by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
KANSAS CITY — Sponsored by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life and the Pro-Life Action League, Gate of Heaven Cemetery here was one of 54 sites across the United States to become a place of prayer for aborted children as part of the eighth annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children.
The solemn prayer vigil was sponsored locally by several pro-life organizations, including Planned Parenthood Exposed, the Kansas City Coalition for Life/40 Days for Life in Overland Park, the Kansas City chapter of the LIFE Runners and the archdiocese.
At the service held in Holy Redeemer Chapel at the cemetery, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities, offered reflections about the meaning and dignity of human life. Kathleen Shea, a counselor at the Wyandotte Pregnancy Clinic, also spoke, and a closing prayer was offered at the Memorial of the Unborn by Bishop James Conley, of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, and a native of Overland Park.