Recovering the vigils in Vienna

The Vienna Group “Youth for Life”, a Youth Movement which tries to promote a society free from abortion, recently organized the “40 Days for Life” campaign in Vienna.

The group in Vienna was refounded last year in October and this was our first big event to organize. A few weeks before Ash Wednesday we had a meeting and set up a plan.

We agreed on praying for 40 days every day from 7 in the morning till 7 in the evening from Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday. The 40 days for Life campaign took place opposite the abortion facility “Gynmed Ambulatory” next to the major train station “Westahnhof” in Vienna.

The praying spot is beside a highly frequented road which made it hard to pray because of all the distraction and noise from the cars and trams. Even before Ash Wednesday we had a lot of things to do. We had to register the demonstration at the police station to ensure that everything was legal.

We also bought a cart to move the equipment for our demonstration. After 7pm we had to remove our things because otherwise our equipment would certainly have been stolen. Thankfully the Religious Order of the Calasanzians supported us generously and we were allowed to store our chairs, signs and other items in their parish building.

We also printed a lot of flyers and distributed them among different Christian groups and churches. Thankfully “Youth for Life” has organized a few 40 Days for Life before, so there were some people who had experience in organizing the event. We also had a lot of phone numbers saved from people who were very dedicated to the protection of the unborn and willing to pray for them.

To ensure a good start of the 40 Days for Life we asked a Priest of the Calasanzians for a blessing on Ash Wednesday. The 40 Days for life were a new experience for me because I was not involved in the organizing process before.

In the first two weeks I was very scared that we wouldn’t find enough people to fill all the hours. I even wanted to shorten the hours from 12 hours a day to 8 hours a day, but thankfully a lot of people supported us and they were very motivated to fill up the hours, so we were able to maintain 12 hours a day. There were also some priests who supported the cause by taking part praying and fasting, which I think helped us a lot. Usually there were 1-3 people praying at a given time, but sometimes on special occasions more people came to the spot opposite the abortion clinic. On one weekend there were a lot of students from a catholic university (ITI) and one time even a worship band turned up.

On Tuesday the 28th March we had a visit from international representatives from the 40 Days for Life movement. We went to Holy Mass together and afterwards we talked about the international aspects of the 40 Days for Life movement. There were representatives from all sorts of different countries, and it was a very constructive and motivation evening where we learned a lot about the international aspects of the Pro-Life movement.

On Palm Sunday the last praying hour was from 6pm-7pm. We listened to a speech from a priest and we prayed the rosary in a large group. At 7pm sharp a deafening blow of an animal horn marked the end of our 40 Days for Life campaign.

Afterwards we had a celebration in a room from the Calasanzian Order. To be honest I am very surprised and thankful that the event remained so peaceful. Except of a few middle-fingers and spitting no big disturbance had happened. I really want to thank God and our mother Mary for the help and support through the whole 40 Days. As a sign of appreciation we are going this Sunday on the 30th April on a pilgrimage to Mariazell, the most famous pilgrimage site in all of Austria.