At least 35 Metuchen Diocese parishioners traveled by bus to New Jersey’s first statewide March for Life, joining more than a thousand demonstrators at the state capital in Trenton to express their opposition to the state’s abortion laws and advocate for the right to life from conception to birth.
Father Jonathan S. Toborowsky, Metuchen vicar general, represented Bishop James F. Checchio. Father Toborowsky joined Newark Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin and about 100 priests and bishops to concelebrate the Mass for Life at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, before rally participants marched to the State House Annex for prayer and speeches.
Before the cathedral’s standing-room-only congregation and others watching via livestream Sept. 26, Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., framed his homily around the words “Duty to Protect” when it comes to protecting all human life, especially “the child in their mother’s womb, the child in the mother’s arms and beyond.”
“All human life, every human life, from conception to natural death – ours is a duty to protect,” Bishop O’Connell said.
“Today in Trenton, we in all the Dioceses of New Jersey affirm that ‘duty.’ One need not be a Catholic to express and believe it. One needs only to be a rational, honest human being. But one cannot, however, be a Catholic without that conviction rooted deep in our souls as a preeminent priority of our faith.”
He mentioned that many politicians, even some who self-identify as Catholic, advocate for abortion legislation.
“The dying cries of the innocent children call out to them,” Bishop O’Connell said.
Sister of Christian Charity Anna Nguyen of Metuchen Diocese’s Office for Religious led the Rosary, using the Luminous Mysteries. She later said she felt it was important for her to be at the cathedral “because I realize that even though Roe v. Wade ended, lawmakers in New Jersey have been intensifying the option for abortion, even to bring it to full term and allow that to happen – that adds fuel to my desire to pray for life. … I pray the Rosary to protect the lives of the unborn and to change the hearts of our lawmakers.”
After Mass, the congregation – with contingents of high school students from around the state – marched about half a mile to the State House Annex, where Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of Paterson opened the rally with a prayer. Participants heard speakers that included medical doctors, politicians, pro-life advocates, and at least one woman who survived a failed saline infusion abortion. Afterward, attendees marched a one-mile loop around the state capital.
Jennifer Ruggiero, secretary of Metuchen Diocese’s Secretariat for Family and Pastoral Life, noted that the theme of the day was “With every woman, for every child.”
“It was energizing to see so many Catholics and people of goodwill come together in support and in prayer for women, children and families,” she said. “Pregnant and parenting moms in need are in our parishes and our neighborhoods but, in desperation, they are turning to other places for help. This event challenged each of us is to do more to be beacons of hope.”
Anita Daugherty, a parishioner at Metuchen’s Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, mentioned her long personal commitment to the pro-life movement ever since her mother suffered a miscarriage.
Rose Marie Goggins of St. Anselm Parish, Tinton Falls, said it was her first time at a pro-life rally.
“I truly believe in the spirit of today, living the life God gave us. We have no right to take anyone else’s life. God gave us this gift and we have no right to take away another’s future,” she said.