Through a series of tragedies, they began to see God in their lives and eventually got engaged.
“From that point on we knew that we needed forgiveness and we needed love because love is truly the answer,” said Peter DeMaio, an insurance agent who is now president of Pennsylvanians for Human Life.
A major turning point was going to confession while on a retreat, he said.
”For the first time in our adult lives we felt that healing grace that comes from the sacrament of confession,” he said. The couple eventually married and now have seven children.
Sister Mary Casey O’Connor, a Sister of Life, and her twin sister, Casey Gunning, a teacher’s assistant and lifelong athlete in the Special Olympics who has Down syndrome, also spoke at the event.
O’Connor said that as children she and her sister wished they were the same. In time, however, she said, “I came to realize that God hadn’t made a mistake.”
“The truth is we all have weakness, we all have needs,” Gunning said. “Weakness gives other people a chance to love.”
Four bishops, 75 priests, and 80 seminarians attended Life Fest, said Alicia Mucha, a spokeswoman for the Knights of Columbus.
“What you see here is the whole family of the Church, a whole family of faith, coming together to strengthen one another and … proclaim the beauty of the human person,” said Sister Agnus Dei of the Sisters of Life.
“I have been so moved by the faith in young people’s hearts,” she added.
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“What do I see and hear? A spirit of, yes, rejoicing in the victory that is the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” she said. “And yet we all know, actually these first 50 years of the pro-life movement were actually just the warmup. We still have some of the most important battles in front of us.”
Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.
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