Several thousand Ohioans filled the streets of downtown Columbus on Friday, Oct. 4 to celebrate the third annual Ohio March for Life.
Individuals from various parts of the Buckeye State gathered in the state’s capital to march for preborn children and demonstrate support for the sanctity of human life.
Hundreds of Catholics began the day with a Mass at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral celebrated by Bishop Earl Fernandes. He was joined by several priests concelebrating the Mass and Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma.
The standing-room-only cathedral was filled with students from Catholic schools across the state as well as individuals in age ranging from young families to the elderly.
In his homily, Bishop Pipta told the congregation that they are rallying and marching for the Gospel of Life and the sake of unborn children. He said they are called to march for every life regardless of age – preborn or post-born.
The bishop also focused on the importance of mothers, likening them to temples. He explained that, in their wombs, mothers carry a human life with an enteral soul.
“Any woman, any woman to whom God gives the gift, the privilege, the responsibility, and, yes, sometimes the weight of bearing children, that woman is a temple, and in her home is where the human meets the divine,” he said.