Youth Trips to Washington for the March for Life cancelled, local event planned

BRAINTREE -- Adverse weather conditions have forced the Archdiocese of Boston to cancel many of its planned trips to Washington for the March for Life, but an alternative event has been planned for Jan. 22 in Boston.

Sponsored by the Office for Lifelong Faith Formation and Parish Support's Faith Formation of Youth, the event will be held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and will be split into two segments.

The first segment, running from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., will be open only to middle school and high school students and their guardians.

Students will participate in ice breaker activities, listen to dynamic and educational talks from Father Matt Williams and Father Paul Soper, and march to Boston Common and the State House. Upon returning to the cathedral at around 4:30, there will be small and large group sharing.

At around 5:00, dinner of pizza, salad, and cookies will be provided, and the cathedral will open to the public.

Following dinner, there will be a Skype session with Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley and an evening of prayer, adoration, praise and worship, and confession that will end at around 9:00 p.m.

Although most of the groups traveling with the Archdiocese of Boston will not be attending the March for Life in Washington, Cardinal O'Malley, seminarians from St. John's, several parishes from Boston and Fall River, and others from the area still plan to attend the event.