College to Protest Abortion and Affirm Life at Annual March for Life

On January 22, 2015, the entire student body of Christendom College, as well as members of the faculty and staff, will join the hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans at the 42nd Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Christendom has cancelled classes for the day and the Student Activities Council has charted buses to transport over 400 people from its Front Royal, Virginia, campus.

Every year, Christendom has a very big presence at the March for Life, being one of only a handful of colleges to cancel classes for the event, which marks the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion on demand in the United States. The college’s entire student body enthusiastically attends the March. In 1984, 1998, 2009, and 2012, Christendom students led the March for Life, carrying the lead banner and flags – the only college to be given that honor on four different occasions

The annual march is held on January 22 each year to commemorate the infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision decriminalizing abortion across all 50 States and enshrining the right to abortion as a Constitutional right.

The college has attended the March for Life as a community every year since the school was founded 37 years ago. Its students are active in pro-life and missionary work year round, prayerfully protesting abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in D.C. each Saturday morning, as well as taking part in sidewalk counseling, volunteering at the local pregnancy center, going on mission trips, and other similar activities.

This past November 15, the college’s pro-life group, Shield of Roses, held its fall “Mega-Shield” event where the leadership of the group works to have as many students as possible attend its weekly prayerful protest at the Planned Parenthood clinic in D.C.  On a weekly basis, as many as 30 students attend Shield of Roses, but at this fall’s “Mega-Shield,” the leadership estimated that more than 175 participated in the event.

“It’s a powerful testimony to the importance of life, and it shows that today’s young adults truly care about saving the lives of unborn children,” says Tom McFadden, a college administrator who took part in the event.  “Shield of Roses is Christendom’s oldest student-led group, founded in 1977, our very first year of existence.  It is hard to calculate how many children exist today because of the prayerful witness that our students have shown over the years – but God knows – and that is all that really matters.”