Inspiring a New Vision for the Pro-Life Movement: Sisters of Life and Knights of Columbus to Host Second-Annual Life Fest, A Morning Rally at the 2024 National March for Life

NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to an increased need to support vulnerable women and form hearts in receiving every human life as a gift, the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus have announced Life Fest, their second annual morning rally to be held in conjunction with the 2024 National March for Life in Washington, D.C. Life Fest will be held on Jan. 19, 2024, at the 10,000-seat D.C. Armory. Doors will open at 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Life Fest will feature dynamic speakers and testimonies; music by Sarah Kroger and Damascus Worship; Holy Mass celebrated by Knights of Columbus Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore; Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston; Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota; and a eucharistic healing procession. 

"I'll never forget the first time I attended a rally before the March for Life when I was a teenager," said Sister Mary Grace, SV. "I knew the pro-life movement was important, but standing in a packed stadium, listening to stories and seeing countless other youth celebrate the gift of life, changed the trajectory of mine. I marched differently. It was no longer simply another cause — it became for me a whole new way of looking at the world we live in. None of us are here by mistake; every single person is wanted and necessary. I left the rally with a fresh conviction that every single human person is precious, and your value is worth cherishing again every year."

"Since our founding over 140 years ago, the Knights of Columbus has been supporting vulnerable mothers and their children, and we've been involved in the pro-life movement since it began in the 1970s," said Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. "We're honored to continue with this important mission by partnering once again with the Sisters of Life at the 2024 Life Fest. Together, we will work to inspire a new generation to restore a culture of life and march with courage and compassion until abortion is unthinkable."

"The human person is made for love," said Sister Marie Veritas, SV. "And creating a culture of love and life needs a proclamation and celebration of the fact that it is good that you exist. Every human person needs to know that they are important in God's eyes, that they can't be replaced. Every woman needs to know that she is not alone, that we are with her and for her. Everyone who has suffered abortion deserves to know that healing is possible, that there is no sin or darkness bigger than the mercy of Jesus Christ. So we come together to celebrate, to proclaim the goodness of life."

Attendees of Life Fest will also have the opportunity to venerate first-class relics of the recently beatified Ulma family, whose lives exemplify what it means to value the dignity of every human person. On March 24, 1944, Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children, one of whom was still in the womb, were killed by Nazis in Markowa, Poland, for hiding members of two Jewish families. In honor of the 80th anniversary of their martyrdom, relics and a special exhibition titled "The Good Samaritans of Markowa: The Sacrificial Love of the Ulma Family" will be on display at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., until at least March 24, 2024. The Ulma family bears special significance to the pro-life movement, as the relics include the first unborn child to be beatified.

Attendees will be invited to stay connected with the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus through regular Life Fest email reflections and updates.

For more information about Life Fest or to register, visit:lifefestrally.com 

About the Sisters of Life

The Sisters of Life is a Catholic religious community of women founded in New York in 1991 by John Cardinal O'Connor. Consecrated completely to Jesus, the Lord of Life, they commit themselves to the protection of human life and to the promotion of new life in Christ, acknowledging the sacredness of every person, and sharing the good news of God's abundant mercy. In this way, they seek to help reveal to each person their own innate goodness, the particular love God has for them, and the call to a life of abundant truth, joy, and hope. Immersed in Eucharistic prayer within a vibrant community life, their missions include caring for vulnerable pregnant women and their unborn children, inviting those wounded by abortion into the healing mercy of Jesus, fostering a culture of life through evangelization, retreat works, spiritual accompaniment of college students, and upholding the beauty of marriage and family life. For more information, visit sistersoflife.org.

About the Knights of Columbus

In 1882, Blessed Michael McGivney, a young parish priest in New Haven, Connecticut, founded the Knights of Columbus to serve the needs of a largely immigrant Catholic community. What began as a small fraternal benefit society has since grown into the world's premier lay Catholic men's organization, with more than 2 million members in over 16,600 local councils. As members of one of the world's leading international charitable organizations, Knights around the world donated approximately 50 million service hours and nearly $185 million for worthy causes in their communities in 2022. The Knights of Columbus also offers a range of life insurance products to members and their families and was named by Forbes as one of America's Best Insurance Companies 2024 in the permanent life insurance category. Knights of Columbus Insurance currently has more than $122 billion* of life insurance in force. In addition, the organization offers investment services in accord with Catholic social teaching through its wholly owned subsidiary, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors, which holds more than $26 billion** in assets under management. Based on the founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity, the Knights of Columbus is committed to strengthening Catholic families and parishes, and to practicing faith in action through service to all in need. To learn more or to join the Knights of Columbus, please visit kofc.org/join.

*As of September 30, 2023
**As of September 30, 2023

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SOURCE Knights of Columbus