Sunrise in Washington DC

Wednesday morning dawned cold and sunny.  The alarm went off at 7:00 AM which, based on the fact that I didn't roll out of bed until 7:30, was too early.  Myself and the other guys from the Springfield diocese were going over to serve Mass with the contingent of people from our diocese at 10:00 AM (unlike the other Brute guys, who were celebrating Mass together elsewhere), so I had to pack up my things quickly in order to make it downstairs and catch the hotel shuttle to the metro station.  It was a short (10 minute) drive to the metro station, but the train ride down to Metro Center (the station we needed to get to) was quite a bit longer.  I took the same ride on the previous day and it didn't seem all that long, but this time we were pressured by the clock, so the ride seemed to take forever.  We finally reached that terminal around 9:30, quite a bit later than we had planned, and raced over to the next train which would take us over to the Capital South stop, from which the church was only a short walk. Around this time we happened to run into Fr. Hyland Smith, who was ordained last year for our diocese, and who was trying to get on the same train that we were.  Of course, since we were in a hurry, as soon as the train entered the station it promptly broke down.  We had to wait several more minutes for them to remove the, now broken, train and then wait for the next one to arrive.  By the time we reached Capital South, it was already 10:00, but thankfully the Mass had waited for us (or probably more precisely, Fr. Smith).

Bishop Paprocki talking with the pilgrims after Mass

I quickly threw on my cassock and surplice and walked back into the sacristy, where I said hello to the Bishop and then got ready for Mass.  Cody and I served while the other guys sat in choir (because we didn't need 7 servers).  St. Peter's was packed with young people from our diocese, all having endured a long bus ride from home, and it added, kind of like the Mass at the Basilica, some awesomeness to have all those people present.  Bishop Paprocki reiterated the necessity to stand up against the evil of abortion, how we must show our opposition to it by marching down the cold streets of Washington DC.  Unfortunately, I couldn't track down a transcript of the homily, so that is all I remember.  (That's one thing I dislike about having to do something at Mass, it's hard to pay attention.)  Mass went well, as you might expect, and though it wasn't quite as spectacular as Mass the night before at the Basilica, it was still profound and beautiful.

Crucifix in St. Peter's Church

After Mass, we changed into our warm clothes and grabbed a bite to eat, before walking with the Springfield group (including the bishop) down to the national mall.  It was a short walk, maybe a mile, right down past the capital (on the opposite side from where we would be walking up later during the March for Life).  Though we were all bundled up, it only took a block or two for me to notice that it was really cold out.  One of the other guys checked on his phone and it was a whopping 12 degrees out.  The wind was also in full force and though I was pretty well covered up, my face, which was exposed, quickly started to feel the brunt of the cold.  We eventually split off from the Springfield group and headed over to where the guys from Brute were collecting.  I was going to meet a friend from the Quincy area who is a brother in the Fathers of Mercy, but unfortunately, I didn't have the time to look around amongst the hundreds of thousands of people for his group and was otherwise unable to get in touch with him.  Anyway, we were probably standing there for half an hour while the last few speeches ended (unfortunately, I wasn't paying very good attention, so I don't remember all of what was said), and then the march started. We were about half way back in the crowd at the national mall, but we didn't get into the 'wave' of people very quickly, so we ended up being near the back of the march.

Crowds before the March

The march begins!

This year, unlike in 2013, Brute had our own banner, so we all grouped around it while trying to merge with the slowly moving crowd.  Everybody was shuffling along slowly, so this process took a while, but it turned out just fine because the slow-up meant that I was surprised to run into my aunt/uncle/cousins again.  I was able to talk with them for a few minutes while the crowd was moving slowly, but, as things finally started moving we got squeezed apart.  As our group curved up towards the capital building, we sang several hymns and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a devotion that so poignantly expresses what the March is about.  Not only are we protesting, politically, against abortion, we are also doing reparation for this evil and begging Our Lord to have mercy on us and our country.  It was, as in previous years, incredible to see all the young people, stretching in every direction, marching against abortion.  Words can't quite do the experience justice, so I'll have to hope that the pictures included here give you some idea of how impressive it was.

The masses marching towards the Capital building

All of us from Brute after the March

Anyway, the group of us seminarians from Brute (along with Fr. Bob) actually curved off of the march before getting all the way up to the Supreme Court.  We turned left as we were going up past the Capital building (instead of continuing all the way up) so that we could get down to Union Station more quickly (and not have to work against the crowd to get there).  It was packed with people who had just finished the march, so it was still a challenge to find and board our train back to where the vans were parked.  I managed to take a short nap on the metro (and finish thawing out) as we sped back to the Shady Grove station, which was wonderful.  We all trickled back to the vans around 4 PM and shortly afterwards started the long drive back to Indianapolis.  We stopped at a place called Cici's pizza on the way home, a buffet-style restaurant that churns out different types of pizza every few minutes.  It was tasty, fast, and cheap, all factors that made it ideal for 50 hungry seminarians.  I spent almost the entire trip back working on homework (except for the times when we were listening to different Catholic talks), though I did fall asleep for maybe an hour during the last stretch of the drive (around 2 AM).  The weather was bad for part of the trip, but thankfully we made it back safely around 4 AM.  Sorry, I don't have anything particularly exquisite to say, it was a fantastic trip, inspiring as always, and something that I will probably miss greatly next year.

Here's a video of bits of the March - actually some of the group from Springfield makes an appearance!