Stranded on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76/70) with over 500 vehicles for up to 32 hours,
including our two buses from southeastern Ohio, a busload of students from Iowa
built a snow altar on the side of the interstate. It was an act of faith since they did not
have a priest with them. However, word
got around and six priests showed up, including one with 600 hosts. Soon 500 students gathered for this beautiful
impromptu Mass in the boonies along the highway near New Baltimore in south
central Pennsylvania about half way between Somerset and Bedford in the
Allegheny Mountains not far from the Allegheny Tunnel. For a video click
on http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/23/stranded-march-for-life-pilgrims-celebrate-mass-on-snow-altar-on-pennsylvania-turnpike/. There’s more photos
at https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/stranded-catholic-march-for-life-participants-celebrate-mass-on-altar-made. Another such Mass (unconfirmed) was reported to the West on
I-70 which shoots off the Turnpike. According to another account, the priest only
had 30 sacred hosts and, while breaking them into small pieces to give
communion to some 500 pilgrims, they seemed to multiply…….miraculous if true. For coverage of conflicting accounts, click on https://churchpop.com/2016/01/28/priest-who-led-turnpike-mass-responds-to-miracle-claims/.
In any event the greatest miracle of all is the transubstantiation of the bread and
wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ that occurs at every Mass all over
the world.
On Thursday night, the day before the March for
Life on January 22, we watched a dramatization of the Donner Party on the Weather Channel in our Maryland Holiday
Inn. The wagon train with 86 people left
in June for the allure of California, expecting to arrive in September. However, instead of going the normal southern
route, the party decided to follow a tip and take a “short cut” through the Rockies of
northern Nevada with an ox pulling and the men pushing each wagon up the mountains. The short cut turned
into a long cut and they were stuck in the snow and lived in an improvised
shelter. Half of them died of starvation
and the rest somehow survived, thanks to the dead that helped them. Was this a harbinger of what was to come with
our two covered wagons?
Let’s
digress to the very beginning of the journey when we left St. Louis
Church - Gallipolis at 4:30 am Thursday
January 21 with Fr. Tom, our pastor and five others from our parish plus a
couple from St. Joseph - Ironton. Timmy
and Chrissy Stapleton with their two lovely older daughters, Aubrey (11) and Riley (10) as well as Fr. David Schmidt decided to
go separately in their reconstructed four wheel drive Chrysler Aspen SUV. The Stapleton clan rebuilds salvage cars for
a living…….a small industry in the Crown City area.
After picking up passengers from
Sacred Heart -Pomeroy, St. Ambrose – Belpre, St. Paul's and Christ the King
(Ohio U) in Athens, and St. Francis Xavier – Parkersburg, we had a full
bus. The northern bus had people from
the four parishes of Noble County, St. Bernard’s – Beverly, St. Mary’s Basilica – Marietta, Assumption – Barnesville, Christ Our Light – Cambridge, St. Mary's in St.
Clairsville, etc.
Of my six marches this came closest to being a pure pilgrimage/retreat. A pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place to pray. There isn’t much holy in Washington, but we did make this journey to pray. Of course, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a Basilica, where we attended the solemn Vigil for Life Mass, is indeed a very holy place. Also holy is the St. John Paul II Center, the Franciscan Monastery, etc. In pilgrimages of the Middle Ages, pilgrims went by foot for weeks and encountered highway robbers and the weather. Our pilgrimage was much easier than that, but we were not without hardship and sacrifice which we offered up for Life.…….an end to abortion, euthanasia, and illicit research that destroys fertilized eggs and utilizes aborted fetuses.
