Reflections on the First Quebec City March for Life
Participants in the Quebec City March for Life carrying a banner of the Virgin Mary. - Photo: Augustin Hamilton
By Father Francis Michael de Rosa
On the First of June 2024, Quebec City witnessed an historic moment when it hosted its first ever “Marche pour la Vie” (March for Life).
The organization behind the event was Campagne Québec-Vie, which in my purview is exceptional for its distinctively Catholic perspective on the “life issues” of such grave concern for modern society.
Not only does the Campagne seek an end to abortion, but it explicitly opposes the other evils on the spectrum threats to human life and human love: from contraception to euthanasia and all the malice in between. These evils are sibling symptoms of a false anthropology disoriented by neo-dualism, and they must be recognized as such by the pro-life movement in order definitively to reset the moral order according to human nature and right reason adequately understood. Can we honestly envision an abortion-free yet contracepting society?
Can there really be a freedom loving nation that attacks its own people? The hydra of sins against life and love must be cut off at the neck effectively to re-boot the moral order.
Notably, Campagne Québec-Vie is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with the Most Chaste Heart of Joseph. The union of the “Three Hearts” comprising the Holy Family are the mystical community of love that formed the Holy Family at Nazareth, which in turn is the mystical archetype of the Holy Catholic Church. As such “Nazareth” is the home which is open to receiving all of mankind.
Furthermore, Campagne Québec-Vie calls for the reestablishment of the Social Reign of Christ the King, a seldom heard expression in our current idolatrous saeculum. In other words, it comprehends that a properly ordered society without God (most explicitly, without Christ Who is God Incarnate) is not truly attainable. This is because man without God is nothing but an orphan-victim who easily falls prey to satanic forces that prowl about the world looking for someone to devour.
Read moreReminder: A historic first: March for Life in Quebec City on June 1
Media Advisory
A historic first: March for Life in Quebec City on June 1
Quebec City, May 27, 2024 - This Saturday, June 1, will mark a historic moment for Quebec City, with the first-ever March for Life in the province. This event joins the ranks of Marches for Life organised worldwide, including the one in Ottawa - founded 27 years ago - which brought together thousands of demonstrators on Parliament Hill on May 9, and the one in Washington D.C., founded in 1974, which drew nearly 100,000 participants in January.
The Quebec City March for Life is intended to be a festive, family-friendly event, while addressing serious issues with far-reaching consequences for Quebec society: attacks on human life such as abortion and euthanasia, often referred to by the euphemisms "voluntary interruption of pregnancy" and "medical aid in dying" respectively.
"It's high time Quebec had its own March for Life," says Georges Buscemi, President of Quebec Life Coalition, the organisation organising the event. "A society that wants to show solidarity with the marginalised and vulnerable cannot continue to ignore the unborn children targeted by abortion, who are the most vulnerable and ignored people there are.”
Organisers are expecting hundreds of pro-life demonstrators from across the province. The rally will start at 11am at the Tourny Fountain, opposite the Quebec National Assembly. Musical entertainment will precede the speeches, which will begin at noon and end at 1pm, when the march through the streets of Quebec City will begin. The march will conclude at the National Assembly, where, from 3pm, testimonies from women and men affected by the abortion issue will be presented. The annual event will end at 4pm.
Dr. Paul Saba, a family doctor in Montreal, will be present at the event, accompanied by two sisters in their thirties who will share their experiences of imminent abortions on the operating table and their decisions to keep their babies at the last minute. Dr. Saba believes that mothers who want to have children should be supported. "It's a question of social justice. Mothers should not be pushed into having abortions because they lack financial, social and psychological support. We must guarantee them affordable housing, reasonable incomes and food security."
For more information on the March for Life in Quebec City, please visit www.marchepourlavie.quebec and www.cqv.qc.ca.
Media contact :
Georges Buscemi
President of Quebec Life Coalition
(514) 928-4819; [email protected]