Local

Topeka rally draws abortion opponents to the Capitol

by Marc and Julie Anderson

TOPEKA – On the same day as the nation rally and March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, local rallies and marches were held across the nation. At the state Capitol in Topeka, more than 1,500 opponents of abortion from across Kansas — including the entire student body of Hayden High School, Topeka’s only Catholic high school — gathered to protest.

Dozens of state legislators, the governor, a congressman and a senator were all in attendance. And prior to the march and rally, hundreds of Catholics gathered for a Mass at the nearby Topeka Performing arts center. Celebrated by Father Andrew Strobl, the archdiocesan director of evangelization, the Mass drew some 1,200. After the rally, Hayden freshman Christina Hockenberry, 15, shared the experience with her mother Lisa in a brief essay about what she had learned.

“The last thing on my mind,” she wrote, “was: Will our generation change the hearts of those who believe this is OK? And I thought of what one man said, ‘History is on our side. This will be the generation that ends abortion.’

About the author

Anita McSorley

Anita, managing editor of The Leaven, has over 30 years’ experience in book, magazine and newspaper editing, including stints as the assistant editor of the “Diplomatic Papers of Daniel Webster” at Dartmouth College and then in the public relations departments of Texaco, Inc., and the Rockefeller Group in New York. Anita made the move to newspaper editing when she came to The Leaven in 1988, where she has been ever since. Anita is a member of St. Patrick Parish in Kansas City, Kan., and in her spare time, she enjoys giving her long-suffering husband, her children and her staff good advice that they never take.

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