Of my six marches this came closest to being a pure pilgrimage/retreat. A pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place to pray. There isn’t much holy in Washington, but we did make this journey to pray. Of course, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a Basilica, where we attended the solemn Vigil for Life Mass, is indeed a very holy place. Also holy is the St. John Paul II Center, the Franciscan Monastery, etc. In pilgrimages of the Middle Ages, pilgrims went by foot for weeks and encountered highway robbers and the weather. Our pilgrimage was much easier than that, but we were not without hardship and sacrifice which we offered up for Life.…….an end to abortion, euthanasia, and illicit research that destroys fertilized eggs and utilizes aborted fetuses.
Fr. George of St. Francis Xavier –
Parkersburg led the Rosary and the Chaplet of Diving Mercy on the way there and
twice on the very long 31 hour trek back.
We watched six inspiring and thought provoking movies on the trip…….Our
Lady of Guadalupe, “Boy in the Striped Pajamas” in Auschwitz, Fatima, “Bella”, “Man for All Seasons” (St. Thomas
More), and “For Greater Glory (Blessed José Sánchez del Rio)”.
.
.
We were privileged to have with us
Sharon Colvin, Director of Development of the Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC)
out of Athens http://athenspregnancy.com. She gave us two seminars
on the bus, one each way. On the way
back we discussed our encounter with the pro-abortion demonstration. Sharon brought out that about 40% of women
who have had abortions attended church regularly. About 70% identified themselves as Christian. Roughly a third of all women over the age of 45
have had an abortion. Thus many women in
our midst have had abortions. Two thirds
of the women believed that abortion was murder before their abortions, but fear
drove them into it……..fear of shame, fear to their reputation, fear of the ire
of their parents, the disruption of their careers. Very common is that the boy friend and even the mother push the girl into the
abortion. This shows the great
importance of fostering a loving pro-life mentality in the home.
Notice the caps that one of the women made for all of us……90
all together. She even runs marathons. Those black and white caps really helped us to stay
together in the big crowd. Since they
kidded me about getting lost two years ago (I lost them because they met across
from the Supreme Court building, not in front of it). I was saying that it’s less stressful to follow
the black and white hats.
National Prayer Vigil for Life.
After checking in at our motel in Hyattsville, MD, we took two Metro
commuter trains to the magnificent Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception. I went down the
center aisle and somehow found two seats just before it was blocked off. I couldn’t bear to see an empty seat with so
many people standing. So I got
permission to look for a woman or elderly person.
To my surprise almost all of
those alone were young…….in their teens and twenties. The future of the pro-life movement is full
of hope. Finally, a beautiful young
woman asked for the seat……Kendra Burger, the Director of Educational Outreach
for Iowa Right to Life. She related how
she started a Students for Life group at Simpson College, a very liberal
school, where she was majoring in Opera.
Kendra related that someone put sugar in her gas tank and another cut
the valve stems from her tires. The
administration made it as difficult as they could. Jacob Hoback of Sacred Heart – Pomeroy, a
music major and recent on-fire convert discerning a possible vocation to the
priesthood, is trying to do start a Students for Life Chapter at Ohio U. Hopefully, he will contact
Kendra. Her most beautiful voice to my
right gave me a concert within a concert.
She reminded me of the great pro-life Irish singer, Dana Scallon (see
http://danaofficial.com/about/
and listen to Dana Rosemary Scallon - “Little
Baby in My Womb” on www.youtube.com). May Kendra also use her great gift for the
pro-life cause!
The procession of concelebrating
priests (including our pastor, Fr. Hamm), bishops, and cardinals took some 20
minutes. The choir was heavenly. Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New
York was the principal celebrant and a great homilist. His story about the poor woman who left her
new born baby in the empty crib of St. Patrick’s Cathedral before Christmas was
inspiring. Last year Seán Cardinal
O'Malley, the Archbishop of Boston had the same role.
Why Do We March? One sign answered that question.
- To preserve families.
- To preserve families.
- To tell the truth about what it means to be human.
- Standing for life is standing for women.
