25th Annual Rockland Life Chain

Posted on October 2, 2017 by rocklandrtl

Students from Albertus Magnus High School stand up for life at the Life Chain.

Oct. 1 — Today Rocklanders stood along with thousands of prolife individuals across the U.S. and Canada in honor of the millions of babies whose lives have been lost to abortion and to pray for people in crisis situations and for our nation.

The Life Chain is an interfaith prayer vigil that takes place every year on the first Sunday of October, Respect Life Sunday. Local Life Chains were held in White Plains, Middletown, Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island, and 19 other locations in the lower Hudson Valley. This is the 25th year for the Rockland Life Chain, which is held at the intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Road in Nanuet.

Photos follow. Click on a photo to enlarge it, and then scroll through the resulting slide show.

Life Chain Opens Respect Life Month

Posted on October 4, 2016 by rocklandrtl

Standing up for Life at the 24th Rockland Life Chain, at the corner of Route 59 and Middletown Road in Nanuet on Respect Life Sunday, Oct. 2

To the 2016 Life Chain participants,

Thank you to everyone who came to the Life Chain. I hope you realize what your presence meant.

May I ask you this? How many of the thousands of people who drove past us last Sunday would have given a moment’s thought to the subject of abortion if we hadn’t been there?

Hardly anyone. It’s certainly not something most people think about much. It was a Sunday afternoon. People were out shopping, listening to the game on the car radio, maybe.

And yet, for a few moments at least, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM saw something that compelled their attention — that crowd of kids on the corner, the graceful nuns in their blue and white garb, the line of men and women of all ages along the roadside.

PHOTOS FOLLOW ON NEXT PAGE Continue reading →

Rockland Life Chain Attendance Tops 400

Posted on October 5, 2015 by rocklandrtl

The welcome influx of enthusiastic Christians from churches across all of Rockland County made Sunday’s Life Chain in Nanuet the biggest in years.

Under bright, sunny skies, from 2 to 3:30 pm, over 400 participants stood up for Life by forming a “chain” that stretched along Route 59 from the west end of the Shops at Nanuet nearly down to the intersection with College Rd., and north and south along Middletown Rd.

Holding signs that read “Abortion Kills Children” and “Jesus Saves and Heals,” and other appeals to respect the life of the unborn, veteran Life Chain participants and the many newcomers proclaimed their message to the thousands who passed by in cars during the hour and a half they stood witness.

Eileen Peterson, Bob Zottoli, Chris Bell, of Good Counsel Homes, and Liz O’Brien of Rockland Right to Life

Among those present were members of the Prolife Club of Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, Beth Am Messiah in New City, CrossLife Church in Thiells, Faith Assembly of God in Chestnut Ridge, the Gracepoint Gospel Fellowship in New City, the Living Hope Fellowship in Tompkins Cove, the New Hope Christian Church in Monsey, St. Augustine’s Church in New City and many other Catholic churches, the Salvation Army from West Nyack, the Savior Community Church in New City, the Silver Springs Vineyard Church in Nyack, the Sisters of Charity from St. Agatha’s Home in Nanuet, and the Sisters of Life.

Blanca and Deacon Ed Ilarraza

Chris Bell, the co-founder and president of Good Counsel Homes, which helps homeless pregnant women, also visited the Life Chain. He had been speaking at the masses at St. Anthony’s Church in Nanuet for Respect Life Sunday.

Many of the first-timers learned of the Life Chain through Deacon Ed Ilarraza of Gracepoint Gospel Fellowship. Ilarraza and Eileen Peterson were organizers of the Life Chain.

“Brother Ed spread the word,” said Onix Sosa of CrossLife Church in Thiells. “We credit him with us being here.”

MORE PHOTOS FOLLOW Continue reading →

Life Chain Held on Respect Life Sunday

Posted on October 6, 2014 by rocklandrtl

On Oct. 5, Respect Life Sunday, hundreds of Rocklanders gathered in Nanuet for the 22nd Annual Life Chain –standing together along the intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Road to pray for an end to abortion and for healing of all who suffer because of it.

Life Chains were held in over 1,500 cities, according to the campaign’s national organizers.

The signs held by the participants carried their message: Abortion Kills Children, Adoption the Loving Option, Jesus Forgives and Heals. Several people brought their own home-made signs: “Today is my birthday because my mom chose LIFE” and “God created ALL of US for a reason.” MORE PHOTOS FOLLOW Continue reading →

Come to the Life Chain — Sunday, Oct. 5

Posted on October 1, 2014 by rocklandrtl

Pat Sweeney and Son for Life (Life Chain 2011)

“There are a group of people who would like to silence everybody and have everybody go along to get along, but that’s not going to be very helpful for us in the long run, in terms of solving our problems. And somebody has to be courageous enough to actually stand up to, you know, the bullies.” ~~ Dr. Benjamin Carson.

That’s what the Life Chain is all about. Standing up to the “bullies,” who want the world to believe that commitment to the inviolate right to life of the unborn is a “war on women” and that destroying an unborn child is a “choice.”

That’s why we need you to be with us at the Annual Life Chain in Nanuet on Sunday, October 5. To join with the thousands who will be participating in Life Chains across America that day to witness to the violence of abortion and to pray for our country’s conversion to a culture of Life. Continue reading →

The Life Chain — Be Part of It

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We Are AM, We Stand For Life

Posted on April 6, 2014 by rocklandrtl

On Tuesday, April 1, the students and teachers of Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia held their first Life Chain on school grounds along Route 304. Standing with them were Sr. Nancy Richter, Prolife Club moderator, Joe Troy, principal, and Fr. Frank Samoylo, AM graduate and now pastor of St. Columbanus in Cortlandt Manor.

