God is for life

Photos by Sarah McDonald | ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS

“Let the children come to me” (Matthew 19:14) was the theme of the annual Memorial Prayer Service for the Unborn Jan. 15 at the Holy Innocents Prayer Garden inside St. Patrick Cemetery No 1. Archbishop Gregory Aymond led the annual service, held near the date of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand in the U.S. The service included prayer, reflection and hymns provided by the Monday Night Disciples. Of special significance this year, as those gathered prayed for babies lost to miscarriage, stillbirth and abortion, the “All God’s Babies” tomb was open in preparation for a funeral service for an infant later in the day. At the end of the service, students from Mount Carmel Academy and St. Mary’s Dominican High School placed roses at the “Rachel Weeping” statue in the garden in memory of the infants who Archbishop Aymond said are in heaven with God praying for us.