Walk for Life West Coast
San Francisco’s walkers included Anna Halsey, a 2021 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, who noted that many young adults from her parish, St. Dominic’s in San Francisco, turned out. “It was great,” she said. “It is beautiful to see such a witness for life.”
Amber Charles, formation manager for The Culture Project, walked with four missionaries from the Catholic apostolate. It was the first time the Dallas resident had been to the walk. “Although it was a rainy day, it did not dampen our spirits,” she told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner. “It was a beautiful walk, and tons of people showed up.”
Robert Byrd serves as executive coordinator for Pro-Life San Francisco, a secular nonpartisan, nonprofit pro-life organization. He and Melanie Salazar, Pro-Life San Francisco’s executive director, led a group of walkers and manned a booth at the event’s information fair. He admitted that the heavy rain made this year’s event a challenge, but said: “It is always a great time to spend time with friends who recognize the value of every human life and know the truth about what abortion is.”
Salazar said she was pleased to participate “to remember the children killed by abortion each year, rejoice in the success the pro-life movement has achieved, and to enjoy camaraderie of like-minded pro-life people.”
Lisa Hamrick is also a parishioner of historic St. Dominic Church and has been an organizer of the walk since its inception in 2004. She marveled at the growth of the walk, noting that the first year began with 7,500 walkers and 3,000 protesters.
“The protesters were angry, yelling, cursing, and doing everything they could to disrupt us, while our side was happy, peaceful, and prayerful,” she recalled of years past. “You could really see the contrast.”
One year, an “angry-looking woman stared her down” and came over to confront her. Hamrick told the Register: “I was getting ready for her to start yelling at me, but to my surprise, she said, ‘I was previously opposed to you, but for the first time I’m walking with you this year.’ So, if we change just a few hearts like hers, our efforts are worth it.”
Cameron Gibson, a senior at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, is founder and president of the school’s pro-life group, Crusaders for Life. He was joined by Angelo Depaoli, the club’s vice president, and four other students as they helped carry a banner in front of the walkers. It was the third time for both participating.
“It was exciting, and Angelo and I were even interviewed by EWTN,” Gibson said. “Despite the bad weather, the crowd was just as big as last year.”
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Gibson explained that he founded the club at the suggestion of a teacher, remarking: “It’s tragic how accepted abortion has become in our society. Many people don’t seem to value life.”
Depaoli added that it is important for him to show support for the cause because he was conceived out of wedlock and his parents “could have taken the easy way out” and aborted him but chose life.
As speaker Rose underscored: “The pro-abortion ideology, the anti-natalist ideology has no future. It inevitably self-destructs; it implodes in the face of beautiful, thriving, generous, bountiful human life.”
OneLife LA
OneLife LA kicked off at La Placita/Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles with the walk advancing to Los Angeles State Historic Park for a celebration that included speakers and live music. The day concluded with a requiem Mass celebrated by Archbishop Gomez for the unborn at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
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