Three charter buses carrying 119 people from the north central section of the diocese will be led by Kyle Holtgrave, associate director of youth ministry in the Office for Catechesis. In the group are students from Routt High School in Jacksonville; Blessed Sacrament and St. Aloysius schools and Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield; St. Joseph Youth Group, Chatham; St. John Vianney Parish, Sherman; Holy Family Parish, Athens; St. Mary Parish,  Pittsfield; and St. Rita in Kincaid.

Traveling with them are Deacons Ray Roth, Ben Hoefler, Dave Erdmann, and Sister Loyola Miller, OP. Father David Hoefler and principal Kathy Wear from Blessed Sacrament in Springfield will join them in Washington.

Buses are scheduled to depart for Washington Wednesday, Jan. 20. Visits to members of Congress are being arranged. Participants will attend the Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Jan. 21, and a Mass celebrated by Msgr. Carl Kemme, diocesan administrator, at St. Peter Church in Washington the morning of the march. They will attend the Pro-Life Rally on the National Mall, and then join the March for Life down Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court. After dinner, the group will take an evening tour of Washington.

On Saturday the group will visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, have time to visit other destinations of their choice, and then join together for Mass at the National Basilica, before the buses head back to Illinois.

Four charter buses and two minivans will transport 231 youth and adults from the southern half of the diocese to the March for Life. The group is organized by Becky Bauerly, youth minister at Mother of Perpetual Help Parish, Maryville, and Mother of Dolors Parish, Vandalia. For Bauerle, this will be her 22nd march.

The southern group includes students and adult chaperones from Holy Ghost and St. Francis Xavier parishes, Jerseyville; St. Mary and St. Boniface parishes, Edwardsville; Mother of Perpetual Help, Maryville; Ss. Peter and Paul, Collinsville; Mother of Dolors, Vandalia; St. Louis, Nokomis; St. Isidore, Bishop Creek; St. Mary, Shumway; St. Francis of Assisi, Teutopolis; and St. Anthony, Effingham.

Father Dan Willenborg from St. Louis Parish, Nokomis, and Father Tom Meyer from St. Mary, Edwardsville, are traveling by bus with the group, along with seminarians Brian Alford and Steve Arisman, as well as Luke Theilen, a seminarian from the Joliet diocese. Father Chris Comerford, from St. Elizabeth Parish in Granite City, is flying out to be with the group in D.C.

Congressman John Shimkus’ office set up a tour of the U.S. Capitol for the group on Jan. 21, and that night they will attend Mass at the Basilica.

“I spoke with Archbishop (George) Lucas when he was back for the Cathedral’s dedication, and I told him how many buses we were taking to the march. He said he will be looking for us.”

They will attend the Mass celebrated by Msgr. Kemme at 10 a.m. at St. Peter Church.

After the March for Life down Constitution Avenue, the group will board their buses and minivans for a trip to New York City, where a guided tour of the city includes a visit to Ground Zero, and a trip by ferry to Staten Island, and the Statue of Liberty. They will attend the Saturday 4 p.m. Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral, celebrated by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, then board the buses for home.

“We will be back home in Illinois by 1 p.m. Sunday,” Bauerle said.