Every year, Notre Dame Right to Life sponsors Respect Life Week. During this week, Notre Dame students are invited to participate in a number of activities, seeking to engage in discussion on life issues. For several years during Respect Life Week, Right to Life has displayed the Cemetery of the Innocents on South Quad. The Cemetery, comprised of simple white crosses, sought to raise awareness, commemorate the lives that have been lost to abortion and promote life-encouraging resources for women who may have experienced or are considering an abortion.
This year, Right to Life has chosen to display a garden of roses in place of the cemetery. Each white rose represents lives lost due to abortion. The other roses represent those who have suffered emotionally, spiritually and physically because of abortion, including mothers, fathers, families and friends. The garden is centered around the cross, the source of hope and healing for all.
With these roses, we seek to raise the same awareness and commemoration, while simultaneously extending a deeper invitation to love. The flowers demonstrate the fragility, beauty and value of every human life. We acknowledge there are many students on this campus who have been affected by abortion, both directly and indirectly. This display is a loving way of reaching out to acknowledge those wounds and offer hope for healing. It is an invitation to the entire Notre Dame community to join together in promoting a greater respect for the dignity of all life.
We invite all of you to join us on South Quad at 11 p.m. on Thursday night for a candlelight vigil to remember all the lives that have been lost to abortion and all the lives that have been affected. For more information about Respect Life Week, or for information on pregnancy, parenting and post-abortive student resources, visit chooselife.nd.edu.
