The Office for Respect Life Ministries is excited to announce that we are once again organizing a trip to the March for Life in Washington, DC for the youth of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati! Unlike the one day trips we have organized in the past (drive all night on the bus to get there, then drive all night after to return home), we are organizing a three day pilgrimage that will give young people a chance to not only join the March for Life, but also to have other experiences in the D.C. area that will encourage a full faith journey for the participants as they consider what it means to protect and honor life from conception to natural death.
Here at the basics of the trip schedule:
- Depart Thursday, January 23 (approximately at the end of the school day, but depending on pickup location some may need to leave school early)
- Arrive at Potomac Retreat Center late that evening
- Depart for March for Life in DC early Friday morning, January 24
- Attend Youth Rally in the morning, and March for Life in afternoon
- Return to Potomac Retreat Center Friday evening for dinner, then presentation and group discussion
- Head back to DC Saturday morning to attend the Students for Life Conference
- Depart DC late afternoon Saturday
- Arrive back at original pickup location late Saturday night (January 25)
The cost of the trip is not yet set in stone, but should cost approximately $400 per person (includes travel, accommodations, most meals and cost of conference). Registration details and final costs will all be worked out this month. For now, please start looking into who may be interested in attending from your parish or high school. Keep these points in mind as you prepare:
- The trip will be designed for high school-aged teens. Every parish/school group must have at least 1 adult chaperone, and preferably one of each gender of youth they have. Additionally, 10 or more youth must have at least 2 chaperones.
- Each bus will depart from a different location in the Archdiocese to accommodate everyone’s home base. Busses typically depart from the locations with the most people. So, the more people you can gather in your group, the more likely it is you will have a convenient pick-up location.
- Consider organizing fund-raising on your local level to help out with costs. Local Knight of Columbus are often very generous as well.
Please consider trying to organize a trip at your parish or school. We have not been able to organize this trip since 2020, which means we now have an entire “generation” of high school students who have never attended. If you are unable to attend the national March for Life in D.C. but still want to participate in praying for an end to abortion, you can host a youth night at your parish using the resources found at the bottom of the page HERE. Either way, I look forward to seeing many people have an opportunity to witness to the Pro-Life Generation this January!
