Young Missionaries Spread Pro-Life Message in N.Y.C.

By Marie Elena Giossi

Marie Elena Giossi Photos  

Father Lawrence Joseph, CFR, prays over the Missionaries of the Eucharist in Cadman Plaza, Downtown Brooklyn. This was one stop along this Washington, D.C.- based group’s summerlong Procession for Life.

Bringing hope to a world in darkness is how college student Josh Guenther describes his participation in the Missionaries of the Eucharist’s more than 1,000-mile Procession for Life, which passed through Downtown Brooklyn, last Friday afternoon.

About two dozen lay missionaries and their supporters spread their pro-Catholic, pro-life and pro-love message last weekend in various locations throughout the city, just one stop along their second annual summerlong Procession for Life.

Pilgrims set out from Lewiston, Maine, on June 11 and plan to trek about 1,100 miles — all the while praying at abortion clinics, counseling people about human dignity and spreading God’s love through 12 states across the northeast until they reach Washington, D.C., around Aug. 12. For lodging, they rely on the hospitality of local dioceses, religious groups and friends.

Since taking time away from work and other responsibilities is a sacrifice for these college students, many are participating for a few days or weeks here and there while some will walk for the entire two months.

In preparation for the walk, pilgrims received training from expert Christopher West, faculty member at the Theology of the Body Institute.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Missionaries of the Eucharist is a group of college students and young adults committed to evangelizing all men and women, promoting human dignity and bringing about a culture of life with the message of the Theology of the Body.

The group was formed on Dec. 8, 2005 by several University of Maryland students. Today, there are about 60 members across the country and in Mexico.

“We’re not even two years old and … it’s a challenge to have it run by college students because most of the founders have moved onto other things like the seminary and family life,” said Guenther, 21, director of the group.

“I was raised Catholic,” said Josh, a graduate of St. Mary’s H.S. in Annapolis, Md., “but I was only nominally Catholic. I went to college and found my faith again.”

When he began college, he said, “I got involved in a Catholic community and I kind of converted back to the faith. When I transferred to the University of Maryland, it was because I desired community. We have a great Catholic community at the University of Maryland.”

Friends introduced him to the group and taking part in this walk, he says, is a manifestation of his “desire to serve the Lord … and bring hope to a world that’s in a lot of darkness now.”

Besides this Procession for Life, the group is active in various pro-Catholic activities including the Catholic Underground, a cultural apostolate of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Youth 2000 and the annual March for Life.

He says the group grows and their message spreads through word of mouth and the “Catholic Internet culture.”

Missionaries started their day on July 20 with 8 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Manhattan, and they marched through Times Square to the Church of the Holy Innocents and Shrine for the Unborn, 37th St. and Broadway.

Among the crowd were Father Lawrence Joseph, CFR, and Brother Justin Alarcon, CFR, from St. Felix Friary, the Bronx.

Walkers stopped at a former abortion mill and offered Glory Bes for the lives lost there. Then they headed over to Margaret Sanger Center International, the international arm of Planned Parenthood on Bleecker St., where they prayed the rosary and counseled women and men.

One young man had a change of heart, according to Guenther, but when he tried to get inside the abortuary to speak to his girlfriend, he was not allowed to see her.

Before continuing their walk, they handed the man a strand of rosary beads — one of hundreds they distributed during the day.

“They’re fearless about bringing Christ to the streets,” said Father Luke Sweeney, vocation director for the New York Archdiocese, who participated in the walk. “They’ve touched a lot of people today.”

After pausing to pray at Ground Zero, the group, led by a yellow and white papal flag and cross, marched over the Brooklyn Bridge and finished their walk around 2:30 p.m. at the William Jay Gaynor monument in Cadman Plaza.

Evie Evora and friend Vannia Ettelman sat down and took a breather. They joined the group at Holy Innocents, where they’d seen flyers in the church.

Evora was disappointed more New Yorkers hadn’t turned out to support these “fantastic” young people.

This was the second year Elizabeth Andrew, a teacher in Port Washington, L.I., walked; she joined the group last summer.

Cross bearer Lauren Franko

“When we pray with our bodies,” she said, “that’s just as useful as writing a check. It’s so easy to put your money toward a cause, but what about your face?

“Supporting the culture of life is the most important thing you can do with your time. … If you don’t participate, you’re accepting the status quo, the culture of death,” Andrew said.

“I am in love with JP2’s Theology of the Body,” said Lauren Franko, 21, a junior at Drew University, who rested her head against the crucifix, which she held high at the front of the procession for six-and-a-half hours.

“You don’t see a lot of young people in churches. We go to daily Mass. It’s nice to be among young people who are on fire for God,” said Franko, who heard about the missionaries at Catholic Underground in Manhattan.

She set out with the group on June 11 and was ending her journey last Friday to heed another call to service — as an aspirant with the Dominican Sisters of Summit, N.J.

During their weekend in New York, the group visited the Sisters of Life, participated in Youth 2000 NY’s major annual event, and prayed at a Bronx abortion mill.

Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano extended some old-fashioned Brooklyn hospitality and provided overnight accommodations and meals for the group at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston. Walkers rested and met retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily.

Tuesday morning pilgrims were in Newark for the next leg of their journey, which will bring them to Philadelphia by July 27.

“Hopefully, year after year as it grows, more people, especially from this area, can join with them,” said Brother Justin.

For more about the Missionaries of the Eucharist, log onto www.missionariesoftheeucharist.org.

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