Memorial to the Unborn

The Memorial to the Unborn is located in a quiet section of the church courtyard side of Peach Street. The beautiful glass sculpture by parishioner Angelita Salcedo was installed in 1998 through the generosity of the Knights of Columbus and the Daughters of Mary Immaculate  in commemoration of the holy innocents who lost their lives by abortion.

The idea for these memorials grew from a challenge made by the late Cardinal John O’Connor in his homily at the Opening Mass of the 110th annual Supreme Council Meeting held in New York in 1992. He described the Tomb of the Unborn on the campus of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and asked his brother Knights “to continue the Order’s aggressive fight against abortion” by erecting a tomb in each Catholic cemetery in each diocese where the Order is established. This became an advocacy program of the Knights of Columbus  and soon, memorials of various designs were established in parishes across the world.

This memorial  stands as a testimony to the Christian tenet that all human life is a sacred gift from God to be protected at all stages from conception to natural death. It is our prayer that anyone who is contemplating abortion will see the memorial and choose life.  May all who visit here find this area a sanctuary of healing and may all mothers afflicted by the loss of a child in the womb–in childbirth or in childhood– be consoled by the Blessed Mother who kept vigil over her Child at birth, at the cross and at His tomb.

This monument is erected to the memory of those innocents
who have died unjustly, whose lives were taken from them
while they grew silently in their mother’s wombs.

May this monument be a memorial to their memory,
a reminder of our own sinfulness,
and a call to do penance for our sins and the sins of the whole world.
May we trust in God’s mercy,
encourage and strengthen all who have sinned
and seek justice in a world too often filled with sin and selfishness and hate.
Amen.