It started when 20 braver than brave, elementary-school aged girls sent skyward a yellow balloon, handmade, 75-foot-long rosary from Chicago’s Michigan Avenue bridge claiming the Magnificent Mile for Mary.
The school girls had to carry their rosary, cross-first, through downtown Chicago.
That was in August of 2011.
“The reaction....
“Homeless people gave high fives. Street preachers burst into the singing of Gospel songs. Semi-truck drivers shook the streets sounding their truck horns in approval. (Canada Free Press, August 15, 2011).
“A passerby tweeted, ‘A balloon rosary in the air. My faith confirmed:)’
That was the first fledgling rosary over the sky in Chicago, described by Brother Joshua Caswell, now an ordained priest at St. John Cantius Church, as “the latest in a series of spontaneous acts of joy across the United States involving the yellow LIFE balloons.”
When you’re a humble school girl praying ever so fervently for an end to abortion, you never know how far your floating yellow balloon rosary will go.
Will it get caught up in electrical wires, fall into a farmer’s field, or drop into the lake?
The rosary launched into the air over Chicago on that long ago August day, came back to its launching point yesterday--but only after having helped make the yellow LIFE balloon an internationally recognized pro-life symbol.
Yesterday yellow balloons were carried by throngs, at times up to 4,000 strong, stretching out over several blocks, four years later in the same city where the rosary was sent skyward--an answer to the prayers of 20 school girls.
“Hundreds of youth from the Chicago ‘Crusaders for Life’ loaded on double-decker buses on January 18 for the Chicago March for Life. Leaving from Saint John Cantius Church with the blessing of Fr. C. Frank Phillips, they first toured various Chicago landmarks—from the Magnificent Mile to the Loop—spreading a joyful pro-life message and engaging pedestrians and onlookers,” Fr. Caswell reported to Canada Free Press (CFP) this morning.
“Decked in yellow, with bright yellow balloons bearing the word “LIFE”, the Crusaders joined the rally and march already in progress where Archbishop Blase Cupich addressed a crowd of thousands.
“From the Federal Plaza they joined Illinois Right to Life and pro-lifers from all over Chicago as they chanted, drummed and marched through downtown—at times the crowd of 4,000 stretched over several blocks. The march ended with a joy filled rally outside the Thompson Center.
“The ‘Crusaders for Life’ , a growing pro-life movement around the US and Canada, have become known for spirited and joyful enthusiasm and signature yellow balloons which have become an international symbol of the joy of the pro-life movement.”
Most joyful of all is that yesterday’s entire scene was captured on video by the Chicago Sun Times:
From Fr. Caswell’s note to CFP: “I can't believe the Sun Times did this video... Wow... is that how the pro-life movement is portrayed now? Young? Beautiful? Spirited? I like it!”
God blesses the yellow LIFE balloon wherever it turns up, including in Chicago.
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Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
