Pro-life supporters from the Springfield diocese carry flags as they march toward the U.S. Supreme Court building during last year’s March for Life in this 2007 file photo. Over 300 young people and their chaperones from the Springfield diocese will participate in this year’s march.

Over 300 young people, youth ministers and adult chaperones from the Springfield diocese are traveling to Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual March for Life on Jan. 22, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in this country. The majority of the marchers from the diocese are making the journey by buses, which are leaving from multiple cities throughout the diocese.

Father Tom Meyer from St. Mary in Edwardsville, Father Joseph Carlos from St. Isidore the Farmer in Dieterich, Deacon Kevin Muniz  and seminarian Brian Alford will be traveling with the bus groups, which leave on Saturday morning. The first stop for the buses when they arrive in the Washington, D.C., area will be at the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., where they will visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the grave of President John F. Kennedy.

Bishop George J. Lucas, Msgr. Carl Kemme, Father David Hoefler from Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, and Deacon Ben Hoefler from St. Aloysius Parish in Springfield, will join the group for the march.

On the morning of the march, Bishop Lucas will celebrate Mass with the marchers from his diocese at St. Peter Church in downtown Washington.

"It is a wonderful testimony for our politicians to see us there," said Kyle Holtgrave, director of the diocesan Family Life ministry, who helped arrange the bus trip.