By Lucas Pribble
In August, TFP Student Action’s St. Joseph Caravan came through Rockford, IL. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to participate in their campaign. Afterwards, I thought to myself, “Why can’t my friends and I do something similar?”
Then I received an email about the TFP’s new Traditional Marriage Captain campaign. It looked like a great opportunity to get people together and make a stand for the truth. After replying and filling out the form to sign up, I received a banner saying, “God’s Marriage = One Man and One Woman.” The package also contained a letter from Robert Ritchie explaining how to do the rally, along with some flyers listing 10 reasons to oppose same-sex “marriage.”
After making a few phone calls to some friends, I set up the rally for Sunday, November 20th.
As the rally day was approaching, we decided to make some “honk for Traditional Marriage” signs to use at the campaign, just as I had seen TFP Student Action use them in their street campaigns. We went to Staples and bought some posterboard and markers, and my mom and little brothers and sister made some large signs, with “honk for Traditional Marriage” on each one.
Besides the phone calls to friends, the rally was also announced at our local Knights of Columbus meeting. I also sent the information to a local pro-life leader, who kindly posted it on his blog. I wasn’t sure how many people to expect, but I figured that if we made the effort, Our Lady would do the rest!
The campaign was set up for 1:00PM. We chose the intersection of State and Alpine streets. The location couldn’t have been better - with lots of traffic and long-lasting stop lights.
On the day of the campaign, the weather was a crisp 40 degrees, but thankfully no rain. At 1:00pm sharp, we set up the banner on one of the corners of the intersection. Little by little, people starting arriving, mostly teenagers. All in all, we ended up with about 25 people! We started off by praying three Hail Marys together, asking Our Lady for Her protection and guidance.
It was a great campaign. At first we were worried that no one would honk, but honk people did! In the middle of the rally, we decided to pray the Glorious mysteries of the rosary, and it was hard to hear each other with so much honking! There were also many “thumbs up.” It was clear that, besides being on the side of God, we are also on the side of the majority of Americans in opposing same-sex “marriage.”
In spite of the honks, we also had some opposition. One passerby, obviously furious with the rally, demonstrated her opposition by throwing a full cup of soda at one of the young ladies in the rally. So much for tolerance I guess. Another woman in her car mocked us saying, “Look, no one is honking!” Providentially, right at that moment about eight cars started honking behind her!
We ended the campaign with the prayer to St. Michael. After the rally, we all resolved to do this again on a regular basis. The traditional marriage rally reminded me of the words of Our Lord in the gospel: “Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.”
Then I received an email about the TFP’s new Traditional Marriage Captain campaign. It looked like a great opportunity to get people together and make a stand for the truth. After replying and filling out the form to sign up, I received a banner saying, “God’s Marriage = One Man and One Woman.” The package also contained a letter from Robert Ritchie explaining how to do the rally, along with some flyers listing 10 reasons to oppose same-sex “marriage.”
After making a few phone calls to some friends, I set up the rally for Sunday, November 20th.
As the rally day was approaching, we decided to make some “honk for Traditional Marriage” signs to use at the campaign, just as I had seen TFP Student Action use them in their street campaigns. We went to Staples and bought some posterboard and markers, and my mom and little brothers and sister made some large signs, with “honk for Traditional Marriage” on each one.
Besides the phone calls to friends, the rally was also announced at our local Knights of Columbus meeting. I also sent the information to a local pro-life leader, who kindly posted it on his blog. I wasn’t sure how many people to expect, but I figured that if we made the effort, Our Lady would do the rest!
The campaign was set up for 1:00PM. We chose the intersection of State and Alpine streets. The location couldn’t have been better - with lots of traffic and long-lasting stop lights.
On the day of the campaign, the weather was a crisp 40 degrees, but thankfully no rain. At 1:00pm sharp, we set up the banner on one of the corners of the intersection. Little by little, people starting arriving, mostly teenagers. All in all, we ended up with about 25 people! We started off by praying three Hail Marys together, asking Our Lady for Her protection and guidance.
It was a great campaign. At first we were worried that no one would honk, but honk people did! In the middle of the rally, we decided to pray the Glorious mysteries of the rosary, and it was hard to hear each other with so much honking! There were also many “thumbs up.” It was clear that, besides being on the side of God, we are also on the side of the majority of Americans in opposing same-sex “marriage.”
In spite of the honks, we also had some opposition. One passerby, obviously furious with the rally, demonstrated her opposition by throwing a full cup of soda at one of the young ladies in the rally. So much for tolerance I guess. Another woman in her car mocked us saying, “Look, no one is honking!” Providentially, right at that moment about eight cars started honking behind her!
We ended the campaign with the prayer to St. Michael. After the rally, we all resolved to do this again on a regular basis. The traditional marriage rally reminded me of the words of Our Lord in the gospel: “Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.”
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