This year marks the 33rd year that Life Chain was held in Peel. Originally, participants lined Dundas and Hurontario in Mississauga forming a Cross and along Main Street in Brampton from Shoppers World Mall at Steeles through to Gage Park. About 10 years ago, organizers at Right to Life, in an attempt to bolster numbers and make it easier for People to attend, invited Churches situated on main thoroughfares to hold Life Chains on the sidewalks right outside the respective church doors.

This year, with the addition of at least 4 new Churches “hosting”, Peel boasted 28 locations throughout Respect Life Sunday.

The weather cooperated so our traditional signs stayed nice and dry. We had a favourable response to our newly added signs which we feel captures the value we have for men and women facing challenging pregnancies. While we will never waiver on our message that Abortions takes the life of a human person, we want to commend and encourage those brave moms and dads who Choose Love and Life for their babies.

We want to thank all those who sacrificed part of their Sunday to come out and witness and pray; we especially thank our our dedicated Church Liaisons who step up each year to encourage friends and family to participate. In addition, we want to express our gratitude to Josie Leutke of CLC for her tireless work organizing Life Chain across Canada. She constantly keeps us focussed, updates their website with our time and location changes and is ready to provide signs to new sites at the last minute!

Even with the addition of 3 new Church locations, Brampton’s numbers remained at approximately 400 participants. Mississauga, on the other hand, had slightly over 1200 participants. Undoubtedly the incredible turnout from Sts. Peter and Paul Church makes a difference to the total number. And here we must state the obvious: the incredible spiritual leadership of Father Mario Salvatore is the key to that parishes successful turnout.

When you have a Pastor who is not afraid to courageously speak the Truth about the evil of today’s prevailing Culture of Death and every Christian’s obligation to stand up against it, you get an awakening. If a Pastor will not speak up and if he does not lead by example, by joining in and praying out there on the sidewalk, it’s no wonder some Church’s numbers were meagre. We need both Spiritual leadership, true shepherding, and citizens to boldly carry the torch for all of our voiceless and vulnerable brothers and sisters.

Edmund Burke’s famous words ring truer today than ever: “All that is required for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing”.

Please mark your calendar and Your Church’s calendar for next years Life Chain to be held on Sunday October 5, 2025.

Let’s make next year’s goal to reach out to our neighbourhood churches and invite them to stand with us and make Life Chain a beautiful, ecumenical Witness for Life.

– Genevieve Carson