Florida Catholic | March For Life

DAY TWO | 01.20.08

‘This place is cool’

Students from Miami enjoy visit to Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in D.C.

Published: 01.22.08

The verdict was unanimous: “This place is cool.”

That was the reaction of high school students from Miami after their morning-long visit to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center adjacent to the campus of the Catholic University of America.

David Dugard, 14, a freshman at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami; Katie Dugard, 16, a freshman at St. Brendan High School next door; Daniel De Leo (rear) and Joey Insua, both Columbus graduates now in their first year at the University of Florida; and Victoria Cacicedo, 17, a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami.

Members of the 100-strong high school group from the Archdiocese of Miami take the “peace walk”, one of the interactive exhibits at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center on the campus of the Catholic University of America. A motion-activated system allows the words “Peace be with you” to ring out in myriad languages as people walk through. From left, David Dugard, 14, a freshman at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami; Katie Dugard, 16, a freshman at St. Brendan High School next door; Daniel De Leo (rear) and Joey Insua, both Columbus graduates now in their first year at the University of Florida; and Victoria Cacicedo, 17, a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami.
ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

The center is a unique, interactive museum, containing personal items that belonged to the late pope, such as his skis and Mass vestments. Also on exhibit are some of the gifts Pope John Paul II received during his travels around the globe. A temporary exhibit contains artifacts from the Holy Land, including typical Middle Eastern garb and nativity scenes.

The bottom floor of the museum is completely interactive, giving children of all ages the opportunity to design their own stained-glass windows on a computer, ring church bells electronically and color. Interestingly enough, the coloring section really attracted the high school students.

“I’m reminiscing on the old days,” said Danny Pardo of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, who will graduate in May.

The teens also enjoyed leaving messages for Pope Benedict XVI on a wall-length sheet of paper set out for that purpose by the cultural center. The messages — including some that are videotaped — will be given to Pope Benedict when he visits New York and Washington in April. His Washington stop will include a tour of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

“I really like this place,” said Megan Finnerty, a senior at Chaminade-Madonna College Prep in Hollywood.

Megan Finnerty and Jennifer Bachmann, seniors at Chaminade-Madonna College Prep in Hollywood, point to their messages for Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. The center has put up a huge white banner for people to leave messages that will be given to the pope when he visits there in April of this year.
ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

‘Survivors’ generation

Teenagers are too young to think of themselves as “survivors.”

But that’s what Jean Gilfoil, director of the March for Life, called today’s generation when she spoke to high school students from the Archdiocese of Miami Jan. 20.

She correctly pointed out that since the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions which legalized abortion in 1973, mothers have had the right to kill their unborn children.

That makes everyone born after that year a “survivor”, because their parents had the choice and opted not to abort.

Jean Gilfoil, Director of the March for Life organizing group, speaks to archdiocesan high school students Jan. 20. “Since 1982, your group has been coming up,” she told them. “This is why I want you at the head of the march. You’re carrying the banner.”
ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

“You are the future,” Gilfoil said. “You are the survivors’ generation who will heal the generations who come after you.”

Indeed, a day later an article in The Washington Post noted the preponderance of young people at March for Life events. The headline read “Movement Gets a Youthful Infusion: New Generation of Activists Is Assembling Across College Campuses.”

One of the students quoted in the article, however, begged to differ with Gilfoil.

“This conference shows that the youth are not the future of the pro-life movement,” he said. “We are the movement.”

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Visit the PHOTO GALLERY FOR additional photos from the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

DAY ONE | DAY THREE | DAY FOUR

‘This place is cool’

‘Survivors’ generation

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