Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will celebrate Mass at St. Peter Church in downtown Washington, D.C., for marchers from his diocese on the morning of the walk, and then join them on the march to the Supreme Court Building.

"There may be some LIFE Runners joining us at the Mass," Bishop Paprocki said, referring to the group he ran with last fall in the Kansas City Marathon. Bishop Paprocki donated $5,000 he raised from that race for student scholarships to the March for Life trip.

"This marks my 25th year," said Becky Bauerle, youth minister at Mother of Perpetual Help, Maryville, and Mother of Dolors, Vandalia, who organized a minivan and four bus caravan that will transport 220 people to the march. Father Christopher House and Father Daren Zehnle, diocesan vocation directors, and seminarian Steve Arisman are traveling with Bauerle's group, which will link up with Father Christopher Comerford and Father Jeffrey Long in Washington.

Another four-bus caravan with 183 passengers is being led by Kyle Holtgrave, diocesan director of youth ministry. Deacon Dave Erdmann, Deacon Patrick O'Toole and Deacon Michael Hagen are going with that group, as is Leona Hoefler, wife of Deacon Ben Hoefler, and Vicki Compton, director of the diocesan Office of the Missions.

For Compton, this marks her second bus trip and march. Nine years ago she walked in the march, pushing daughter Sydney in a stroller. This year Compton is going as a chaperone for Sydney's eighth-grade class at Blessed Sacrament School in Springfield. Hoefler is a chaperone for the eighth-grade class at St. Aloysius School in Springfield.

Sydney said she doesn't remember much about her first March for Life, other than it was "a long bus trip ... lots of people," and "it was cold."

Blessed Sacrament principal Kathy Wear has talked to the class about their upcoming trip. "She told us 'it is more spiritual than a social time,'" Sydney said.

"Everyone is excited about it," said Sydney, about all the places they are scheduled to see in Washington. When last year's eighth-graders returned from their March for Life trip, the seventh-graders were waiting on the playground when the eighth-graders got off the bus. "They told us 'Bring a lot of comfortable things. It is tiring. It is windy and cold, but it is really fun,'" Sydney said.

Bauerle's caravan includes two large groups, 62 from Effingham and 59 from Jerseyville. "We have people in ages ranging from junior high, high school and college students all the way up to senior citizens in our group. When I started going 25 years ago, I had four teenagers from (Mother of) Dolors," said Bauerle.

Both caravan groups will leave Friday evening, Jan. 20, from various places in the diocese, link up eventually with the other buses in their respective caravans during the night, and arrive in Washington sometime Saturday afternoon. Once there, the groups' schedules differ. Some will visit Arlington Cemetery to witness the changing of the guard, take a night tour of the Capital's monuments, visit the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument, visit the Smithsonian, and take in other places in Washington.

Many will attend the bishops' Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where catching sight of Springfield's native son, Bishop Kevin Vann, of the Diocese of Fort Worth, and/or the diocese's former bishop, now Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, has often been a possibility.

Some marchers will make time to attempt to speak with a member of Congress whose district includes at least a portion of the Springfield diocese, to advocate their pro-life stance. "We have five Congressional districts in our diocese," Holtgrave said.

Both groups expect to be back in the diocese Tuesday, Jan. 24.