Diocese’s pro-lifers to witness in D.C., Topeka

When seven buses carrying about 400 people depart Wichita for Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 20, they will continue a longstanding tradition. Bonnie Toombs, who directs the Catholic Diocese of Wichita’s Office of Respect Life and Social Justice, has been part of that pattern for many years, having overseen the diocese’s participation in the multiday event since the beginning of the previous decade.

“My first time coordinating the march was in 2011, so yeah, it’s been a few years,” Toombs said.

The Washington March for Life will take place on Friday, Jan. 23 this year, and many Sunflower State pro-lifers will also maintain a similar tradition in Topeka on Wednesday, Jan. 28. This year, Wichita’s St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish plans to transport participants to Topeka’s Ignite for Life event in Topeka, which includes a March to the Capitol steps and remarks from legislators.

Alongside those established traditions, Toombs highlights a newer initiative, set for Thursday, April 23, that she hopes will also become a tradition for as long as necessary.

“It was in the month of April when abortion was deemed a right under our state constitution by the Kansas Supreme court, so last April we had our first rally for life,” she said. “The rally focuses on how we can change hearts and minds to make abortion unthinkable. Bishop Kemme will celebrate Mass, several speakers will help us understand where we are today with abortion in Kansas, and how we are all called to help women of all ages who are in unexpected pregnancies.”

Plural purposes

The events serve many purposes, Toombs reflects, such as fostering solidarity among the diocese’s Catholic youth, reinforcing participants’ pro-life convictions, and witnessing to the broader culture about the sanctity of human life.

Each March for Life, she adds, one reason or another seems to stand out. “Every year, the Holy Spirit shows me why I’m there,” Toombs said. “When people open their hearts, they have the same experience. I hear that over and over, not only from the students, but even the adult chaperones and bus captains. Every year, someone says, ‘This is why God brought me here.’”

For some, she suggests, it may be the opportunity to accompany Diocese of Wichita Bishop Carl Kemme and 12 priests from the diocese who are all participating in this year’s Washington march.

“That’s an opportunity for our youth to see the priests in a different light, outside of Mass, and interact with them,” she said, noting those opportunities include the 24-hour bus ride. 

Even so, she adds, participants will also get to attend a Mass said by Bishop Kemme and those same priests in the main sanctuary at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception adjacent to the campus of Washington’s Catholic University of America.

“We are one of only two dioceses that are able to celebrate Mass in the shrine that day,” Toombs said.

As she looks back on the many Washington pilgrimages she has coordinated, Toombs expresses particular fondness for a year in which plans went awry. About a decade ago, she recalls, a blizzard hit the city, extending travelers’ time in D.C. by two days. 

“People really came together,” she said. “The hotel wasn’t prepared to feed that many guests, but figured out creative ways to do that. We also had snowman building contests – with prizes – and hotel staff served as judges.”

Moreover, she says, the extra time provided people from across the diocese more opportunities to meet and interact. Although the diocese’s Catholic high schools, such as Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel, once spearheaded their own journeys, Toombs said Bishop Kemme wanted the diocese to unite for a single trip.

“It took a few years, but now we go as one diocese,” she said. “It’s not only kids from Carroll and Kapaun, but also students from all over our diocese. In fact, non-Catholic students make up the larger percentage of the student pilgrims on our trip. By the time we leave Washington, people who didn’t know each other have formed relationships. That’s a beautiful part of traveling this pilgrimage as a diocese.”

Moreover, she adds, those interactions extend even further. “Groups from across the country stand together at the National Mall. Some of our kids will, for instance, trade a Diocese of Wichita hat with someone from Alabama or somewhere else. They all talk about why they’re there, and it shows how it’s so much bigger than just us.”

Topeka and Washington

The Ignite for Life event in Topeka – which organizers describe as a pro-love rally for protecting preborn children and the dignity of women facing unplanned or challenging pregnancies – is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., and will be followed by a Mass offered by the bishops of Kansas at the Topeka Performing Arts Center (TPAC). The March for Life portion of the event begins at noon, beginning at TPAC and proceeding to the Kansas State Capitol, followed by a rally on the Capitol steps, and opportunities to view the Aftermath Memorial, meet legislators, and tour the Capitol. 

The bus leaving from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is scheduled to depart at 6:30 a.m. and will leave Topeka at 3 p.m., with a 4 p.m. dinner stop and a 6:30 arrival back in the parish parking lot. The per-person cost of $20 has been capped thanks to the parish’s Knights of Columbus.

In 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that nullified most state abortion laws, many urged pro-lifers to focus all public policy energy on each of their respective state capitals, Toombs relates, but Topeka and Washington each warrant attention. “We need to be both places,” she said. “We certainly need to be at the state level, but there are still national fights, too.”

Moreover, she emphasizes, the legislative and regulatory arenas are by no means the exclusive – or even most important – ones. “It’s about making abortion unthinkable and helping people see alternatives,” Toombs said. “It’s about helping people understand we can do better than this. We can help women in unplanned pregnancies.”

She goes on to point to the most recent summary of vital statistics released by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which contained a record high in Kansas abortions, many on women from out of state. 

“It’s also about helping our adult population understand where we’re at,” Toombs said. “People should look at the many abortions that are done here on women coming from other states with better laws. We are all called as Catholics to protect life and there are so many ways people can get involved in helping women.”

Nevertheless, she urges pro-lifers not to lose hope.

“We see, especially among young people, a better understanding of how this is not what God intends. I hope the tide is shifting,” Toombs said.

After Kansas voters’ decisive defeat of the pro-life Value Them Both ballot box referendum in 2022, Toombs says she detects encouraging signals in the ashes of that defeat. “Words can’t truly describe how bad that loss was, but afterwards, the diocese really rose up with getting sidewalk advocates going, and now we have saves on the sidewalk probably every week,” she said. “The bigger piece is for every adult in the pews to know where to direct someone they know who is struggling with an unplanned pregnancy.”

Although registration for the Washington March for Life has been closed for weeks, Toombs encourages any interested stragglers to contact her at 316-269-3900 or [email protected] just in case a spot has opened. They also can contact her for more information about April’s Rally for Life in Topeka. Anyone seeking information on the Jan. 28 bus trip from SEAS to participate in Ignite for Life should contact Jim Benck with the parish’s Knights of Columbus at [email protected].