Marching in support of life

Students from parochial schools across Acadia Parish converged at Notre Dame High School Tuesday morning for a Right to Life march. The students marched from the school to St. Michaels Catholic Church then back to Notre Dame and heard speakers at both locations to support their cause.

Howell Dennis

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By Howell Dennis
NEWS EDITOR

Students from parochial schools around Acadia Parish convened at Notre Dame High School Tuesday morning to participate in the Fifth Annual Notre Dame Catholic School’s Week Pro-Life March. The students marched, with many carrying signs, from Notre Dame High School to St. Michaels Catholic Church and back. At both locations they listened to speakers voicing support for the pro-life movement.
The march included students from St. Francis Elementary in Iota, St. Michaels Catholic School, Redemptorist Catholic School, Rayne Catholic School, and Our Mother of Peace School in Church Point.
“We are marching today to bring awareness to pro-life issues,” said Mary Ann Hardaway, who along with Notre Dame’s Catholic Ministries, organized the event. “With all of the issues that are about to come before the legislature now is an important time for this issue to be brought to the forefront.”
The pro-life movement isn’t only concerned with stopping abortions as one may think. It also is very much involved in issues such as euthanasia, mercy killing, assisted suicide, and the death penalty.
When they returned to Notre Dame, the students enjoyed the music of Shawn and Lance, an area Christian Rock band. We’re then introduced to the gathering’s keynote speaker, Chad Judice, a teacher at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette. Judice was recently awarded 2010’s Louisiana Inspirational Teacher of the Year award. He was on hand to discuss the strong relationship he has developed with his son, Eli, who was born with the birth defect spina bifida.
“Before I went to St. Thomas More I taught at Cathedral Caramel Elementary,” said Judice. “I was taking questions from my students and one of them asked me ‘what are you most afraid of?’. I thought for a while before I answered and my reply was ‘to have a child with a physical or mental handicap’ being that I am such a perfectionist”
Little did Judice know that his response would become a reality.
Judice has written a book entitled ‘Waiting for Eli’ about his experience. His speech and his book discuss the emotional journey from the day Chad first learned about his son’s medical condition, to the anxious times he spent in waiting rooms while his son underwent surgery, to the first time he got to hold Eli in his arms. Judice’s speech on Tuesday contained a strong Pro-Life message and is made even more compelling by his description of the little miracles he experienced along the way.