The talks were followed by a 1.8-mile walk from the Civic Center Plaza down San Francisco’s famous Market Street and ending at Embarcadero Plaza.
Among the walkers was Gonzalo Alvarado, the youth and young adult ministry coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, who led young people from three parishes.
Through Christ “we can overcome the fear of death, suffering, our storms in our lives, and our crosses,” Alvarado said. “The fear of having a baby can be overcome in Christ. Having an abortion is not the answer.”
Joseph Moore, headmaster of the new Chesterton Academy of Sacramento, led a group of faculty and students.
Asked what brings him to the walk each year, Moore responded: “The truth is, I don’t want to participate — but I think I have to!”
He continued: “The walk is necessary, as the truth — that all human life is sacred and that the murder of the unborn is unspeakably evil — is so fundamental that it sickens me that it needs to be made at all. Yet, every year, I’m glad I went, encouraged by the enthusiasm and love displayed by the walkers.”
Our task as parents, Alvarado said, “is to prepare our children to endure and outlast the culture of death and to rebuild our civilization. We need joyful, educated Catholics to resist the tide of nihilism and irrationality that has seized our world, and, as the Church has so often done in the past, rebuild from the ashes. The Walk for Life is where we say to the world: ‘We do not consent. We stand for life!’”
Cordileone specifically addressed young people in his homily for the Walk for Life Mass.
“My dear young people, you who are the pro-life generation: God is calling you to greatness!” he said.
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“Greatness does not come from power or wealth, or from what St. Paul calls wisdom by human standards, that is, the dominant narrative of a dehumanized culture divorced from the vision of faith in the one, true God,” Cordileone continued.
“It comes from being foolish enough to be chosen by God to shame the wise of this world, that is, those who perpetrate the destructive myths of the culture of death; by being weak enough to shame the strong, having the spiritual strength to speak truth to power and endure the ridicule, insults, and rejection that will come with it.”
Another pre-walk Mass was celebrated by Bishop Michael Barber of the Diocese of Oakland at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland.
OneLife LA
OneLife LA began Saturday with a youth and young-adult kickoff and a greeting from Archbishop Gomez, who then led walkers from Olvera Street to Los Angeles State Historic Park.
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