Church displays one for every baby aborted each day
Like many religious institutions in the country, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Destrehan is protesting on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade that legalized abortion.
But unlike the silent protests and signs that many put up, the church is making a spectacle that no one in the community will be able to ignore.
For the next few weeks, there will be a cross on the church’s lawn for each of the 3,660 children that are aborted on an average day in the United States.
Ronald Rodrigue, administrative assistant at St. Charles Borromeo School, said that putting up the crosses will take time, but that it will be worth it to get the word out.
“(Abortion) is murder and we’re killing a lot of innocent children. Until people realize that it is murder and it’s not just a selfish act of disposing of something like any other material item, our society is going to suffer,” Rodrigue said. “We’re putting such an effort in it that we’re going to leave it up longer than just a week. It’s going to look like a mini Arlington Cemetery.”
Parishioners from the church will also be praying the rosary in front of the crosses from Jan. 18-22 at 6:30 p.m. and invite the entire community to join them.
Rodrigue said that while the abortion rate has dropped in the last 10 years, he doesn’t believe it is due to education or protests like this one.
“Ten years ago it was about 800 (abortions) per day more,” he said. “From what I gather, it’s not because of morality – it’s just that the price of abortion is going up.”
Ronald’s wife, Janine, is the head of the youth program at the school and said that the students are very excited to be participating in this event.
“Our kids have just taken a great interest in the pro-life movement,” J. Rodrigue said.
The students started showing an increased interest in the movement after attending the March For Life event in Washington D.C. last year.
Once they returned home, J. Rodrigue said they came up with the idea to go to an abortion clinic every first Saturday of the month to pray and protest.
“They want to pray for those parents to have a change of heart,” she said.
This year, 12 students and five other parishioners from the church will be making the trip to Washington D.C. for the march.
Joe Salito, a student at Destrehan High School and a member of the St. Charles Borromeo Youth Group, will be heading to D.C. next week for the event. He said he thinks the most important thing is to educate people about stopping abortion.
“A lot of people don’t think you can do anything about it. It’s a lack of knowledge about the subject that is the reason for the high numbers and statistics,” Salito said. “Protesting at the abortion clinic has meant a lot to me and I’ve been able to really understand the complexity of the subject.”
Susan Mire is also working locally to keep the abortion rate down.
Mire, director of The Woman’s New Life Center, 3017 N. Causeway Blvd. in Metairie, tries to offer women in crisis pregnancies options other than abortion.
“They’ll have a lot of pressure from the people involved in their life. They’ll have internal pressure, too,” Mire said. “It’s easy for them to consider abortion without really understanding what happens to the baby and what happens to them.”
Mire also founded the women’s center, which is right next door to the largest abortion facility in Louisiana, she said.
“We’re like a pro-life emergency room,” she said.
The facility offers a non-judgmental atmosphere with free counseling, free pregnancy tests and a free ultrasound. The center is also a licensed mental health clinic and a licensed medical clinic.
“We really try to provide comprehensive care for women who are in crisis pregnancies,” Mire said. “We try to be an oasis of peace so that (the mothers) can feel free to connect with their baby. It’s a women’s center in the truest sense of the word.”
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