About 50 people attended Mass Nov. 2 outside the Planned Parenthood center in Anchorage, Alaska, to mark the end of the annual observance of 40 Days For Life.
The Mass was held in an empty lot by Planned Parenthood, where pro-lifers had been gathering each day during 40 Days For Life, a pro-life campaign of prayer and witness that occurs worldwide each spring and fall.
“We prayed in thanksgiving for the many sacrifices made these last 40 days for unborn children and for their mothers and fathers considering abortion,” Mary Kemper, one of the organizers of 40 Days For Life in Anchorage, said in a note to participants and supporters, according to Alaska Watchmen.
Kemper added that they prayed for success in passing and enforcing laws to end abortion, for hearts and minds to change, and for all people to acknowledge God and his creation of each unborn life.
Father Ed Burke, Parochial Vicar at the Mat-Su Catholic Community celebrated the Mass, with Father Michael Shields and Father James Moore concelebrating. Eight high school students from Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage provided music for the liturgy.
After Mass, donuts and coffee were served, and participants talked about their experiences during the campaign.
In her note, Kemper quoted a story from an anonymous 40 Days For Life participant about her experience with a young couple seemingly seeking an abortion.
“Three of us 40 Days For Life participants were out at Planned Parenthood offering to pray for anyone going inside,” the woman said, according to Alaska Watchman. “A young couple came over for prayer. The young man, who had seemed distrustful of our interaction with the young woman, eventually joined and he offered to pray for us! [The two] young parents ended up leaving the abortion clinic without ever entering. I believe in faith that many more people’s lives were touched as a result of our prayers and faithful service to God by showing up on the sidewalk for the sake of being a voice for the voiceless.”
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