More than 7,000 expected to attend Life is VERY Good event

“People think we created this event to teach teens to be pro-life. It is the other way around! Each January, tens of thousands of teens come to DC to encourage our country to have a greater respect for life…”–Kevin Bohli, Executive Director, Office of Youth, Campus and Young Adult Ministries, Catholic Diocese of Arlington

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 17, 2018

   

FAIRFAX, Va.  – More than 7,000 people will pack the Eagle Bank Arena on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Thursday, January 18 for the 10th annual Life is VERY Good Rally. The Catholic Diocese of Arlington’s Office of Youth, Campus and Young Adult Ministries sponsors the event, which attracts teens from across the country to prepare prayerfully for the March for Life.

The event is a prelude to the March for Life on Friday, January 19.

Here are the details:

 

When:                                               Thursday, January 18, 2018, 7:30–10 p.m.

Where:                                              Eagle Bank Arena at George Mason University, 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax

 

Kevin Bohli, Executive Director of the Office of Youth, Campus and Young Adult Ministries, reminds us that it was the pro-life teens who motivated the Diocese to offer the Life is VERY Good event. He says, "People think we created this event to teach teens to be pro-life. It is the other way around! Each January, tens of thousands of teens were coming to DC to encourage our country to have a greater respect for life, and we simply created a space for them to pray about it!"

Meghan O’Malley, a parishioner at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Chantilly, has attended Life is VERY Good multiple times. Now, she’s coming back as a volunteer. “This Rally is such a great way to prepare spiritually for the March for Life. I love the energy of an arena packed with young people who are passionately Catholic and dedicated to the pro-life movement," O’Malley said.

In a statement, the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, said, in part, “I look forward to seeing many of our youth at the Eagle Bank Arena in Fairfax for our diocese’s Life Is VERY Good Evening of Prayer (January 18, 7:30 p.m.) and Rally and Mass (January 19, 9 a.m.). The annual March for Life rally begins on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at noon on January 19. The most public display of the Gospel of Life is the annual March for Life.  In advance, I thank all of our parishes that are welcoming visitors from other dioceses and providing hospitality to March for Life participants.”