STEUBENVILLE, OHIO— Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Students for Life club is organizing the University’s annual pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., for “Life Empowers: Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman,” the 47th March for Life on January 24, 2020.

Eight buses with nearly 500 Franciscan University students will arrive in the nation’s capital January 24.

Hundreds more students, alumni, and other members of the Franciscan family will drive to D.C. and meet up with the students under the iconic green Franciscan University banner on the National Mall for the noon rally and the march up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court and Capitol Building.

Leading them will be Franciscan University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, who is attending the March just as he did when he was a student at Franciscan in the 1980s.

“At Franciscan, we are forming a generation of young people who understand that every person is made in the image of God, that every person—born and unborn—should be treated with love and respect, and that every person has a right to life,” Father Pivonka said.

“When God created woman, he gave her the special gift of carrying new life within her,” says participant Moni Desmond, a senior theology and catechetics major. “Franciscan inspires women to bring Christ into the world in everything they do. As a woman, I know that my role in the pro-life movement is a powerful one that is celebrated at Franciscan.”

The Franciscan contingent is completely student-led and organized, says the Students for Life club president, junior biology major Kyle Taggart.

“Considering the gravity of the abortion issue—the biggest human rights violations in human history—we have a serious obligation to do everything in our power to fight legalized abortion,” says Taggart. “Everyone has a different vocation in the pro-life movement, but this is something that every Franciscan University student can do, regardless of their major.”

As they do each year, the Franciscan students will begin their trip with a 10:30 p.m. Holy Hour in Christ the King Chapel. Buses then depart the University at midnight, to arrive in D.C. in time to attend Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception at 7:30 a.m.

Afterward, some Franciscan students will also share their pro-life views with congressional leaders from their home states.