Our March Before the March. The next day we were expecting the worst as the Weather Channel was predicting. Our organizers, led by John Spencer (a field agent for Knights of Columbus insurance), decided to have our own march before the March, an hour before the official 1 pm start so that we could quickly exit Washington and avoid weather delays. I passed up the pre-March rally to meet my godson in the Archives Building at 9th and Constitution, a few blocks away from the starting point at 15th and Constitution. The Archives has a fabulous museum with the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Since 1776 we fought for the inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. For almost a century slaves were excluded and for the next century the civil rights of blacks remained an issue; today we are fighting for the right to life of the most defenseless of all…….the unborn.
I was unaware that my godson would
not enter the building since all of Washington was starting to close down late
in the morning. I left to meet my group
at noon, but regained contact with Dan who was held up. He decided to accompany me on our mini march
despite having left the Church and being “pro-choice”. Since the streets weren’t blocked off yet, we
had to go against the current. In other
years we saw people of all ages, mostly youth with their elementary schools,
high schools, and colleges. Last year I
noticed students from Ave Maria University, Christendom, Franciscan, Benedictine,
colleges from the Midwest, etc. Notre
Dame alone brought 14 busloads of students and a few professors from South
Bend, Indiana.
This year John Carroll U of
Cleveland and Franciscan University of Steubenville among others had busloads
of students. Inspiring was Fr. Chester
Papan of Noble County and Fr. David Schmidt of Sacred Heart Point Pleasant,
both recovering from hip and knee surgery respectively, who nevertheless made the trip. As always, there were babies and very young
kids. They add so much to the atmosphere
because this March is all about babies.
We obtained signs that were distributed by the
Knights of Columbus, Students for Life, and Americans United for Life. There included “Quitting takes courage”;
“Defend Life”; “I am the Pro-Life Generation”; “Yo soy la Generación
Pro-Vida”; “Team Life”; “Life counts”; "Standing for Life is standing for women"; "Why we march - to preserve families"; “Fewer
women would have abortions if the womb had windows” by Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a
former abortionist who admitted his responsibility for 75,000 abortions after seeing
the light of truth and becoming a great pro-life fighter.
Another sign quoted Abraham Lincoln: “No law can give me the right to do what is wrong”. In addition we had a quote by Martin Luther King. It might have been the very relevant "Our lives begin to end when we stay silent about things that matter".
Another sign quoted Abraham Lincoln: “No law can give me the right to do what is wrong”. In addition we had a quote by Martin Luther King. It might have been the very relevant "Our lives begin to end when we stay silent about things that matter".
The
Pro-Abortion Counter Demonstration. At
the end point, the Supreme Court where the legalization of abortion occurred on
January 22, 1973, a counter demonstration of perhaps 75 feminists awaited
us. They were dressed in apparently
bloodied white pants for back alley abortions.
Their angry chants communicated bitterness and hate with signs such as
“Abortion on Demand --- No Apologies”. We later learned that eight of them were
arrested. In the 43 Marches since the
fateful Roe v. Wade Decision, I know of no pro-life marcher ever having been
arrested. People from our group knelt
down in prayer and we all prayed the “Our Father”. One of the priests shouted back: "We love
you". Dan was impressed, not only
from our going to Washington on January 22 year after year in all kinds of
weather, but also the contrast between the peaceful and prayerful pro-life
group and the angry boisterous pro-abortion demonstrators.
Many
actually believe that a baby is not a baby until it takes its first
breath. Certainly, these are hurting
women who have had abortions. Post
Abortion Trauma is very very real. There are many many women who suffer
tremendous guilt and depression. Many
resort to drugs and some are even suicidal.
We took the Metro, a block away back to our motel where our "covered
wagons" were waiting. We had no desire to
get stuck in Washington if all of the roads out were closed down. Since all government offices were closed by
noon, it is questionable how many legislators and officials noticed us, but we
were there, our witness and prayers. We
know that God will still bring good out of this weather. He actually has because of increased media
attention. The driver of another bus was
healed of a prior abortion. Some day,
our nation will respect life from the womb to the tomb……..from conception to
natural death. Some day we will have a
culture of life and love, not death.
