Walk for Life San Francisco Jan. 20, 2007

I did the Walk for Life in San Francisco on Saturday (my daughter and I walked at the first one in 2005) and I was very happy to see such a big group of walkers from all over the West Coast. I got there by bus this year and I have to say that is definitely the way to go - the seats were comfortable, I didn't have to fight the San Fran traffic or try to find a parking spot anywhere in San Francisco. We said a rosary on the way up and got dropped off right at the rally point at the beginning of the walk. I wanted to find the EWTN stage as I heard they were going to be broadcasting live and wanted to see that - I found out the stage was in the perfect spot to see the speakers also so I stayed there and lo and behold after seeing the EWTN coverage, I saw myself about 4 times behind Fr. Mary Francis when he was talking with the guests they had (I had a red shirt on and a green jacket if anyone is interested :) The speakers were very good especially Fr. Frank Pavone and the minister who has been to the Walk every year so far. Surprisingly, my daughters' teacher received a pro-life award at the beginning of the rally.

Right before the speakers ended, I walked around to find my friends who brought their 4 kids with them. I had walked with them in the 2005 Walk also. Just like last time, they tell us to start and there was a big bottleneck and we waited 20 minutes before we got onto the Embarcadero. The one bonus of this Walk is that the route they picked is very beautiful and also goes by most of the big San Francisco sites, like the Ferry building, Coit Tower, Pier 39, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Ft. Mason and at the end - a beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge. The weather this year was perfect, sunny and calm, I took both of my jackets off (you can never tell what the weather will be in San Francisco - if it was windy, it would be downright cold) and walked without them for the whole time. There were a lot less Pro-choice counter protesters this year than there was in 2005 - I heard the big pro-choice groups decided not to organize protests this year.

There were lot more pro-life walkers this year definitely, I bet there was at least 20,ooo walkers this year. One thing I noticed was that there were lot less confrontations between pro-lifers and pro-choicers this year which is good, because the Walk is suppose to be a silent prayerful walk to demonstrate our opposition to abortion, not our opposition to pro-choicers. I was glad to see a lot of priests, seminarians and religious sisters on the walk this year - unfortunately, the protesters would spot them and say mean things to them (which I won't repeat here). The end of the walk was different, a different route was taken in which we stayed on the roads all the way into the Marina Green which is the end of the Walk. In 2005, we walked on a path and then thru the grass to get to the Green. Also, near Pier 39, they had the walkers walk in the middle of the road in the trolley section so we were further from the sidewalk there - which was different than 2005 - I guess they wanted us to be more separated from the crowd of tourists and protesters.

At the end of the walk, I got some food there and then walked to my bus and then we drove home (the traffic trying to get out of San Fran was bad, it must have taken us 30 minutes to drive 10 miles on Van Ness Avenue). One other thing about the bus is I got to see some other San Fran landmarks on the drive there and back, namely AT&T park where the Giants play, the Bay Bridge, the opera house, and symphony hall - I forgot to look across the street to see City Hall. As you can tell, I love the sites of San Francisco, but not the traffic or the parking. And I saw all this without having to climb any of the big hills :)

I pray that these walks and marches will change the hearts of people or at least make them think more about what abortions does to our society. We don't need abortions in this country, there are plenty of people looking to adopt and we also need to be more careful and abstain until marriage.

Charismatic Sunday - that is what it should have been called

Yesterday should have been called Charismatic Sunday due to the second reading being the list of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - the ones that are emphasized by the Charismatic Renewal. I belong to a Charismatic Renewal prayer group and I just love it when the Church uses the Corinthians readings so I can tell people that yes, the Church still believes in these gifts. It was funny though that two priests who were giving homilies today - both talked about how we are given gifts from God but they didn't say the gifts were the charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues or interpretations of tongues, they talked about healing (specifically how forgiving is part of healing) and talked about music and speaking in public (I went to two Masses today due to a baptism of a friend's baby and the end of retreat Mass for my daughter and the middle schoolers that went). I went to the prayer meeting today and we had a Charismatic Renewal speaker who reminded us that Pope John Paul II was very open to the Charismatic Renewal as was the US Catholic Bishops who wrote a paper called "Grace for a new Springtime". These gifts of the Holy Spirit are still available to all who are open to them. God bless.