Students join demonstrators, learn civic responsibility
In addition to reading, writing and arithimatic, students also learn a variety of lessons that don’t come from a textbook. Two such lessons, public participation and civic responsibility, were demonstrated by many schools and individual parents during the Faithful Citizenship and Witness for Life event in Trenton Oct. 18.
“I am so particularly happy that we have so many young people here,” said Bishop John J. Myers, archbishop of Newark. “I want to give you a special welcome, knowing that we who stand for the Gospel of Life, and those who join us from throughout New Jersey that stand for the Gospel of Life, life as God intended this life, is God’s gift to us.”
Among the more than 1,700 people who attended were two buses of students from Immaculata High School, Somerville, and Bishop George Ahr High School, Edison.
“I thought it was cool that when everyone was cheering and clapping when the speakers talked,” said Liz Calabro, a junior at Immaculata High School. “It was a really positive experience and it really affirmed me being pro life.”
Jesse Damiano, a senior at Immaculata agreed. “I was impressed with the respect that we got from bystanders, because I was expecting some hostility. Maybe it shows that they’re starting to be more open-minded about pro-life issues.”
Tina Schweyher of Our Lady of Mount Virgin Parish, Middlesex, attended with two of her six children. She said she was there because she is a “staunch pro-life advocate” and is heavily involved in pro-life activities both on a parish and a diocesan level.
As a parent who wants to raise her children to be devout Catholics, Schweyeher said when it comes to making decisions regarding her family, the decisions are heavily based on their faith.
“Faith is first, [and] God is at the center” of those decisions, she said.
Although they used adjectives like “cool” and “awesome” to describe the Witness for Life, the point of the day was certainly not missed by Nicolette and Jenna Schweyher.
“I think the governor is lying,” said Nicolette, a sixth
grader at Our Lady of
Mount Virgin School, New Brunswick. “He says he is Catholic,
but he is for abortion. If he is Catholic, he can’t be for killing.”
“It’s awesome to see all the people here and know they believe what I believe,” said Jenna, who added that although she knew Gov. McGreevey was inside the Statehouse, the fact that he did not make an appearance at the Witness for Life was a “sign that he was scared.”
Alexis Cottrell, a seventh grade teacher at Holy Cross School, Trenton, accompanied her class to the Witness for Life. She was pleased to see the tremendous number of young people who turned out for the day. “It’s great to see,” she said. “They are our future and the more people we reach and let them know that abortion is wrong, the better our nation is going to be.”
The Witness for Life was “very good,” said Kato Szabo, a seventh grader at Holy Cross School. “I never knew so many people were interested in stopping abortion,” she said. “It’s wrong that so many innocent children are being killed.”
Sara Lynch of St. Mark Parish, Sea Girt, who traveled to Trenton with 12 fellow parishioners, said she thought the Witness for Life was a “very important” event to have.
“It helps people to know and understand what is going on in our country today,” she said. “A lot don’t realize what a partial-birth abortion is. They don’t realize the necessity to vote for someone who believes in preserving the lives of children, the elderly and all human life.”
“Voting should not be about a particular political party, but for life,” she said.
Erick Rommel, head staff writer; Joseph M. Donadieu, editor, The Monitor; Mary Stadnyk, news editor, The Monitor, and Jim Shea, correspondent, contributed to this article.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law