Perth Amboy’s Life Chain part of national movement to end abortion

Joining a nationwide movement, the parish-based Pro-Life and Pro-Family Committee of Perth Amboy organized a Life Chain for an end to abortion, with prayers and a march through downtown. 

“It’s important for the Church to defend the lives of the unborn,” said Denise Perez, a member of Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish. 

The large group gathered Oct. 6 at Planned Parenthood on Market Street. Father Ron Machado, pastor of Most Holy Name Of Jesus Parish, prayed the invocation. 

“Life is created by God, and we are his creatures and his children. So we need to respect life. When we respect life, we respect God,” Father Machado said. 

He and the participants then processed nearly a mile to Smith Street and Madison Avenue. Some 200 parishioners walked behind a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, families pushed babies in strollers. Some prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary and sang Spanish hymns. A statue of Our Lady of Fatima was carried, 

Participants in the eight-member Pro-Life and Pro-Family Committee of Perth Amboy belong to Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish and Our Lady of Fatima Parish. They meet monthly with the support and encouragement of Father Machado and Claretian Father Gilles Njobam, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish. 

The committee was formed in 2022, after the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act became law in New Jersey. 

“We felt in our hearts God’s call to start a movement raising the awareness and responsibility to advocate for and defend life from conception to natural death,” said Jenny Navarro, coordinator of the pro-life committee. Committee members also seek to defend family values, which they believe are attacked in today’s culture. 

Human Life International, a Catholic organization, is in the process of certifying the Pro-Life and Pro-Family Committee of Perth Amboy.

“We’re committed to raising awareness about pro-life issues to parishioners’ groups and other organizations in the local community,” said Navarro. “We also pray the Rosary on Saturdays in front of Planned Parenthood. On the third Tuesday of each month, we participate in a radio program, where we discuss different pro-life and family topics.” 

“We must pray to Jesus and the Blessed Mother to end abortion,” added Graciela Castano, a member of Our Lady of Fatima Parish.

Christian believers have gathered across the country to peacefully pray for an end to abortion on the first Sunday of every October since 1987. This year, Life Chains also were held in the Diocese in Carteret, Flemington, Great Meadows, Phillipsburg, Sayreville, and Washington.

The first Life Chain was organized by “Please Let Me Live,” in Yuba City, Calif. About 2,500 Christians from Yuba and Sutter counties, holding Abortion Kills Children signs, occupied designated sections of a three-mile route. After subsequent Life Chains, the distribution of literature and other measures, surgical abortions ceased in Yuba-Sutter.

Since then, there have been more than 3,000 Life Chains in cities across the United States and Canada. The movement is open to Christians of all denominations.