By Rocio Granados - La Voz Catolica

Photography: ROCIO GRANADOS | FC

MIAMI | In witness to the gift of life and in opposition to Amendment 4, the campus ministry office of St. Thomas University (STU) in Miami Gardens organized a pro-life prayer and reflection vigil Sept. 27, 2024.

"We want to bear witness to the Gospel of Life and express ourselves as faithful Catholics for the pro-life cause in our community of Miami," said Father Rafael Capó, vice-president of Missions and chaplain of STU's campus ministry.

The event was held at STU the day after a panel discussion on Amendment 4, that included Archbishop Thomas Wenski, of Miami.

Amendment 4, which will be on the November ballot, uses misleading language to remove several restrictions on abortion, such as parental consent and the presence of a physician.

"As Catholics, believers in Christ, we must vote no on Amendment 4," said Gianluca Chabla, a biology mayor and member of STU's campus ministry.

His classmate, Aníbal Valencia, a theology and political science student at STU, said that "we must take care of the children in the womb (of their mothers), they are human beings, it is the beginning of life, the first God-given dignity granted to man."

"These young men are leading the event and showing their leadership in the Church and in the community," noted Father Capó.

Msgr. Enrique Delgado, Auxiliary Bishop of Miami, pointed out that "we must say yes to life. We cannot allow children to die because we simply do not give that life a chance." He added that there is a trade in abortions, "and this Amendment 4, if it passes, could make Miami an abortion destination, and we don't want that."

The event, held on the college campus, brought together faithful from the community, the Knights of Columbus' "Knights on Bikes," members of the Hispanic apostolic movements and the archdiocesan Respect Life ministry, and students from St. Thomas University and nearby Monsignor Edward Pace High School.

The vigil began with worship music by Julio Soriano, a theology professor and associate director of campus ministry at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami.

"This Amendment 4 is anti-God. It is anti-life," declared STU President David Armstrong.

"God creates life. Everything in between is God's choice, not man's," Armstrong stated. "Amendment 4 is all about man's choice to take life. We have to defeat this amendment."

The evening was nuanced by the singing and testimonies of the Sisters of Life — Sister Ann Immaculee, Sister Lumen Gloriae and Sister Catherine Joy Marie — three religious women who profess a fourth vow, to protect and enhance the sanctity of human life.

The community was founded in 1991 by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York to minister women vulnerable to abortion; to give them the support and resources to choose life for themselves and their children, to evangelize the youth, and to help women who have suffered after an abortion so they can experience the mercy and healing of Jesus Christ.

Sister Ann Immaculee shared first-hand experiences of women who chose life for their children and said, "every human heart, including your own, has been chosen by God to exist."

At the end of the event some members of the community, students and leaders of archdiocesan movements prayed for a culture of life; for finding alternatives to abortion; for healing for those affected by abortion; for valuing the dignity and life of the elderly and the disabled; for defending the sanctity of life from conception to natural death; and for pro-life ministries to be strengthened in their mission to defend life and support those in need.

THE ISSUE OF LIFE

For this reason, the consistent message of life is to protect life, to defend life, and to demand respect for all life, from the moment of conception to natural death."

On the issue of life, Fr. Alfred Cioffi, director of the Bioethics Program at St. Thomas University, noted:

"We must have a consistent message of life, which means that all life is sacred because it comes from God.

Photographer: ROCIO GRANADOS | FC

Participants in the Pro-life rally pray that Amendment 4 will not pass in Florida in the November election. The event was held at St. Thomas University Sept. 27, 2024.

We, as brothers and sisters, must recognize that life, and we are privileged to be able to know life on this planet. Now, there is something additional to human life: that we are the image of God from conception because our parents created us and gave us human genetics until natural death.

So, the consistent message of life is that there must be respect for human life at every stage of development.

Right now we see that the two most vulnerable stages of human life are under heavy attack.

It is in these two stages that we are dependent on others: the unborn, of course, in the womb of their mothers; and at the end of life, in senility, we are also at the expense of what they do to us.

Therefore, as human beings who reflect the image of God, we must put emphasis on these two most precarious stages of life, because we are one humanity, we are the image of God, the image of Christ, and Jesus has already taught us the way, the true way of truth and life.