About 200 men and boys from across the country took part in the men’s pro-life march on Monday.

BALTIMORE, Maryland – When the call went out for men to walk and pray for the unborn child in Baltimore on Monday, Gabriel Vance and his extended family came in droves.

A caravan of 20 members of his family made the seven-hour trip from Columbus, Ohio, including his three boys, his brothers-in-law and their sons.

“The biggest social problem we face is the problem of abortion, as it claims the lives of 2,300 human beings every day in America and 200,000 human beings every day in our world,” said Vance, 26 years old, who co-founded the Catholics for Life pro-life group with his wife Anna earlier this year.

“The Catholic Church,” he said, “must take a stand against this. And that means Catholic men – bishops, priests, deacons and lay people – cannot remain silent, he added.

About 200 men and boys from across the country took part in the men’s pro-life march on Monday. Organized to coincide with the start of the Fall Assembly of American Catholic Bishops, the march began outside a Planned Parenthood abortion center and ended with the recitation of the Rosary and speeches outside the Marriott Waterfront Hotel. , where the bishops meet this week.

Some of the younger participants donned snowsuits and mittens, as it was a cold and windy November day, but the older men and boys paraded in suits and ties, as requested by organizers. “We are not here as protesters,” explained participant Larry Cirignano. “It was a simple message from Catholic men for life.”

But there was also a message the walkers sought to convey to the bishops. Signs and speeches called on leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States to apply Canon 915 of the Catholic Church Code of Canon Law, who say that those who “stubbornly persevere in grievous and manifest sin” should not be admitted to Holy Communion.

One of the main items on the bishops’ agenda this week will be the vote on a proposal for a new document on the Eucharist. Although the document grew out of discussions over whether categorically pro-abortion Catholic politicians, such as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, should be allowed to receive Communion, the draft text in the study does not include any reference to politicians, nor any criteria for refusing the sacrament in such cases.

“We just want them to live the faith and perform the sacred offices they hold,” said Jim Havens, host of a Catholic radio show in Fort Myers, Fla., Who co-hosted Monday’s march. with Father Stephen Imbarrato, a pro-life activist.

“The Canon 915 is here. If this applies in any situation, it certainly applies to pro-abortion politicians. We have spoken to them many, many times. They are stubborn. It is a grave public and manifest sin, and then they continue to go ahead and receive the Holy Eucharist, ”said Havens.

“We can’t say it’s OK. Out of charity, out of love for them, as well as out of love for others, we must say no, we must apply Canon 915 ”, he declared.

Havens said he disagreed with bishops who believe that denying communion to pro-abortion politicians would politicize or “arm” the sacrament.

“It’s not about politics. It is about morality. These are real people who are being murdered. So we have to push to do [abortion] illegal and unthinkable, ”he said. “Not because it’s politics, but because it’s moral; it is the morally right thing to do.