High school senior Noah Schoenfelder started each morning of last year’s trip from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., with an hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
“The encounter with Christ on this trip is close and personal … That greatly affected how the trip went for me,” said Schoenfelder, who was a student leader on the trip and will be again for this year’s March for Life. The event draws tens of thousands of people from across the country and will include Schoenfelder, his sister, Nina, and a dozen other students and three adults from Unity Catholic High School in Burnsville.
Joining the Unity contingent for the Jan. 16-21 trip will be high schoolers and adults from Epiphany in Coon Rapids and St. Joseph in West St. Paul, for a total of 37 pilgrims — 26 students and 11 adults. Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen will be at the march and will spend time with the pilgrims.
“The fight for life is something that cannot be overlooked,” Schoenfelder said in an email of the importance of going back to Washington. “It is one of the great attacks on our world in this day and age, and we must be able to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves.”
June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its Jan. 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion across the country and prompted the prayers and protest of the annual March for Life. The high court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling effectively handed abortion issues back to the states, resulting in some states acting to restrict access to abortion. But Minnesota has taken steps to make abortion more accessible (see pages 8-9), a fact that has disappointed but not overly discouraged pro-life activists, including the Schoenfelder siblings and other students at Unity.
“I am extremely disappointed with our state Legislature,” said Nina Schoenfelder, a sophomore. “However, we are fighting hard and will not be silenced or discouraged.”
Allison Williams — a junior at Unity who, like the Schoenfelders, will be making her second trip to the march in Washington — said that the “extremity of abortion, especially in Minnesota, is sometimes overwhelming to think about. However, discouragement does not mean” that she lacks hope, Williams said by email.
“I know that as long as we continue to push back against abortion, there is the very real possibility of enacting change, and I think Roe v. Wade’s overturning only marked the beginning of such change,” she said.
Katie Blando, director of student life and academics at Unity Catholic, will be a chaperone for the trip along with her husband, Mark. The trip provides important opportunities to teach students how to have respectful conversations with people who are pro-choice, Blando said.
“It is trying to approach the discussion as a pursuit of truth and not an argument to win,” she said. “Abortion is an evil. But most pro-choice people think it’s the compassionate thing (to do)” — which might open the possibility of convincing them that abortion is not the most compassionate option, she said.
It is inspiring for students to see the vast number of young people at the march, Blando said. “Looking out and seeing so many young people there, I think, was invigorating for them,” she said.
Bill Dill, youth discipleship director in the archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Youth, which organizes the trip, will help lead the group. Each is organized around three pillars: Prayer, learning and action, he said.
“We’re there to represent the love of Christ, the action of Christ,” Dill said. There is fellowship, prayer, adoration of the Eucharist, singing and dancing, confession and Mass. “All the goodness of Catholic life is right there in those six days,” he said.
Local march and prayer service
As high school students and their chaperones prepare to travel to Washington, Sonya Flomo of the archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Youth and others with the archdiocese are preparing for the annual Prayer Service for Life at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. The Jan. 22, 10:30 a.m. service will be followed at noon by the annual March for Life at the nearby Minnesota State Capitol, sponsored by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL).
“Unfortunately, we have to (continue to) commemorate the date of Roe v. Wade, because abortion is still here in Minnesota,” Flomo said.
Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Willliams will preside at the prayer service, which will include the annual St. John Paul II Champions for Life Awards presented to three individuals and a group recognized for their pro-life efforts. This year’s winners are Robert Loch of St. Agnes in St. Paul (adult pro-life individual), Dennis and Margaret Adrian of St. Francis de Sales in St. Paul (pro-life couple), Tom Cassidy of St. Joseph of the Lakes in Lino Lakes (adult pro-life professional), and the Youth Pro-life Group at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony (pro-life youth group)
A collection will be taken at the prayer service to benefit the archdiocese’s Life Fund grants program, which supports women who are pregnant or caring for a newborn by meeting one-time needs such as purchasing a crib or making a car, rent or mortgage payment, Flomo said.
“We have to support the pregnant mom as well,” Flomo said. “We need to wrap our arms around her and support her and let her know she is not alone. We are here to help her.”
The prayer service and MCCL March for Life draw thousands of people each year, and MCCL officials said this year’s crowd could be larger than usual. “We’re getting lots and lots of interest, busses arranged to bring people to St. Paul and so forth,” said Paul Stark, MCCL spokesman.
This year’s march in St. Paul will include inviting people to place 12,000 life-size baby models on display to draw attention to an increase in abortions in Minnesota since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Stark said in an email exchange. Until 12,000 abortions were performed in the state in 2022, there were about 10,000 abortions annually in recent years in Minnesota.
“The 12,000 baby models will be a powerful commemoration and a public witness to the sanctity of human life, and we need as many pro-lifers there as possible,” Stark said.
MCCL also has been offering “Save the 12,000” pro-life presentations in Minnesota since last summer, Stark said.
“We are eager to give pro-life presentations (whether the ‘Save the 12,000’ presentation or others) to as many churches and other audiences as we can,” he said.
In addition to praying, marching and sharing information, Nina and Noah Schoenfelder and Allison Williams are among students at Unity Catholic who are helping make it easier for women and men to choose life for their children. They are members and leaders of their high school’s Pro-Life Club, which among other things organizes diaper, baby bottle and other drives for pregnancy resource center Guiding Star Wakota in West St. Paul.
The goal of the pro-life movement, Noah Schoenfelder said, is to destroy “the culture of death that has been so ingrained into society.”
“We need a culture of life,” he said, “and to get that culture we need to be active. Especially active in our schools, on social media and in our communities.”
