Melbourne News

In solidarity for the cause of life

By Laura Meli

Friday 19 October 2012

ON Friday 12 October, the Inaugural March for the Babies Oration Dinner was held on the eve before the annual March for the Babies, the largest pro-life event in Victoria. Lord Nicholas Windsor, the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, gave the official address for the evening.

In introducing Lord Nicholas, Denise Cameron, President of Pro-Life Victoria, recalled a single sentence which she had read in a newspaper many years before, “Human life is a gift from God and as such must be treated as sacred.” These words, which had left an indelible impression upon her, were spoken by Lord Nicholas’ mother, Katharine, The Duchess of Kent, and during his address at the Inaugural Dinner, Lord Nicholas reaffirmed the sacredness of life and the importance of speaking out for those who have no voice. He also reminded those present that, “Loud voices aren’t all we need, we need soft and sweet voices too, and then again we need silence, because silence reminds us of the missing, the fallen the absent.”

Lord Nicholas spoke of the importance of standing as a witness for life stating, “We know what we know, that this evil is real and it must be confronted by love. And for love to overcome this evil it has to take the form of a constant witness.”

During the evening, Lord Nicholas also read the Papal Blessing for the March for the Babies, issued from the Vatican on the 30 March, 2012. The Papal Blessing signed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, declared that “The Holy Father was pleased to be informed that the pro-life community in Australia is gathering for the “March for the Babies” on 13 October. He greets the participants in this important public witness to the sanctity of all human life, and assures them of his spiritual closeness.” The Papal Blessing went on to say that, “His Holiness prays that the entire Australian society may come to know and value the innate worth and unrepeatable beauty of each person from conception to natural death.”

Many people from all ages and walks of life were present including Members of Parliament, pro-life activists and members of different congregations. The MC for the night was Dan Flynn, the Australian Christian Lobby’s Victorian Director, and the official welcome was given by Bernie Finn MP, Chairman for the March for the Babies, who also ran the auction to raise money for the pro-life cause. Dr John James, National President of Right to Life Australia, gave the vote of acknowledge Lord Nicholas’ support for the pro-life cause, and there was also a moving performance by singer Kaye Harrison with an thanksto original song "Ode to the Unborn" written especially for this year’s March for the Babies.

The following day on Saturday 13 October, over three and a half thousand men, women and children marched through the streets of Melbourne from Treasury Gardens to Parliament House in solidarity for the pro-life cause. The first March which was held 10 October 2009, was to draw attention to the Victorian Parliament’s decision one year before to pass the 2008 Abortion Law Reform Act allowing for abortion up until birth. It is also a march in solidarity for the 20,000 babies who are aborted each year in Australia.

On the eve of this year’s March, Lord Nicholas highlighted the importance of the March as a “witness to our absent friends and kin, and strangers too who were never born... We should claim them as our family because their humanity demands it of us.  What does solidarity mean but that we claim kinship with those most in need.” Each year the March for Babies is a witness to this spirit of solidarity; it is a witness to love and a witness to the sacredness of every human life.


Photos by Casamento Photography