest and prayer outside B.C. Women’s Hospital, but with restrictions on gatherings these days, that series of vigils has been cancelled.
So, members of St. Joseph’s are making their values known publicly another way.
“To be vigilant about this endeavour of building up a culture of life will be an ongoing piece that we cannot be indifferent or apathetic about,” their pastor said.
40 Days for Life runs from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, or Feb. 17 to March 28 this year. Last year’s campaign was cut off mid-way due to the introduction of pandemic restrictions.
Heather Thompson, an organizer in Vancouver, said although 40 consecutive days of holding up signs at the usual site isn’t happening this year, there are other ways to get involved.
“In the absence of an onsite vigil witness, we need to, as a community, as a Church, still have a platform and still be able to gather,” even if it has to be online, she said.
Starting Feb. 17, the group will host an online Rosary prayer on Zoom every evening at 8 p.m.
Thompson also encourages pro-lifers to fast and pray in their homes and go to adoration at their local churches. Private prayer in a church is permitted under current restrictions, up to a maximum of 10 people inside the church at one time.
“There’s nothing to stop parishes, parishioners, anyone, from praying at any time and often throughout the 40 days. That’s the beauty of this campaign this year,” said Thompson.
“I think this will help people have more sense of the necessity and urgency behind prayer and praying as the church.”
She also hopes moving some 40 Days for Life activities online means more people will participate. She urges anyone interested to register and learn more by visiting the 40 Days for Life page on Behold, the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s community site. The page includes a link to the nightly Zoom Rosary.
St. Joseph’s parishioners are not strangers to making public their pro-life beliefs. Father McGuckin said among their number is a core group of steadfast participants in Life Chain, a form of public activism involving people holding pro-life signs in a “chain” or long row near a busy city thoroughfare.
He hopes they and many others will join in wearing green T-shirts and masks, keeping distances, and praying for recognition of the rights of unborn humans in solidarity with like-minded souls across the archdiocese and the globe.
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