Over two hundred Christendom students traveled into Northern Virginia on November 15 for Mega Shield — the college’s biggest pro-life event of the fall semester. The group prayed numerous rosaries and sang hymns at an abortion clinic in Falls Church, Virginia, bearing a powerful witness to the pro-life cause.
Mega Shield is held once each semester as a culmination of Shield of Roses, the college’s weekly prayerful protest. Participants in Shield of Roses drive an hour and a half every Saturday morning to a Planned Parenthood clinic, with around a dozen students making the trek each week during the academic year. The semesterly Mega Shield event aims to draw even more students together, with this year’s Mega Shield drawing the largest crowd of students in years.
Senior Thomas Cahill, the President of Shield of Roses, sees Mega Shield both as an opportunity for powerful group prayer and for a public demonstration of Christendom’s mission.
“First and foremost, Mega Shield is important because it’s our chance to ‘storm Heaven’ with prayers for the unborn,” Cahill said. “Secondarily, it’s an opportunity to show the world what we stand for as a Catholic college –– to put the Catholic view of the dignity of human life into action. It’s our chance to evangelize the world with the Gospel of Life.”
Tom McFadden, Christendom’s Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success, praised Mega Shield as a key aspect of Christendom’s culture.
“Since our college’s founding, taking the time on Saturday mornings to drive to the D.C. area to prayerfully protest abortion has been an important aspect of the Christendom College experience for our students. And over the years, thanks be to their witness and the grace of God, three of those abortion clinics at which our students prayed have closed,” said McFadden.
“Each semester, having a Mega Shield event is beneficial for our students, for the unborn, and for those who will experience their joyful and prayerful witness lining the streets of Falls Church, Virginia. Making an impact on and restoring the culture is at the heart of our college’s mission.”
Cahill said that this year’s Mega Shield, the largest in recent history, had a visible impact.
“This year’s Mega Shield was the most successful one in years. We really saw the dedication of the Christendom community to the pro-life cause, with many students driving themselves over an hour to the abortion facility,” Cahill shared. “We also brought an enormous amount of joy to the men and women who come frequently to pray outside the facility. One woman said to me that she was very inspired by the sheer number of students who came out to pray for the unborn and said that she saw many passersby in cars turning to look at the hundreds of students gathered to pray for the unborn.”
Christendom students are no strangers to pro-life work, from student-run fundraisers for pregnancy resource centers, to groups of students canvassing for pro-life political candidates over fall breaks, to the entire college taking part in the national March for Life in Washington, D.C., each year. Mega Shield is yet another opportunity for students to contribute to the pro-life movement through prayerful protest. The pro-life cause critically pertains to the Christendom education, an education which upholds the fundamental dignity of human life and aims to restore all things in Christ.
Contributed by Bridget Palm ’28.