The pro-life community of Hillsdale has turned another cancellation into an opportunity to make history, as it plans to as they host the first ever Hillsdale March for Life.
The city of Hillsdale will have its first pro-life march on Friday, Jan. 29 at 3:30 p.m. The march will begin on Broad Street, in front of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, and will end at the courthouse with remarks from Fr. Adam Rick and Fr. David Reamsnyder.
The local march is meant to resemble the National March for Life, which recently changed to a virtual event because of concerns surrounding COVID-19 and the Jan. 6 tensions around the Capitol.
Rich Moeggenberg, director of financial aid for the college and one of the march’s organizers, said all community members are welcome.
“In D.C., there are people who come together with a common cause and it’s the most noble cause,” Moeggenberg said. “As Christians, we are called to defend the dignity of every human being, and one way we do that and in the public is to march.”
According to Hillsdale College for Life president Olivia Manocchio, more than over 150 Hillsdale students attended the national march last year.
“There’s a legacy of Hillsdale College’s public demonstration for the right to life and for the unborn,” Moeggenberg said. “We’ve filled anywhere from one to three buses for many years and gone to D.C. That just didn’t happen this year.”
Manocchio said she hopes students who were considering attending the march in Washington—a much longer and more expensive trip—will still take time out of their day to pray at the local march.
“We need to change laws, but we also need to be praying and changing hearts,” Manocchio said.
Laura Leutheuser, a member of Hillsdale County Right to Life, said the idea of a local march had been talked about for years, but finally came to fruition this year when she contacted Moeggenberg, a member of the Knights of Columbus.
On the first Sunday of every month, the Knights of Columbus meet at the courthouse parking lot to pray for various intentions, including the unborn. Leutheuser asked if the men would be able to make their prayer walk into a community event.
“It’s so perfect because the Knights of Columbus are an organization based on charity,” Leutheuser said. “It’s just taken wings.”
Hillsdale College for Life and Catholic Society members are helping make signs, organize prayers, and lead hymns at the march.
Pastors throughout the city have helped spread the information to their congregations, Moeggenberg said.
“Take the clock back two weeks and I thought it was going to be a group of old guys walking, and now it’s kind of turned into something beautiful and something local,” Moeggenberg said. “I think it’s just a great ecumenical event, that can bring together all those who believe in Christ. The Gospel tells us to defend life and that’s what we’re doing.”
Leutheuser said Hillsdale is a very pro-life community with many resources, such as Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center, for women facing crisis pregnancies. She said participating locally is part of an effort across the country of citizens supporting the sanctity of life.
“We can visibly make a statement in our own communities for those who are so vulnerable,” Leutheuser said.
