Texas Cardinal Leads Rally against Abortion and Death Penalty

The Pilgrimage for Life filed past the Planned Parenthood clinic ending at the Texas execution chamber.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (LifeSiteNews) - Hundreds of Catholics bore peaceful witness to the sanctity of life in the heart of Huntsville Monday morning, in an hour-long pilgrimage led by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

The Pilgrimage for Life, hosted by the Texas Catholic Conference, filed past the Planned Parenthood clinic in the heart of Huntsville, crossing the Sam Houston State University campus and ending at the Texas execution chamber.

The participants, who softly sang and prayed the rosary in unison, created a non-confrontational and contemplative atmosphere. Organizers explicitly prohibited signs, verbal confrontations, or any political or partisan comments.

"We are promoting it in a way that is prayerful, that is thoughtful, that is reflective, so that way we can have people think about why the Church promotes a culture of life, not necessarily to shout at people, not necessarily to yell at people to make our point," Andy Rivas with the Texas Catholic Conference told KTRK ABC 13 News.

Cardinal DiNardo of the Houston-Galveston diocese is Chairman-elect of the Pro-Life Committee of the Conference of Catholic Bishops and is expected to replace Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia in November 2009.

"It is a total day of prayer and on days of prayer, we are in solidarity with all and anything that would even resemble we're doing anything political, we cast aside today," the cardinal told ABC 13.

Those who were unable to complete the walk were invited to supplement the group's prayer with Eucharistic adoration. The walk began with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal DiNardo and ended at the Walls Unit, where at least ten inmates are scheduled to be executed next year

The Houston Belief, a Texas religious news service, spoke to Florence and George Scheuchenzuber of Magnolia, two of the pilgrims. "We're here hopefully to let people know about our feelings of support of life from conception to natural death," Florence said.

Her husband said he favored capital punishment until two months ago, when he realized that the death penalty could end a prisoner's life before he has a chance to repent for his crime, and thus possibly lose salvation.

"He's naturally hitting the two ends of life," Sister Grace said of the cardinal's march. "He is beginning at the abortion referral center, because that affirms life in the womb. By ending [at the execution chamber] he is affirming the teaching of the church that the death penalty should be very rare."

---

LifeSiteNews.com is a non-profit Internet service dedicated to issues of culture, life, and family. It was launched in September 1997. LifeSiteNews Daily News reports and information pages are used by numerous organizations and publications, educators, professionals and political, religious and life and family organization leaders and grassroots people across North America and internationally.