40 days of making a difference for life
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - The 40 Days for Life campaign is making a difference, said Nicole Campbell, 40 Days for Life Toronto co-ordinator. In fact, she said nine abortion facilities throughout North America have closed as a result of the campaign. “The thing is with the 40 Days for Life, and with abortion in general, is that it’s not enough to be personally pro-life,” Campbell told The Catholic Register. “It’s great but it does nothing to actually end abortion. It’s only when we’re publicly pro-life that we can impact and change our culture one person at a time through prayer and through our public witness.”
Campaign Life Coalition’s annual 40 Days for Life starts with a kick-off rally and Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church on March 6, celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Collins. Then between March 9 and April 17, participants at the nearby Toronto location will take part in 40 days of prayer and fasting, along with a peaceful vigil outside of a women’s care clinic located in a medical centre at 960 Lawrence Ave. W. The daily vigils run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This year, there will also be an Oakville location outside Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.
Since it’s inception in 2007, 40 Days for Life has run campaigns in 337 cities across all 50 of the United States, seven Canadian provinces, four Australian states as well as in England, Northern Ireland and Denmark.
Campbell said it’s important to remember this isn’t a protest.
“We’re there in love and in prayer,” she said. “Basically as Mary was at the foot of the cross comforting Christ, we are there to comfort the women.”
And oftentimes people don’t see the difference they’re making, said Campbell.
“But because we continued year-round after our 40 Days for Life last year, we have had at least 30 women that we know of who’ve changed their mind who were scheduled for an abortion,” said Campbell.
For more information on the campaign, see www.40daysforlife.com.
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