Memorial for the unborn: Angel statue provides place to mourn babies at cemetery

Ciera Harris, who will be a seventh-grader at St. Lawrence School in Indianapolis, works on a puppet of a character she read about during an Art with a Heart camp held on July 11 at St. Philip Neri School in Indianapolis. Carol Conrad, a member of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis and founder of Art with a Heart, looks on.

By Mary Ann Wyand

St. Lawrence parishioners Bob and Holly Blagburn of Indianapolis will always mourn the death of their first son, David Michael, who was stillborn in 1966.

They remembered him again during a memorial Mass for the unborn celebrated by Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, and dedication of an angel statue on July 26 at Our Lady of Peace Cemetery in Indianapolis.

And they are pleased that the statue imported from Italy has been blessed by Msgr. Schaedel as a memorial for babies at the south border of the Catholic cemetery located at 9001 N. Haverstick Road.

The angelic monument will serve as a special place for parents who have lost babies through miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion to mourn the deaths of their children and pray for them.

“This monument is erected to the memory of those innocents who have died unjustly,” Holly Blagburn told those assembled, “whose lives were taken from them while they grew silently in their mother’s womb. … For we know that—although our eyes may have never seen their little faces—they are truly here today with us in spirit and forever within our hearts.”

The Tomb of the Unborn Child at the cemetery was suggested by the Knights of Columbus St. Joseph Council #5290 and made possible by the fundraising efforts of six women who are married to Knights.

“It was a truly important project for all of us,” St. Simon the Apostle parishioner Dennis Quigley of Indianapolis, Grand Knight of Council #5290, said after the dedication ceremony.

“I think this is probably one of the finest things we’ve ever done,” Quigley said. “It could not have been accomplished without the dedication of a small but devoted group of women—Holly Blagburn, Karen Gochoel, Glenda Quigley, Liz Lanie, Lily Stockton and Sue Beaver. They did the fundraising, the legwork and, most importantly, the praying. When fundraising was tough and it didn’t look like it would come together, they put their faith in God and prayed as a group for help and direction.”

Members of St. Lawrence Parish, St. Simon Parish, St. Michael Parish in Greenfield and several Knights of Columbus councils were the largest donors for the

pro-life memorial, which cost $5,600 and was placed on cemetery land donated by the archdiocese.

A wine-tasting party and sale ­supplemented donations for the statue.

“The Knights of Columbus are committed to pro-life ministry,” Quigley said. “The Knights are the biggest charitable organization the Catholic Church has.”

Last year, Knights of Columbus councils throughout the U.S. donated more than $50 million to the Vatican, he said, and members contributed more than $17 million worth of volunteer hours with many of those hours dedicated to pro-life projects.

Locally, he said, the Knights and their wives support the archdiocesan Birthline ministry, St. Elizabeth/Coleman Pregnancy and Adoption Services in Indianapolis and the Gibault School in Terre Haute for at-risk boys and girls.

As he welcomed more than 100 people to the Mass, Msgr. Schaedel noted that the feast of St. Joachim and St. Ann, Mary’s parents, was the perfect day to dedicate the memorial for unborn children.

In his homily, the vicar general emphasized that, “Human life is of the highest value. It has no price tag. The Church consistently teaches there is no higher value than life. But we live in a time when we witness terrible attacks on human life. Warfare in Iraq and other places is bad enough, but what is so appalling about abortion is that it is an attack on life itself.”

In the secular world, he said, “human life has become cheap. If a human life causes one inconvenience then our society and our own United States government have devised ways to get rid of it. The highest court in the land continues to support murder—legalized abortion, including partial-birth abortion … where the child is mostly born before it is killed. You don’t hear much about that in the secular news. Society does not want to know about it. They don’t want to hear that all human life is precious, [that] it’s priceless.

“Life is not up for a vote,” Msgr. Schaedel emphasized. “The God-given rights of each person cannot be legislated. … [But] that’s the result when we deny the value of life made in God’s image and likeness. Catholics must stand strong. The Catholic Church is absolutely pro-life.”

On the feast day of St. Joachim and St. Ann, he said, we are reminded that Christ, the Son of God, had human grandparents and that in Jesus human nature became sacred.

“Yet abortion denies that,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “So does contraception. Such attitudes signal that life is not sacred. It’s disposable. You know that won’t be the end of it. One thing leads to another. Followers of Jesus must do something.”

By dedicating the Tomb of the Unborn, he said, we proclaim life, not death, and shout our beliefs in the goodness of life here and in the world to come.

“When it comes to human life, there is no so-called choice,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “God gives us one choice—life. … So let all those who dedicate this tomb—and those who visit here in the years to come—hear us loudly and hear us clearly.” †