HCH photo/Anna Weaver

Luminaries remembering the unborn light up the reflecting pool around the Hawaii state capitol on Jan. 22.

Hundreds stand up ‘for life’ at annual capitol march

By Anna Weaver and Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

HCH photo/Anna Weaver Our Lady of Good Counsel students wave pro-life signs and cheer at passing motorists along the Beretania Street side of the capitol.

“We are here for one purpose,” boomed Father Marc Alexander’s voice over the sound system in the open-air rotunda of the Hawaii state capitol as he addressed the hundreds assembled there in the middle of the afternoon on Jan. 22.

“To stand up for life!”

“On behalf of those who are voiceless, thank you for being here!” he said.

The vicar general was one of a string of speakers at the annual March for Life, Hawaii’s commemoration of the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

The speaker’s stage, set up behind the St. Damien statue, faced the capitol’s center where the audience filled 200 white folding chairs and overflowed into the surrounding empty spaces.

About another 100 people, mostly Catholic school children, lined the sidewalk fronting the capitol along Beretania Street, holding red “Stop Abortion” signs as they acknowledged the approving honks coming from the passing rush hour traffic with cheers.

Our Lady of Good Counsel eighth grader Phuong Nguyen said he and his classmates saw mostly positive support from people driving by. But the sound of car horns also mixed with the voices of a few people madly yelling, and there were a few impolite gestures among the hand waves.

“We just smile back,” he said. “We stay strong.”

Nguyen and several of his classmates said that after they graduate this year they plan to keep coming to the march as high schoolers.

Among the other Catholic schools represented at the rally were St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony, both of Kalihi.

Bishop Larry Silva, who was one of the main speakers, asked those in the crowd to turn their pro-life voices into action, difficult as that might be.

He suggested “adoption, foster care and the support and counseling of women,” as ways to be authentically pro-life.

“We need to be those resources,” he said. “We need to put our money and time at the disposal of those in need, to open our hearts and doors to women in need.”

“That’s not so easy,” he said. “Our rally is for a few hours, but our commitment must go beyond that.”

Speakers Karen DiCostanzo of Hawaii Right to Life and pastor David Tipton spoke on another life issue, physician-assisted suicide, and warned of the “Death with Dignity” bill that was set to be introduced this legislative session.

After the rally, a bagpiper and the Knights of Columbus led a march around the capitol block. As dusk fell, rows of electric light paper bag luminaries, which had been placed earlier around the capitol, lit up the building’s reflecting pool. Donations for the luminaries, many of which carried the names of the unborn, went to several pregnancy resource centers.

The event wrapped up with a prayer service led by Deacon Walter Yoshimitsu.

Eva Andrade, communications director of Hawaii Family Forum and Hawaii Catholic Conference, said an estimated 800-1000 people attended the rally, a larger than normal crowd.

Abortion protesters weren’t the only people holding signs and marching this year. Coworkers and friends of the late Christi Hokoana, a domestic violence victim, also marched around the capitol and held a press conference. And a block away, at the corner of Punchbowl and Beretania, civil union supporters were also holding signs and waving to passing cars.