By John Jalsevac
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This January 22, a group of young students, all of them wearing red plastic ponchos, proudly bore the March for Life Banner and led the hundreds of thousands of pro-life marchers through the streets of Washington, D.C., to the steps of the Supreme Court.
"It hit me when we were walking up the hill (toward the Supreme Court) and I turned around and saw all those people behind us," said Jessica Ramirez, a senior in high school, about the experience.
The group of students, approximately 100 in number, who this year wore backpacks emblazoned with "Fr. Kidwell’s March for Life," in honor of the Jesuit priest who has led the Miami group for over two decades, hail from Miami Florida, .
This year, however, the group of youngsters marched with mixed emotions. "Our leader, Fr. Kidwell, died last week, and he’s been doing this since 1983, or, I think even before that…In honor of his death, we’re standing in front (of the March)," explained Katie Dugard, one of the students from Miami, in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.
Fr. Kidwell passed away on January 13, from complications from pneumonia. He was affectionately known by friends as the "pied piper," for his ability to gather youth together for various activities, most notably the annual March for Life.
"Each year he worked for months, calling people and making arrangements with buses, airlines and hotels," said Father Thomas C. Griffin, a fellow Florida Jesuit, according to Fr. Kidwell’s obituary in the Florida Catholic.
Several days before his death, the 83-year-old Jesuit priest, who had been unable to lead the group last year as well, due to having undergone open heart surgery in late 2006, dictated a letter, to be read to the Florida youth going to the March, to the man who would take his place this year in leading the Miami group, Jim Dugard. Dugard is chairman of the religion department and director of campus ministry at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.
"He said he was happy that I was running the trip and he could be content that it was in good hands," Dugard said. "I sort of had a feeling he was saying goodbye."
"In the early ‘90s, many students would come from all over the archdiocese and there would be no teachers except myself and Father (Kidwell) on the trip," Dugard related. "Those days were quite chaotic. Yet through it all Father (Kidwell) was always bright and optimistic."
"We all called him Yoda, after the ‘Star Wars’ figure, and in some ways he was our Yoda, always vigilant, ancient and ever-knowing."
The Miami students come from a number of different schools, including Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Christopher Columbus High School, Belen Jesuit Prep, St. Brendan High School, Archbishop McCarthy High School, St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Chaminade-Madonna College Prep.
"We just wanted to represent the voice of the unborn, and to try to see if we can stop abortion," seventeen-year-old Alexandra De Armas told LifeSiteNews when asked why she had come to the March. "We are the future generation. It’s up to us to stand up for what we believe in and represent every one else in our generation."
Asked what she thought about the 2008 March, De Armas responded, "It’s very cold. Coming from Miami, this is freezing."
Is it worth it? "It’s definitely worth it," she responded without a second thought.
Read Florida Catholics blog about Fr. Kidwell’s March for Life’s four days in D.C.:
http://www.thefloridacatholic.org/rop/2008_rop/2008_roparticles/20080119_rop_march_1.php
Read Fr. Kidwell’s obituary in the Florida Catholic:
http://www.thefloridacatholic.org/mia/2008_mia/2008_miaarticles/20080118_mia_obituary_kidwell.php