Cardinal leads huge protest



Allan Turner and Barbara Karkabi - Houston Chronicle

HUNTSVILLE — Led by Catholic Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, as many as 500 
praying and singing marchers paraded through Huntsville Monday in 
opposition to abortion and capital punishment.

The mile-long march began outside the Huntsville Planned Parenthood 
clinic and passed through the Sam Houston State University campus 
before reaching the Walls Unit, former site of the Texas execution 
chamber. Observers said it likely was the largest such demonstration 
in Huntsville history.

The so-called “Pilgrimage for Life” was part of a larger expression 
of traditional Catholic views on abortion and execution that led to 
Monday's prayer sessions at churches throughout the state.

“We're not here to demand. We're here to pray,” said the Galveston-
Houston Archdiocese's DiNardo. “There will be no slogans. We'll fall 
on our knees for intercession.”

DiNardo recently was appointed to head anti-abortion activities for 
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Accordingly, said Sister 
Madeleine Grace, associate theology professor at University of St. 
Thomas, DiNardo is expected to take a highly public stance on the issue.

DiNardo has denounced abortion as an “intrinsically evil action,” and 
in pastoral letters has cited a need for “all of us to act in the 
public square to protect human life.”

“He's naturally hitting the two ends of life,” Sister Grace said of 
Monday's march. “He is beginning at the abortion referral center, 
because that affirms life in the womb. By ending (at the death house) 
he is affirming the teaching of the church that the death penalty 
should be very rare.”

Katherine Cesinger, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said she could 
not comment on the protest, but said that Texans support the death 
penalty and that the governor “supports carrying out the will of the 
people.”

DiNardo, speaking at a morning Mass at St. Thomas Catholic Church 
that began the activities, told the congregation the “Gospel of life 
applies to everyone, no matter how little or seemingly insignificant.”

Chronicle reporter Melissa Vargas contributed to this report.

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