By Angelique Ruhi-Lopez - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Members of St. Joachim's youth group keep vigil outside Eve Medical Center in Kendall April 7 during the 40 Days for Life 2017 campaign.
MIAMI | The 40 Days for Life Lenten prayer campaign concluded Palm Sunday at three local abortion facilities, in Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
People from many parishes participated in the prayer vigil. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, they took turns praying, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., for an end to abortion and the closure of these facilities.
The St. Joachim youth group kept vigil from 4 to 6 p.m. April 7 and prayed the rosary while holding signs at the Eve Medical Center in Kendall.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Marc Farner blows the shofar at the conclusion of the 40 Days for Life vigil outside A Women's Center of Hollywood April 9.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
From left: Natalie Bauta, John Bauta, Mary Bauta, Grace Chaffins and Emily Chaffins take part in the 40 Days for Life vigil outside Eve Medical Center in Kendall. The vigil began Ash Wednesday and ended Palm Sunday, with participants taking turn to pray every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
During the 40 days of prayer at A Women’s Center of Hollywood, one young couple was persuaded to leave the abortion clinic thanks to the prayers of those present � and a pamphlet they were given with information on the Respect Life Broward office.
To end the 40 Days for Life at the Hollywood location, Nancy Farner, the coordinator of the campaign there, and her husband Marc led a “Jericho march” around the building April 9 � complete with Marc blowing a shofar � to pray for the closure of the clinic.
Nancy Farner would also pray at the facility every morning before work and would return to pray in the evening after work, together with her 85-year-old mother and 87-year-old mother-in-law, who would hold respect life signs and join in prayer.
“We’re getting together and we’re standing for life,” said Farner. “It’s amazing to see what God can do when people come together in his name.”
Among the parishes who participated in the Hollywood campaign were Nativity, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Bonaventure, Little Flower Hollywood, andSt. Boniface. Students from Catholic schools also participated, including Chaminade-Madonna and Archbishop Edward McCarthy.
“We made a difference,” wrote Maria Wadsworth, who coordinated the Kendall vigil, in a newsletter to her fellow St. Louis parishioners. “People noticed us and asked what were we doing there. Many did not know there was an abortion facility nearby, had no idea that ‘Eve's Medical Spa’ was doing second trimester abortions. They cringed to think they were aborting babies up to 6 months.”
She added that “people who saw us joined us and shared their personal story (about) how abortion in some way had touched their lives, reassuring us of the importance of being there and the value of all lives.”
The vigils at Eve’s Medical Center
will continue every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon. So will other weekly or monthly vigils at abortion facilities in Miami-Dade and Broward. See the list
of places and times here.
