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#ProtestPP Annual Protest
9-11 a.m., April 23
#ProtestPP will conduct the inaugural nationwide protest at Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide, to be held on the fourth Saturday of April every year. Click here for more information.
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GLENDALE ― As the faithful across the Diocese of Phoenix called to mind the suffering endured by Christ on the day of His crucifixion, hundreds gathered for the annual Good Friday Rosary outside a local Planned Parenthood. Glendale police estimated the crowd at 350.
Abortion is legal in Arizona up to 24 weeks gestation and medical personnel at the Planned Parenthood on Eugie Avenue perform late-term abortions at the site. Pro-life activists say they regularly see women who are visibly pregnant enter the clinic.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, alongside priests and deacons from around the diocese, took turns leading the prayers of the Rosary in English and Spanish. Young parents holding infants and toddlers stood beside the elderly and others in the midday sun, fingering rosaries and listening to the meditations taken from the Rosary for Life. A few had umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun and others managed to secure a place under two large canopies.
“We’re here to pray for conversion for ourselves and others and for the protection of life from the womb until natural death,” Bishop Olmsted told the crowd. “This is the day Jesus died for us, to redeem us and to bring us the truth that sets us free.”
After 15 decades of the Rosary, the bishop thanked people for attending and noted that Good Friday was an important day to give witness at an abortion clinic because “here Good Friday happens every day when the innocent is killed without any protection of the law. Injustice is done to the completely innocent. That happened to Jesus on Calvary.”
Caitlin Robinson was there with her 3-year-old, 2-year-old and 8-month-old twins. The Most Holy Trinity parishioner was accompanied by her mother who was there to help and stood gripping the jogging stroller that held two of the children.
“We’ve had two miscarriages and there was a time I remember driving by a parish that had all the crosses up for the aborted children,” Robinson said, adding that it made her cry. She said she wants to pass on her pro-life beliefs to her children.
“I think it’s really important that they see us out here and learn how to pray the Rosary. Even a 3-year-old, you can explain to them why we’re here — I tell him we’re here to pray for all the babies whose mommies don’t necessarily want them.”
Some of the Rosary participants held signs with messages such as “Defend Life” or “I love My Adopted Children.”
Steven Sivigliano was holding a large sign that declared “Organic Baby Parts for Sale,” a jab at the abortion giant that last year was exposed in a series of undercover videos in which Planned Parenthood personnel discussed the sale of aborted fetuses.
He’s had the sign for six years. “Usually I get a thumbs up but occasionally I get the opposite reaction,” he said.
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See Also:
Abortion facility incident sparks prayer vigil, rouses suspicions
9-1-1 call from abortion clinic raises troubling questions
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