For our two “covered
wagons” it was “Westward Ho” and Home through the snow and the mountains at about 2 pm on Friday. Instead of taking our normal route I-68 West
and WV 50, we tried to circumvent the blizzard by going north to the
Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76/70) and I-70 W and I-77 South through Marietta. It turned out that our short cut was a long
cut. The storm changed course and got
ahead of us. One car had an accident; a
truck hit him; a bus tried to get around them and got stuck. Under blizzard conditions some 500 vehicles were
stuck on the eastern slopes of the Allegheny Mountains a few miles from the
Allegheny Tunnel between Bedford and Somerset. According
to another version, one or more 18 wheelers couldn’t make a steep grade and jackknifed,
blocking everyone behind. That was about 6:30 pm. That was really irrelevant since it was
questionable whether we could have made it through 18 inches or more of snow.
Tim
Stapleton and his crew went through the southern route. That may have been even more dangerous for
us. Tim drove under almost white out
conditions. He didn’t even know where
the road was at times. Hitting the
rumble strip was reassuring. They prayed
to Our Lady of the Snows for her intersession.
Lo and behold, they got behind a semi and followed its red back lights
the rest of the way. They made it back
at 3 am while we were still hunkered down on the Turnpike which was
closed. I-70 and I-79 were also closed
for a while.
We passed the time by sleeping, reading, praying, playing cards, watching videos, playing in the snow, having great fellowship and joking amidst Michael’s macabre jokes “We’re going to die”. We survived on potato chips and granola bars. The water was getting low, but we had a lot of snow we could use. One of the priests used the snow to brush his teeth. Since our bus was topped off at 87 gallons of gasoline, it idled all night, providing sufficient heat. However, our backsides got a little sore. It would have been scary being stranded in a car.
We passed the time by sleeping, reading, praying, playing cards, watching videos, playing in the snow, having great fellowship and joking amidst Michael’s macabre jokes “We’re going to die”. We survived on potato chips and granola bars. The water was getting low, but we had a lot of snow we could use. One of the priests used the snow to brush his teeth. Since our bus was topped off at 87 gallons of gasoline, it idled all night, providing sufficient heat. However, our backsides got a little sore. It would have been scary being stranded in a car.
The covered wagons of the Donner
Party couldn’t get through the snow of the Rockies. Our buses couldn’t get through the
Appalachians until the highway was plowed.
The Turnpike employees were working overtime to clear the road of snow
and any wreckage. The National Guard was called; they checked for
the safety of people in cars.
There was one jackknifed semi after another along the road. Finally, after 17 hours at 11:30 am, we were on our way. It was clear sailing the rest of the way. To our surprise, the roads were clear with over a foot of snow on the sides. Although the students of Franciscan University accompanied by their president, Fr. Sean Sheridan (see his letter in the Appendix) and my daughter's roommate Elizabeth, were close to us, their eight buses were stranded for 32 hours and obtained food and shelter from the National Guard. They also left earlier than usual as we did. I wonder why they were stuck for 15 hours longer than us. Other buses were headed for all points as far as Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, etc.
There was one jackknifed semi after another along the road. Finally, after 17 hours at 11:30 am, we were on our way. It was clear sailing the rest of the way. To our surprise, the roads were clear with over a foot of snow on the sides. Although the students of Franciscan University accompanied by their president, Fr. Sean Sheridan (see his letter in the Appendix) and my daughter's roommate Elizabeth, were close to us, their eight buses were stranded for 32 hours and obtained food and shelter from the National Guard. They also left earlier than usual as we did. I wonder why they were stuck for 15 hours longer than us. Other buses were headed for all points as far as Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, etc.
