The circumstances have changed. The message of 40 Days for Life has not.
Two years after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling and on the doorstep of Arizonans possibly deciding to permanently allow unlimited access to abortion, 40 Days’ mission remains the same – prayer, fasting, speaking the truth with the love of Christ and reliance on the Holy Spirit – to move hearts and save one life at a time.
Wednesday night, 40 Days’ 2024 fall campaign got off to an inspirational start with a message of love and hope from Bishop John Dolan and moving stories from volunteer leaders and the local superior of the Sisters of Life.
“Some of the laws have changed,” said 40 Days Phoenix campaign leader Nancy Brady prior to 40 Days’ fall opening Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix. “And, of course, we want to change laws, but always, consistently, we want to turn to God to facilitate this change of hearts. That’s really where we’re going to win the lasting battle.”
After Mass, Brady told about 100 volunteers that November’s political outcomes will not
alter their approach, which begins with that familiar sign, “Pray to End Abortion.”
“Jesus gave us the model of what to do,” she said. “40 Days for Life is about prayer.
It’s about bending your knees, turning our faces up toward God and praying to end abortion, for conversions, to be light to people on the sidewalks but also in our families, our communities and our schools.”
An example from the apostles
Bishop Dolan hailed the volunteers, calling their participation a “tremendous gift.”
“I’m grateful to you for your blessing of presence; your prayers, as we begin these 40 days for life,” he said, greeting worshippers at the beginning of Mass.
Noting many are discerning the issue of life, the bishop said volunteers’ efforts would “mean a lot” to those wrestling with these questions in the runup to Election Day, Nov. 5.
But the evening was primarily about the scriptural and spiritual roots of 40 Days.
In his homily, Bishop Dolan likened volunteers’ journey to the first apostolic mission.
Referencing the reading from chapter 9 of St. Luke’s Gospel, he recalled Jesus’ instructions as He commissioned the Twelve. They were to take “nothing for [their] journey, neither a staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and…not even have two tunics,” he noted.
Jesus, the bishop said, was “basically saying, ‘keep your eyes fixed…on the Good News and proclaim it with all your heart and your voice.’”
An atmosphere of social and political noise challenges such focus, but the bishop said one could fend off distraction by remembering the ultimate source of life and their mission: Christ Jesus.
“He is the Way, the Truth and the Life,” he said, referencing the Gospel of St. John (14:6).
The bishop also recalled Pope Francis’ remarks earlier this year announcing the 2025 Year of Jubilee.
In his May 9 remarks, as reported by Vatican News, Francis called on Christians to be builders of hope.
“Openness to life and responsible parenthood is the design that the Creator has implanted in the hearts and bodies of men and women, a mission that the LORD has entrusted to spouses and to their love… the desire of young people to give birth to new sons and daughters - as a sign of the fruitfulness of their love – ensures a future for every society,” Pope Francis said.
Bishop Dolan expressed hope that society would “make a shift to a culture of life,” and in so doing, “reclaim that hope for young couples to embrace children within their own families.”
A pamphlet and a sandwich
Following Mass, Brady was joined by several speakers who gave their testimonies.
Anita Usher, Tempe Campaign co-leader, has taken part in 40 Days events since 2007.
Seeing a woman in her car parked outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in the East Valley several years ago, waiting for it to open, Usher recalled, “We couldn’t go in the parking lot.
But nobody told me I couldn’t buy her a sandwich.”
After walking to the sandwich shop next door, she offered the item to the woman, who took it, along with some pro-life literature, and drove away.
“It’s very simple things, asking God, ‘What do You want me to do?’ And you’ll be amazed at what He’ll tell you,” Usher said. “If you’re quiet, and you just listen.”
Sr. Bethany Madonna, local superior of the Sisters of Life, shared a similar story, but one that also had a profound impact on her own life.
Founded by New York Cardinal John O’Connor in 1991 and with communities throughout the U.S., Sr. Bethany and four of her fellow religious sisters have been serving in the Diocese of Phoenix since 2021. Their missions primarily include serving women in crisis pregnancies and college outreach with a message of faith and hope in Christ.
Prior to joining the religious community in New York, the future Sr. Bethany was invited by a college friend to pray outside an abortion clinic.
She ended up going every Saturday.
One day after work, she went by herself.
Though the clinic wasn’t performing abortions that day, a woman and her boyfriend drove up anyway. Sr. Bethany recognized the woman as a former high school classmate.
“It was surreal. Her name came back to me. They pulled up (their car next to mine) and rolled down their window. She was just sobbing.”
The future Sr. Bethany gave her former classmate some pro-life information.
And then, she made her own life decision.
“Her cries cried out to me. The blood of her unborn child cried out to me. That day, I knew something more was being asked of my life.”
The consequence of an event is often unseen by others who witness it on the sidewalks. But its benefit is priceless, said volunteers.
Seasoned with salt
This also applies to those within clinic walls.
That, Brady said, is where volunteers’ conversations and actions must be seasoned with the salt of truth and the love of Christ.
“We have to be careful in our quest [that] we don’t get in God’s way of the conversion of [those] in the abortion industry,” the 40 Days for Life Phoenix leader said after Mass.
“Our example means so much to people. What we do, and what we say is so important. It will change hearts or it will move hearts further away.”
Brady noted volunteers’ presence outside may anger clinic workers, but it also can touch them.
“I’ve heard from [those] who used to work in the abortion industry, when they saw people out there, praying, they knew they were being prayed for. They knew if they did go out on the street, they would have a safe place, where willing, loving hearts were ready and able to truly help them.”
Speakers pointed to examples such as Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinical director, and Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who once performed abortions but have long spoken out against the practice.
The 40 Days for Life Phoenix campaign has prayed regularly outside Valley Planning Associates, near 7th Street and McDowell Road since 2013. The is site is about a mile from the basilica.
“If Prop 139 [the Arizona Abortion Access Act] passes, that doesn’t change what we are doing,” she said. “We continue our prayers regardless of what happens. We need people to cover those sidewalks.”
The essential right
Dr. Daphne Demello, a pediatrician and parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle in Phoenix, is part of this fall’s campaign.
“I’m going to try to pray every day, and give up something, as we do in Lent.
In our church, on a specific weekend, we will place flags equal to the number of abortions carried out in the state,” she said.
While her focus is on praying and sharing Christ’s love, Dr. Demello also takes opportunities to discuss the issue medically.
“I have studied embryology and how a baby develops. Some people I’ve talked to think [a fetus] is just a blob of cells. I try to tell them once a sperm and egg fuse, that structure as the entire DNA construct of a human being. By the time it is eight weeks [of gestation], the entire human heart is formed, all four chambers of the heart are already there. The neurological system also is developed,” she said.
Gabby Sierra, a parishioner at Most Holy Trinity in Phoenix, has participated for years in 40 Days for Life events.
The experience continues to move her.
“The right to live is the most essential right. We can’t fight for protection of a human being if that individual is not given the right to live and protected in a place where it should be safest.”
In recent years, Sierra has become convicted to pray more for a change of hearts among younger people.
“We have to create consciousness for future generations. I pray it, and say it, and live it and leave it in God’s hands.
“Seeing prayers answered gives me bigger motivation.”
