March For Life. Photo by Matt Cashore.

The University of Notre Dame will send more than 800 undergraduate students and 75 faculty, staff and graduate students to Washington, D.C., to participate in the 46th annual March for Life on Friday (Jan. 18). University participation in the march is organized by the Notre Dame Right to Life club, the largest student organization on campus, with support from the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture.

As he has done since 2010, University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., will join the Notre Dame contingent at the march. Father Jenkins will also preside at a Mass for the Notre Dame marchers at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia.

O. Carter Snead, professor of law and William P. and Hazel B. White Director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, said: “It is glorious and inspiring to see such a massive contingent of Notre Dame’s community — students, faculty, staff and senior leadership — marching together joyfully in the name of a culture of life, where every unborn child, along with her mother and father, is protected by law and surrounded by love and support throughout all of life’s journey.

“Through its participation in the annual March for Life, the Blessed Mother’s university bears powerful and public witness to the intrinsic equal dignity of every human being, without exception, from conception to natural death.”

A Mass with special intention for those traveling to the March for Life will take place at 5:15 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 17) in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. On Monday (Jan. 28), students, staff and faculty will gather at 12:30 p.m. at the Grotto to pray the Rosary at the Alumni Association’s annual Respect for Life Prayer Service.

Prayer intentions may be submitted to this form.