CONTACT:  Kelcey Krauss                       
Public Relations                   
419-244-6711 x 149                          
kkrauss@toledodiocese.org
www.toledodiocese.org

DIOCESE OF TOLEDO PARTICIPATES IN ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE

January 19, 2011—Toledo, OH—Many parishes and schools from across the Toledo Diocese are participating in the 32nd Annual March for Life and National Prayer Vigil for Life on January 23-24 in Washington, DC. Thousands of youth and adults from across the country will gather in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pray for an end to abortion. The annual event is the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions.

This year the event will begin with an opening mass on Sunday, January 23. The Mass will be held in the Basilica’s Great Upper Church. Bishop Leonard Blair will be among hundreds of the nation’s bishops and priests to attend the Mass and March for Life.
After the Mass, the Vigil continues in the Basilica’s Crypt Church and includes the National Rosary for Life, followed by night prayer, confessions, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hours, followed by Morning Prayer and Benediction. The National Prayer Vigil for Life closes with the Solemn Mass for Life celebrated in the Basilica’s Great Upper Church.

The Youth Rally and Mass for Life begins on January 24 at the Verizon Center and includes confession and Mass. Following the mass, participants will depart to the National Mall for the March for Life. The March will follow its customary route up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill.

The following parishes from the Toledo Diocese are participating in the event: St. Peter Archbold, Our Lady of Hope Attica, Sacred Heart Bethlehem, St. Thomas More
Bowling Green, St. Joseph Crestline, Our Lady of Lourdes Genoa, St. Peter Huron, St. Rose and St. John Lima, St. Joseph Marblehead, St. Joseph Maumee, Our Lady of Lourdes New London, All Saints New Riegel, St. Boniface Oak Harbor, Divine Mercy Paulding, St. Rose Perrysburg, Immaculate Conception Port Clinton, Holy Angels, St. Mary and SS. Peter and Paul Sandusky and St. Mary Tiffin. The following parishes are participating from the Toledo Metro area: Blessed Sacrament, Corpus Christi, Little Flower, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Joan of Arc and St. Patrick of Heatherdowns. The High School’s that are participating are Toledo Central Catholic, St. John’s Jesuit, Notre Dame Academy, St. Ursula Academy, St. Wendelin Fostoria and Cardinal Stritch.

This event is sponsored by the Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry Office and is made possible by your generosity to the “Annual Catholic Appeal”. For more information please contact the Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministy Office at 419-244-6711 ext.334.