Florida Catholic | Life Issue Is Personal

For teen, life issue is personal

Members of the youth group at St. Luke the Evangelist Parish were in Washington to add their voices at the March for Life, but for Arnold Bonomo, the pro-life movement is very personal.

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 02.01.08

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WASHINGTON, D.C. | Arnold Bonomo, 17, a student at Palm Harbor University High School in the St. Petersburg Diocese, came to the Jan. 22 March for Life — and the Jan. 21 Mass for Life — with members of the youth group of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish.

The group of 26 teenagers and their chaperones arrived at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception at 1 p.m. — the Mass for Life began at 7 p.m. — and managed to get one of the best seats in the massive church: just right of the center aisle, about 20 pews away from the sanctuary.

Laura Ray, 19, who attended St. Petersburg College, said she went on the pilgrimage, which marked the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States, because “I thought it would be a good experience. It’s not something you can do too often.”

Looking around at the basilica, filled wall-to-wall with people, she said she had never been in a church “so large or so full.”

Taylor Gunn, 15, a student at Palm Harbor University High School, said she was impressed by “all these Catholic people coming together to stand up for life, to make a big statement.”

“This is pretty much the best thing I’ve been to,” said Gregory Cutrone, 18, a member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish.
Arnold, however, was the most adamant as to his reason for going to Washington.

“I believe in this cause. It’s important to me,” he said, adding that, along with his two brothers, “I was adopted.”

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For teen, life issue is personal

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