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Rosarians and others came to show their support. Here is a slideshow.

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Life Chain — A First for Albertus Magnus

Posted on March 28, 2014 by rocklandrtl

This week, the epicenter of pro-life action in Rockland will be Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, as the students hold their first-ever Life Chain on Tuesday, April 1.

The Pro-Life Generation will be standing up for Life on the lawn of the school that fronts Route 304 from 3 to 5 p.m. If you’re driving by, be sure to give them a big smile and a thumbs-up.

The Life Chain movement was started over 25 years ago as a way for communities to witness to the respect for life and pray for an end to abortion.

Each year the first Sunday in October — designated as Respect Life Sunday — Life Chains are held across the nation. In Rockland, several hundred people come each year to line the sidewalks at the interesection of Route 59 and Middletown Road.

Although the Albertus Magnus-based Life Chain this spring is something new, the students are not strangers to the program. For years, their Pro-Life Club has attended the Rockland Life Chain, and last autumn they were the largest group in attendance. You’ll find some photos of them at that event here.

Albertus Magnus High School students and the Pro-life Club moderator, Sr. Nancy Richter, at the October 2013 Life Chain in Rockland.

Albertus Magnus High School students, with the Pro-Life Club moderator, Sr. Nancy Richter, at the October 2013 Life Chain in Rockland.

The Life Chain: 200+ Proclaim Message of Life

Posted on October 6, 2013 by rocklandrtl

Students from Albertus Magnus HIgh School display their message for LIFE.

In spite of gray skies, a constant mist, and the threat of showers, over 200 Rocklanders gathered at the intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Rd. on Sunday, Oct. 6, for the 21st annual Life Chain.

The Rockland Life Chain was one of 29 being held simultaneously today in the boroughs of New York City and the lower Hudson Valley. Hundreds were held across the United States and in Canada. Continue reading →

Be Part of the Life Chain — Sunday, Oct. 6

Posted on October 6, 2013 by rocklandrtl

The 21st annual Rockland Life Chain will take place on Sunday, Oct. 6, from 2 to 3:30 at the intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Road in Nanuet.

The Life Chain is a peaceful, prayerful public witness of prolife individuals praying for our nation and for an end to abortion. This year it is being held in memory of the late John Davidson, of Congers, a longtime defender of the right to life. John passed away on June 16, 2013.

IN MEMORY OF JOHN J. DAVIDSON — DEVOTED TO GOD, FAMILY, and COUNTRY

John praying the Rosary at the 40 Days for Life.

John was a regular with the Our Lady of Guadalupe Rosarians, who pray every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. year round outside the Planned Parenthood office in Spring Valley.

Also, for six years — from the fall of 2007 until the spring of 2013 — he participated in the 40 Days for Life, taking numerous hours fasting and praying to end abortion.

John was born in October 1933, in the heart of the Depression. He experienced hard times. His father, out of work and ill, became hospitalized for tuberculosis, and his mother, Josephine O’Leary Davidson, became the breadwinner. With an outstanding score on the Civil Service Exam she landed a job of toll collector on the George Washington Bridge. She worked there until the end of World War II and then obtained a permanent position with the New York City Transit Authority.

Determined to meet the challenges he had to face, John took to education like a duck to water. He graduated from Sacred Heart grammar school in 1947, and his hard work paid off with a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in 1975, a master’s degree in English from Fordham University, a PhD in Administration from St. John’s University, and a JD from Pace University Law School in 1982. He was admitted to the bar in 1985.

In 1956 John’s education was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army, where he served as a paratrooper. He later joined the Army Reserves as a second lieutenant and advanced through the ranks, eventually retiring with the rank of Brigadier General.

In 1960 John met the love of his life, Kathleen Patricia McNally, a registered nurse. They were married in August 1961. John and Pat had four children: Kathy Patricia, Siobhan Mary, John Joseph III, and Joseph Dignam Davidson. John lost his beloved wife of 46 years on St. Patrick’s Day 2007.

John was a life-long educator. In 1960 he began teaching English at Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, N.Y. In 1969 he was assistant principal of Lincoln Junior High School. In 1970 he became principal of the Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary, in the Inwood section of the Upper Bronx. In 1971 he served as an assistant principal in Pittsfield, MA. Two years later returned to New York to be assistant principal of Clarkstown North High School in New City. John held that position for 17 years until his retirement in 2000. Then he was elected to the Clarkstown School Board in 2001, becoming its president in 2006. He retired in 2012.

Also close to John’s heart throughout his life was the Knights of Columbus. John became a Knight in 1966 and received his Fourth Degree in 1967 in Oceanside, N.Y. When he returned to Rockland County, he joined the Cardinal McCloskey Council and the Joyce Kilmer Assembly 698. He was one of the founders of the Pope John XXIII council 7104 in Congers and was elected that council’s first Grand Knight. He has also held the offices of District Deputy, Faithful Navigator of Assemly 698, Past Association Chairman, and Commander of the Honor Guard, which he considered the “singular honor of his life.”

We thank the Knights of Columbus Triune Council 2052 for providing the information for this tribute.

ROCKLAND RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE

LIFE — THE FIRST INALIENABLE RIGHT

Category Archives: Life Chain