Courtney Weber of Coralville sings and plays guitar during The Beat Goes On at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport Aug. 11.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Shade from Sacred Heart Cathedral enveloped the lawn as a cool breeze and comfortable temperature made a perfect night to support life during The Beat Goes On. The pro-life fundraiser, held Aug. 11, moved to the cathedral this year to be in the diocesan home, the mother Church of the Diocese, said Brad Merritt, the event’s organizer.
Knights of Columbus from Our Lady of Lourdes and St. John Vianney parishes in Bettendorf and Holy Family, Our Lady of Victory, St. Paul the Apostle and cathedral parishes in Davenport, helped with the annual event.
Tom Heinold of St. Paul the Apostle, the event’s host, said that although Roe v. Wade was overturned, “the battle for life still goes on. We still have much to do.”
“We gather today to celebrate the gift of life to all of us. We celebrate life from womb to tomb,” Deacon Dan Huber of the cathedral told the gathering of more than 100 people.
Courtney Weber of Coralville, an assistant nurse manager in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, played music for the gathering. Last year, she said, she performed while in her last trimester of pregnancy. The heat was oppressive and the wind was strong. “I wore a dress. That did not go well,” she laughed. She was glad to be back playing again after having her baby, taking master’s degree classes and working. She played the guitar and sang Christian songs such as “Precious Lord,” “When I Meet my Maker,” “Going Home” and “Face to Face.”
The keynote speaker was Father Patrick Wille, parochial vicar of St. Mary Parish in Moline and chaplain of Alleman High School in Rock Island, both in Illinois. He said he graduated from the University of Illinois with a finance degree and worked for Boeing before discerning a call to the priesthood.
His talk focused on two themes: “Let there be light,” and “This is my body, given up for you.”
‘“Let there be light is the first verse in the Bible, in Genesis,’” he said. “The power of God’s word to create and cast out darkness.” Even when sin entered the world, Father Wille said, “(God) sent us his son …. And the word became flesh. … From the moment of conception, we share in his creation. The 46 chromosomes have already been determined. Let there be light in procreation and give life.”
In the second theme, ‘“This is my body, given up for you’” comes from the Last Supper, he said. “We live out what (Jesus) told us to do.” When a woman is pregnant, she cares for the child within her. After birth, she continues to raise that child, a gift. “Although there is anguish with labor, there is joy after the birth. Pain turns to joy. Anguish to peace,” Father Wille said. He encouraged people to do three things: pray, fast and give alms.
Consider spiritual adoption for a baby who is in danger of abortion, he said. He referenced a prayer that the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of (choose a name), the unborn baby that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion.”
Fasting could involve something other than food or drink, such as social media or television, he said. In place of that time, make time for Christ.
Almsgiving can support mothers and babies after birth. “Give of your time, talent and treasure through the corporal works of mercy.” He encouraged attendees to support organizations that the event funds: Women’s Choice Center in Bettendorf, Pregnancy Resources in the Quad Cities, Quad City Right to Life and Project Rachel.
Assumption High School juniors Anne Burchett, Olivia Kahler, Claire Evy and Mary Huber of Daughters of David sang. A performance by Weber concluded the evening.
