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The fifth annual Nellie Gray Mass will be celebrated Jan. 27

Elizabeth A. Elliott | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

The Paulus Institute will host the fifth annual Nellie Gray Mass in memory of Gray, the founder of the March for Life, which began in 1974, following the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision Jan. 22, 1973, that legalized abortion. Gray died in 2012.

The 1962 Latin Mass, which Gray attended, will be celebrated by Father Paul D. Scalia, episcopal vicar for clergy and director of the diaconate formation program for the Arlington Diocese Jan. 27 at St. Mary, Mother of God Church in Washington at 3 p.m., following the march.

Nellie Gray“The Paulus Institute had the thought to memorialize her contribution as the driver of the March for Life from its inception 40 years prior, to which she gave up her legal career and dedicated her life,” said Paul King, president of the Paulus Institute. “The Mass was intended to keep her name affixed to the March at the church where she worshipped.”

Karen Hickey, spokeswoman for the Paulus Institute and parishioner of St. Mary, said more than 500 attend the Mass, and it is standing room only. She estimates that nearly 80 percent of those in attendance are under 25.

“This Mass is organized by fellow parishioners for the repose of Nellie’s soul,” Hickey said. “We felt it was important to honor her and pray for her soul. First you march in defense of the unborn and then you pray for the soul of the woman who started it.”

 Gray received the diocesan Bishop Thomas J. Welsh Distinguished Service Award from the Brent Society in 2009, an award that honors those who “served their fellow man without regard to social, political or economic stress, while courageously promoting the fundamental dignity and rights of mankind in the name of the Lord.”

The music will be provided by the Vox in Rama Choir from the Church of the Holy Innocents in New York, and the Mass will be the Missa In médio Ecclésiæ Intret for the feast day of St. John Chrysostom, bishop, confessor and doctor of the church. 

If you go

Nellie Gray Mass at St. Mary, Mother of God Church, 727 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, Jan. 27 at 3 p.m.

 

 

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