HCH Photos Anna Weaver

Pro-life supports held signs and waved at passing cars on Beretania Street in front of the Hawaii State Capitol, Jan. 22.

‘It’s a good noise’

Catholic youth invigorate the annual March for Life rally at the state capitol

By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Who are those people and why are they shouting?

That’s what drivers on their way home from work Jan. 22 might have been thinking before they read the signs and heard the chants of the pro-life supporters lining Beretania Street during the March for Life at the Hawaii State Capitol.

There was some confusion among the rally attendees themselves since in past years pro-abortion groups have staged opposing protests in the same spot during the gathering that aims to raise awareness of life issues. The event is held on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in America 36 years ago. Hawaii Right to Life, the Hawaii Family Forum and the Hawaii Catholic Conference cosponsored this year’s march.

Diocesan Youth and Young Adult board member Dominic Olaso was happy to inform the confused that the more than 250 people along the road — many of them from Catholic school students and parish youth groups — were all there to support life.

“The youth’s energy has helped to rejuvenate the march,” Olaso said. “If the hecklers had turned out, we would have been prepared.”

No pro-choice supporters seemed to be in sight however, and they would have had a hard time finding a spot if they had come, as students commandeered most of the sidewalk in front of the capitol. Enthusiastic teens cheered “Pro-life! Say what?” and “Your life is precious and so is theirs!” as they waved at passing cars and thrust out red “Stop Abortion Now” signs. Many vehicles honked back.

“It’s a good noise,” said Gary Boisclair, who helped organize some of the youth.

The students, many in uniform, came from Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City, St. Joseph School, Waipahu, and St. John the Baptist School and St. Anthony School in Kalihi.

Parish youth ministries also were represented. The youth came from Our Lady of Good Counsel, Star of the Sea Parish in Honolulu, The Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa and Holy Trinity.

Home schoolers and youth members of Hawaii’s basic Christian communities were also there.

Nearby on the capitol steps facing Beretania, just beyond the statue of Father Damien, a larger than usual crowd gathered to hear speakers and listen to music during the rally portion of the March for Life.

“This is a bigger turnout than we’ve had in the last few years,” said Teresa Gochenouer, who has come to the March for Life many times since she was a child. “I came just to voice my belief that life is sacred and it’s so wrong that we have this law in our country that allows the killing of babies.”

“More people need to speak up about it.”

The Freedom of Choice Act

The larger attendance seemed in part due to the raised awareness of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a national bill that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently called “the most radical abortion legislation in history” but which has only made it out of committee once in the 20 years it has been before the legislature (see page 26). President Barack Obama had told a Planned Parenthood gathering in July 2007, “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”

The USCCB has warned that FOCA would overturn private institutions and citizens’ rights of refusal to perform abortions. And the U.S. bishops have said they would close Catholic hospitals before they would allow abortions to be performed at them.

Throughout the rally several copies of a “Stop FOCA” petition circulated through the crowd. Hawaii Right to Life’s Karen DiCostanzo kept a high level of energy as she introduced various speakers.

Giving an address was Bishop Larry Silva, who wrote a letter to Hawaii Catholics on Jan. 7 asking them to support life and participate in an anti-FOCA postcard initiative. (See page 8)

The bishop used the history of banishing people with Hansen’s disease to Molokai as an example of society’s morals gone awry.

“People fell into a lie,” he said, “that the people who had contracted the disease were less than human.”

Bishop Silva said people eventually realized how wrong that was, just as people realized the injustice of racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. He said President Obama’s election as the first African American president was a historic moment.

He added, “Even though we do celebrate that [Barack Obama] can now be president of the United States, we also know that there is so much more to do to bring dignity to all races.”

“Jesus turned a culture of death and death itself into life, but his work is not accomplished, not finished,” he told the crowd.

Hearing from the politicians

Diocese of Honolulu representatives at the rally included vicar general Father Marc Alexander, who gave a welcome address, co-organizer Eva Andrade of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, and several Catholic priests and religious in the crowd.

Among the public officials who spoke were Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, a Catholic who encouraged attendees to persevere in their fight for life, and state Rep. Lynn Finnegan, who said she had not always been pro-life and used to have a “live and let live” attitude.”

When physician-assisted suicide became a hot topic several years ago, Finnegan says that got her thinking more about life issues. She said that she appreciated when she and other pro-life legislators were asked to stand up earlier at the rally and be recognized. “I know that we’re not alone,” she said.

After the blowing of a shofar, a Jewish ram’s horn, by Rabbi Daniel Vargas, the crowd walked past Father Damien de Veuster’s statue, along Beretania, and around several city blocks, before coming back to the capitol. The Knights of Columbus led the way, carrying an American and Hawaii state flag and a large banner at the front of the crowd, struggling some to keep it straight in the afternoon’s strong wind.

Staying behind at the capitol were several dozen Catholic youth who kept cheering and waving signs. To finish their vigil, they kneeled in front of Damien’s statue and said a final prayer.