By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
For more than two decades, Catholic Pro-Life Community, the respect life ministry of the Diocese of Dallas, has offered north Texans the opportunity to gather annually to celebrate life and bolster pro-life zeal in the community. This year, CPLC’s pro-life Mass and rally for life event is set to take place Jan. 18 at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Festivities will commence at 8:30 a.m. with a Youth for Life Rally in the Grand Salon of the cathedral. Middle school and high school students are invited to engage in fellowship-building activities and listen to Diocese of Dallas Director of Vocations Fr. Mark Garrett’s personal pro-life testimony.
Carmella Faillaci, CPLC’s youth outreach manager, said the youth rally is an occasion for young people in the diocese to learn “that they’re not alone in the pro-life movement and also to help them realize the value of all life at all stages,” so that they can “recognize the dignity of the most vulnerable, like the unborn, the elderly.”
The Bilingual Pro-Life Mass will immediately follow inside the cathedral. Bishop Edward J. Burns will serve as the main celebrant, joined by Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly and Father Jesús Belmontes, rector of the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
At noon outside the cathedral at the intersection of Crockett and Flora, Bishop Burns will kick off the North Texas Rally for Life with a welcome and opening prayer.
Sponsored by CPLC, Texans for Life, and the Respect Life Office of the Diocese of Fort Worth, the rally is slated to feature keynote speaker Patricia Sandoval, host of EWTN Español’s Pro-Life Report (Informe Provida) and author of the book “Transfigured.” Other speakers include the Raffa Clinic’s Threesa Sadler, “Celebrando la Vida” radio host Aurora Tinajero, and Students for Life of America’s Megan Roos. 4HisGlory will provide praise and worship music.
Anticipating the upcoming rally, CPLC’s prayer and community outreach director Susan Platt said that, as in years past, this year’s rally is expected to be a happy, energetic celebration of life.
“A lot of times, people will sing or pray,” she shared. “People are so happy to be together and to be standing up for something—to be standing up for life.”
Platt explained that the event is an opportunity for north Texans to continue their education in respect life issues. She also noted that the theme of the 2025 rally is “Fight to the finish…for every mom and every baby” — a theme which, she said, underlines the need to continue promoting the pro-life cause.
“We’re not done yet,” Platt shared. “Abortion—thank God—is banned in Texas, but we still have so much education to do so that people understand the value of life.”
To learn more about the pro-life Mass and rally for life event, visit prolifedallas.org.
Cutline for featured image: Pro-Life advocates gather outside the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in celebration of life during the North Texas March for Life on Jan 20, 2024. (BEN TORRES/Special Contributor)
