Yesterday's 40 Days for Life Vigil in St Mary's Street, Cardiff was a lively affair (at least from 3pm onwards when we joined the little group who prayed so fervently outside the abortion clinic).
Those against Life.....................
Mrs L and myself had booked in for a one hour slot from 3pm until 4pm. We sang the Salve Regina, prayed the Rosary, recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet and, in between, chatted and laughed among ourselves; after all, for the general public to see Christians keeping vigil with smiling faces, must be almost as good as praying.
We also got soaking wet from the incessant rain.
Being an inveterate people watcher I found the response of passers by fascinating.
Most expressed a look of disgust or even anger, a few gawped vacantly, some were obviously in mental tutting mode and one young man called out as he went past at pace: "God bless you all".
That was a most welcome blessing and may God bless him also.
And then, on the stroke of four, just as a sit down and a cup of hot coffee beckoned, a young woman appeared and entered into debate with Colleen the local organiser present and Mrs Linen. Due to traffice noise I could not hear all of what the young woman was saying but, apparently the gist was:
" This is only the concern of the woman herself and it is her perfect right to choose abortion if she so wishes, and, what is more, she is only getting rid of a parasite"
A Parasite? - I have never heard that word used to describe an unborn child. In truth it shocked me.
Meanwhile, Mark from Perth came under fire from a couple of young men who then transferred their attention to me. They took a theological approach claiming that there was no such thing as a soul and then they went on to why the Holy Father was retiring ("because of his links to child abuse").
I try to avoid such debates because I have a very short fuse that becomes even shorter when faced with banal arguments. I tried hard to hold on to the fact that these young men were much loved by God, and it seemed to work as we entered into a bantering sort of debate with a great deal of smiling and laughter.
Finally, thet set up an impromptu counter vigil opposite proclaiming: "I quite like abortion" - but they lasted less than ten minutes before they moved on.
By then it was around 3.45pm but before we could take our leave an uproar broke out as gangs of homeless young men, with cans of extra strong lager in their hands, clashed violently and bloodily opposite.
An event unconnected with the vigil but somewhat unnerving nonetheless.
.........and those for Life
How could we walk away with so much action taking place?
By now, our numbers were down to four in total.
We held on until Mary arrived but then a middle aged woman began to harangue us in a most unpleasant fashion. As always, the organising representatives, were cool and, to all appearances, unconcerned, the prayers continued without pause; there are some that are beyond reason and this woman was one of them, please pray for her and the others who opposed the vigil and the cause.
Finally, at 5.40pm we broke off and limped away, determined to return to fight another day.
The Cardiff organisers have put out a call for male volunteers to register for the 4pm to 8pm slot on Saturday night - at present they only have women signed up and it looks like being a rough slot.
It would be a wonderful thing if a parish group could respond so that the numbers were into double figures, please pray that this will happen.
Mrs L and myself had booked in for a one hour slot from 3pm until 4pm. We sang the Salve Regina, prayed the Rosary, recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet and, in between, chatted and laughed among ourselves; after all, for the general public to see Christians keeping vigil with smiling faces, must be almost as good as praying.
We also got soaking wet from the incessant rain.
Being an inveterate people watcher I found the response of passers by fascinating.
Most expressed a look of disgust or even anger, a few gawped vacantly, some were obviously in mental tutting mode and one young man called out as he went past at pace: "God bless you all".
That was a most welcome blessing and may God bless him also.
And then, on the stroke of four, just as a sit down and a cup of hot coffee beckoned, a young woman appeared and entered into debate with Colleen the local organiser present and Mrs Linen. Due to traffice noise I could not hear all of what the young woman was saying but, apparently the gist was:
" This is only the concern of the woman herself and it is her perfect right to choose abortion if she so wishes, and, what is more, she is only getting rid of a parasite"
A Parasite? - I have never heard that word used to describe an unborn child. In truth it shocked me.
Meanwhile, Mark from Perth came under fire from a couple of young men who then transferred their attention to me. They took a theological approach claiming that there was no such thing as a soul and then they went on to why the Holy Father was retiring ("because of his links to child abuse").
I try to avoid such debates because I have a very short fuse that becomes even shorter when faced with banal arguments. I tried hard to hold on to the fact that these young men were much loved by God, and it seemed to work as we entered into a bantering sort of debate with a great deal of smiling and laughter.
Finally, thet set up an impromptu counter vigil opposite proclaiming: "I quite like abortion" - but they lasted less than ten minutes before they moved on.
By then it was around 3.45pm but before we could take our leave an uproar broke out as gangs of homeless young men, with cans of extra strong lager in their hands, clashed violently and bloodily opposite.
An event unconnected with the vigil but somewhat unnerving nonetheless.
How could we walk away with so much action taking place?
By now, our numbers were down to four in total.
We held on until Mary arrived but then a middle aged woman began to harangue us in a most unpleasant fashion. As always, the organising representatives, were cool and, to all appearances, unconcerned, the prayers continued without pause; there are some that are beyond reason and this woman was one of them, please pray for her and the others who opposed the vigil and the cause.
Finally, at 5.40pm we broke off and limped away, determined to return to fight another day.
The Cardiff organisers have put out a call for male volunteers to register for the 4pm to 8pm slot on Saturday night - at present they only have women signed up and it looks like being a rough slot.
It would be a wonderful thing if a parish group could respond so that the numbers were into double figures, please pray that this will happen.
 |
| A "parasite" |
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