8th Annual Hike for Life

The Youth Group of St. Stephen Catholic Church, Grace House Ministries, and the Knights of Columbus Holy Spirit Council 7264 co-sponsored the 8th Annual “Hike for Life” fundraiser in Weatherford, TX on Saturday January 28, 2017. Linda Clark, event coordinator, said that participation at this year’s hike more than doubled from last year and included more than 300 hikers from multiple counties and denominations including All Saints Anglican Church, Brazos Trail Cowboy Church, Christ the King Covenant Church, First Baptist Dennis, Greenwood Baptist Church, Harmony Baptist Church, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, North Side Baptist Church, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Southcliff Baptist Church, St. Ann, St. Stephen Catholic Church, The Avenue Church, The Gathering of Brock, Trinity Bible Church, and United Methodist Church Poolville. Rusty Gibson, Chairman of Respect Life Committee, credits the significant increase in participation to Grace House getting the word out to more people. Father Mike O’Sullivan of St. Stephen gave the opening prayer. The Weatherford Police assisted the Knights of Columbus in providing safety & security for the hikers.

Mr. Gibson boils down the “abortion/pro-life issue to one question; What is it in the womb? If it’s a human being then we have to protect it. If it’s not a human being then we can do anything we want to with it, just like pulling a bad tooth. People have to get educated on what it is in the womb. So, through biology we can understand that it is a unique, living human being, even at conception, with its own individual DNA, genetics that determine what sex it is and all its different features. It’s the earliest development of a human being, just like a baby is an early stage of development of an adult. We can use biology to look at things like heartbeat and brainwaves. We know that at 18 days its heart starts beating and at about 40 days we see brain waves from a baby in the womb. If you think about it, we use lack of brainwaves and lack of heartbeat to define death we can also use that to define life.”

After the event Father Mike challenged the community saying “It was a great joy for me to see so many people show up for the "Hike for Life" in Weatherford last Saturday. It reminded me of the African proverb: "When you Pray move your feet". We did move our feet, we walked together in solidarity, reminding the world that life is a precious gift from the moment it begins to its very last breath. In essence, standing for the dignity of human life. To quote St. Mother Theresa “How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.” Let us continue to work together to protect the most vulnerable in our society.”

Funds raised go to support pro-life causes including Grace House Ministries, a local non-profit, that strives to promote hope, life, and knowledge in the community through the Options Clinic, Grace House Pregnancy Center, and Pure Truth in-school training program.