Why OLMC Marched

There’s a reason Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s entire 8th grade gathered at the Denville Park & Ride at 5:45 a.m. on Friday morning to take the five hour bus ride down to Washington D.C.’s 2020 March for Life. The school had not compelled them and neither had their parents, nor had they exercised any kind of peer pressure on one another; the students knew they were free to attend or not as they saw fit, and without penalty either way. One and all, they chose to march. In many ways, that decision was the natural result of their OLMC experience.   

Every day, the students grapple with the competing narratives vying for their allegiance on the most fundamental questions about what it means to be human. They are encouraged to engage in robust debate, but their ideas must confront and conform to reality: They may not, for example, sacrifice science for a convenient illusion. As a result, their studies about DNA and embryology cannot fail to inform their understanding of what an abortion accomplishes.

They’re also immersed in true beauty every day, such that they become enamored with it and repelled by anything less. When they think on these issues, therefore, they’re drawn to celebrate and protect human life, for surely there’s nothing more beautiful than that. By contrast, they recoil from the violence and vulgarity of a viewpoint that celebrates the absolute power of one person over another.

And finally they are taught to love what is good. They’re moved by the woman whose sign boldly proclaims that she was young, alone, and afraid but she chose life anyway, and her child just graduated college. They’re deeply affected by the mother who left the abortion clinic at the last minute and bravely chose adoption for her baby instead. And they’re inspired by the survivor who now speaks out against a choice she regrets.

But the students don’t merely lock all this truth, beauty, and goodness away in their hearts and minds; rather, they are called to action by it. So it is no wonder that these young men and women both wholeheartedly claim the pro-life mantle for themselves and wear it proudly as ambassadors of their families and school community. They gathered before dawn and eagerly mounted the steps of that bus because they were stirred to give voice to the voiceless. It was a transformative experience, and they came home awakened and enlivened by the knowledge that they are truly free to change the world.