The annual Prayer Service for Life, commemorating lives lost to abortion and those affected by it, will be held at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul Jan. 22. Bishop Kevin Kenney will lead the prayer service starting at 10:30 a.m.
Following the service, attendees will walk about a mile from the Cathedral to the Minnesota State Capitol where the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) March for Life Rally will take place beginning at noon.
In an email, Sonya Flomo with the Office of Discipleship and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said “(The) Dioceses of New Ulm and Duluth bring participants as well as parishes and schools throughout Minnesota. St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox members have attended for the past few years.”
Flomo said this year’s prayer service will include a reflection on the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme decision legalizing abortion across the United States and the work still to be done in Minnesota. A June 2022 Supreme Court decision — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — overturned the 50-year-old decision in Roe v. Wade, ruling there is no constitutional right to abortion in the United States. The Dobbs decision returned the authority to protect the unborn back to elected representatives at the state and federal levels.
At the prayer service, there will be a collection for the Archdiocesan Life Fund that provides emergency financial support to pregnant mothers of children up to the age of 1. In 2024, donations provided grants to more than 76,000 mothers needing financial help, Flomo said. She said the grants can help with “rent, mortgage payment, medical and utility bills, daycare expenses, prescription formula and other necessities.”
Jan. 22 marks the 53rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., will be held Jan. 23. Flomo said that while the archdiocese didn’t organize any trips for youth groups to travel to Washington for the March, parishes might take groups on their own.