The secular press reported that “hundreds”
of faithful braved the weather. You’re
kidding me! Every year it’s the
same. Usually the secular media ignores
the March and if it takes any notice at all, it grossly underestimates the
numbers. We had hundreds stuck on the
turnpike alone. There were certainly
thousands in the March itself. Typically
it’s about 300,000. In some years it may
reach 500,000. It’s enough to mobilize
the Washington police and close down the 20 block path (about 2 miles) up Constitution
Avenue and around the Capitol Building and past the Supreme Court. There was even a rumor that the city would
cancel the March for Life permit.
Next year come with us for
another adventure (who knows what it will bring?) or at least watch the Vigil
Mass at 5:30 the night before and the Rally and March at 11 am on January 22 on
EWTN, the Catholic Cable Channel or via the internet on www.ewtn.com.
Many thanks to the Catholic Women’s Club and the Knights of Columbus who
helped to underwrite this adventure. For more photos click on https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0RQ4q-Brjr-a3NJSmM5d0lFV1U&usp=drive_web (our thanks to Michael Stapleton).
APPENDIX
We invite accounts by other pro-lifers who were stuck on the Turnpike. I'm especially interested in the snow altar and the veracity of the possible miraculous multiplying of the sacred hosts. Was there another Mass on the side of the highway at another location? The Mass on Pennsylvania Turnpike between Bedford and Somerset is well covered in the media and confirmed. You can put your own observations in the Comments section or send them to me at paulrsebastian@yahoo.com. I will be happy to add them in this appendix.
LETTER OF FR. SEAN SHERIDAN, PRESIDENT OF FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY
January 24, 2016
Dear Parents:
When
you look back over your life, what do you remember? Often we recall
the moments where the unexpected collides with our plans to create an
adventure. As most of you know, our trip this year to Washington, D.C.,
for the March for Life was an adventure we will long remember.
While
I was sorry for the long delays that our students, staff, friars, and
faculty endured with me on the return trip, I was not sorry to have made
the journey. Instead, I found my heart filled with gratitude.
First,
I was grateful that our students chose to brave winter's worst to show
love for mothers and unborn babies. Franciscan University students have
braved January weather many times before to give a courageous and
compassionate voice to those who cannot speak. You can be proud of your
students - their commitment is both challenging and humbling.
Second,
while this storm came on faster and on a different course than expected
and our earlier-than-usual departure from D.C. proved fruitless, I am
grateful for the spirit of the cooperation that occurred on our motor
coaches. One of the reasons the University sends buses to this event is
that we know so many of our students will participate, regardless of
whether we send buses or not. As a result, we want to offer the
availability of the safety of motor coaches rather than individual
vehicles for them.
While
we will probably have mixed emotions about the PA turnpike in the
future, we will also remember the conversations, the movies, and the
moments of laughter and prayer as each bus faced down the long hours of
waiting. Multiple times I was thankful that most of our students had
chosen to ride in motor coaches rather than drive. I did offer a prayer
for any students who were not riding in our coaches.
Please
join me in asking a prayer of blessing for our coach drivers. These
seasoned professionals skillfully returned us home safely and in good
spirits. When I think of the 500 vehicles stranded with us - truckers,
student-athletes from Duquesne and Temple universities, elderly couples,
young families - I realize that in comparison, with our full gas tanks,
heated coaches, movies, and restrooms, our adventure was safe and
fairly tolerable.
Most
of all, however, I am grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for the good
that came out of our situation - the increased media attention brought
to the March for Life, the bus driver with another group of marchers who
was healed of a past abortion, the witness of the outdoor Masses
celebrated by two parishes - and for the good that we will only see in
the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, or only when we enter into our
heavenly reward.
As
always, please don't hesitate to contact me with your thoughts,
suggestions, and affirmation. Thank you for your ongoing thoughts and
prayers. You have entrusted us with your students and your support. We
do not take either lightly. Together, let's continue to be courageous
in our pro-life and pro-woman witness, ever committed to building a true
culture of life and love.
In Christ and St. Francis,
Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR
President
