2025 March for Life, Courtesy of Paul Fifield
2025 March for Life, Courtesy of Haley Fifield
Right to Life Holy Hour
Seton School on Jan 22, 2025
The theme for this holy hour is the right to life. So in addition to praying a Chaplet of Mercy for the success of the March for Life in two days and for our newly inaugurated president, Donald Trump and his pro-life efforts, we are going to give a brief overview of the pro-life movement in the last 50+ years and its connection to our Seton School.
On January 22nd in the year 1973 the United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in America from conception till birth. That is why every January for the last 52 years Washington, DC has hosted a March for Life to defend life from conception till natural death. The first March took place on January 22, 1974, exactly one year after the Supreme Court’s infamous decision. It was Nellie Gray, a pro-life activist from Texas who organized it. Nellie was the commencement speaker for two Seton graduating classes. Nellie died in 2012 just two years shy of running her 40th March for Life. But Nellie’s March is still going and, this Friday, January 24th, the 52nd March will take place again. Seton School’s founding coincides with the battle to protect life in the womb that Roe v. Wade introduced, and Seton School has been represented at every March, even in 1987 when a blizzard kept most people home. Today’s holy hour is taking place on the actual anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and this day is officially called, “The Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.” The actual March for Life now takes place on the closest weekday connected to a weekend to enable more people to come into DC and stand up for life. Although Roe v. Wade was overturned two years ago, the struggle to end abortion in our country is now in the hands of each individual state. Let us pray this chaplet today to end abortion forever in our beloved state of Virginia and throughout our nation.
Oh Lord that we can see.
What is it that opens our eyes to see the Truth? Dr. Bernard Nathanson was an abortionist between 1970 and 1979. He was the founder of NARAL, a pro-abortion organization and he coined many of the phrases still used by the pro-abortion industry today. He oversaw 75,000 abortions from his clinic in New York and performed 5000 of those abortions himself, one of which was his own child. He had absolutely no remorse for what he was doing until the ultra-sound technology was invented and he saw the reaction of a little child undergoing an ultra-sound guided abortion. This ultra-sound guided abortion video was titled, “The Silent Scream.” This experience is what finally changed his heart. It opened the eyes of many people who were completely accepting of abortion. Bernard Nathanson not only became pro-life because of it, but he was eventually led to the Catholic Faith. His own book about his conversion is titled, “The Hand of God,” and it is the grace and Mercy of God that really changes hearts. So let us say this chaplet today for the grace to open the eyes of those who cannot see the Truth and to touch the hearts of those hardened against God’s fifth commandment that says, “Thou shall not kill.”
This is the 50th Anniversary for Seton School and the Pro-Life cause was one of the pillars upon which Dr. and Mrs. Carroll founded the school.
In the early years of Seton many students, teachers and parents participated in Operation Rescue, a nationwide organization founded in 1986 by Randall Terry. His organization attempted to peacefully close abortion clinics all over the country that were in the process of killing babies. Members of Operation Rescue would illegally block the entrance to the abortion facilities to keep mothers from entering and it saved many babies in the process. Dozens of people from the Seton community, including many students, willfully participated in breaking the law to rescue babies with Operation Rescue. And every year Seton would honor those students who were arrested trying to save babies at the awards ceremonies at the end of the year. None of the Seton students that were arrested ever spent any time in prison because they were underage, and the offence was considered only a misdemeanor at first. Operation Rescue was eventually shut down when the courts started giving year-long prison sentences to anyone who participated in a rescue. But many families began sending their students to Seton when they saw our students at these “rescues” attempting to save the lives of babies. Let us pray this chaplet of Divine Mercy today for the future of Seton School and all the new families that this school will help to educate.
After Operation Rescue was shut down, Shawn Carney, also from Texas, founded 40 Days for Life in 2004 and started “legally” shutting down abortion clinics all over the country by organizing people to systematically pray around the clock for 40 hours in a row in front of abortion clinics.
Shawn always got permits and followed the local laws before he started his 40 hours. This process proved even more successful than Operation Rescue and was the way that we were finally able to shut down the abortion facility here in Manassas that had been operational for decades killing thousands of babies only about one mile from Seton. Seton dad Robert Baldwin organized the Manassas 40 Days for Life. Seton students would participate in 40 Days for Life praying in front of the facility. It was many Seton families that were instrumental in working with 40 Days for Life to finally shut down the facility and then purchase the same space to start the Mother of Mercy Free Medical facility, now run by Mrs. Luevano, a former Seton mom. Shawn Carney was also the person who reached out to Abby Johnson in friendship while she was running a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Bryan, Texas. And when Abby had a change of heart about abortion and was not sure where to turn, it was to Shawn and the 40 Days for Life people located just around the corner from the abortion clinic that she went to. They took Abby in and guided her to today being the number one voice of the pro-life movement in America. Just like Dr. Bernard Nathanson, it was while assisting at an ultra-sound guided abortion, because the clinic was shorthanded of staff members, that Abby had her change of heart. And like Dr. Nathanson, Abby has also converted to the Catholic Faith. As we pray this Divine Mercy chaplet let us remember that God’s Mercy is infinite and can touch even the most hardened of hearts and then do great things with them.
In 1989, soon after the abortion clinic opened in Manassas, Pat Lohman, a Seton mom at the time, started AAA Women for Choice a pro-life organization that rented space right next door to the abortion facility.
They would assist women coming to the abortion clinic for abortions who mistakenly came into their facility, because AAA Women for Choice sounds like it might be an abortion facility. When women came into their facility Pat and her volunteers would prayerfully try to get them to reconsider their decision to abort their babies. They also eventually acquired an ultra-sound machine and would encourage the mothers to see the ultra-sound of their babies and hear their heartbeat. Many babies were saved and are alive today because of the efforts of Pat Lohman and her volunteers. They supplied counseling, financial support and everything necessary to help take care of the babies if these women would choose to have their babies instead of walking next door to the actual abortion clinic. AAA Women for Choice was open for 28 years and many Seton families and students volunteered there until the abortion clinic was finally shut down and the Pat’s facility was no longer necessary. Pat Lohman was a truly heroic woman that stepped up to do her part to protect babies and their mothers. As we pray this Divine Mercy chaplet, let us ask God what His Will is for each of us and how we can help His Kingdom to come down to this earth and defend life.
The opening of AAA Women for Choice by Pat Lohman sparked a lot of volunteer efforts from many Seton families to pray and counsel and work to close the abortion facility in Manassas.
Seton families and many others took it personally that this atrocity should be happening right in our community. This is especially true of two Seton dads, Ken Groves and Brian Shaw, who went out of their way to reach out to the widow of the doctor who ran the abortion facility in Manassas for almost 30 years. When he died and his widow had to decide what to do with the abortion facility, which was still operational, they showed such kindness toward her that she agreed to sell the facility to a group of donors, many who were Seton parents. These donors were able to buy the facility directly from her to assure that no other abortion clinic ever opened there again. They were eventually able to turn the former abortion facility into the Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic that now provides medical services to an estimated 4500 families in the Manassas area who do not have insurance. A second similar facility has now opened in Woodbridge. Because of the efforts and vision of these two Seton dads and the generous families who contributed money to stop the future destruction of life, a place of great evil was turned into a place of great good. As we finish this Divine Mercy chaplet let us especially thank God for bringing Seton School to Manassas 50 years ago and for the hundreds of families who have entrusted their children to Seton. Let us thank God for the tremendous community of Faith and Love that Seton has become. Each of your families is part of that community.
