An unknown number of “March for Life” pilgrims were stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike by a monster blizzard. The Pro-life campaigners were at a standstill on the motorway for 22 hours straight but turning the disappointment into a blessing, they decided to improvise, creating an altar out of snow.
A large number of students were headed home from the ‘March for Life’ campaign held in Washington D.C. when Storm-Jonas gobbled up the East Coast of America.
Catholic students from the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis designed an altar made of snow and gave Father Patrick Behm of Le Mars the honor to preside over Mass.
Notwithstanding the number of priests available to celebrate Mass, the honor of the chief celebrant went to Fr Behm, “probably because I had my travel Mass kit”, he told The Catholic Globe, Sioux City’s diocesan newspaper.
Fr Behm told the ChurchPOP website: “It was incredible – easily one of the highlights of my time as a priest.”
Father Patrick Behm of Le Mars admitted to being overwhelmed being the center of attention.
“I’m just happy being a simple priest,” he insisted.
The bitterly cold atmosphere had an effect on Fr Behm, who attributed weathering the cold to “many years of working in the frozen-food section at Hy-Vee [supermarket].”
“When it came time to distribute Communion, I told the others my hands were too numb and they took that on.”
Fr Behm said the response to the 35-minute service, which began at noon, gladdened his heart.
“Seeing that faithfulness and that joy from everyone was very positive,” he said. “It certainly made the 22 hours of being stuck do-able.”
Speaking about the turn up this year for the campaign,Father Behm said, “Make no mistake about it, the tide is changing and I believe, this is the generation that will see Roe overturned,” he said. “Every time I go to the March for Life, the crowd gets younger and younger. Christ was with us in this storm. He’s with us in every storm, and it is he who will ultimately bring the victory.”
Among the students who had spent two nights sleeping on a bus on the Pennsylvania Turnpike told LifeSiteNews their “little sufferings were nothing compared to the tremendous sufferings of the unborn who undergo the pains of abortion.”
