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MANVILLE: Area group holding pro-life vigil

By Mary Ellen Zangara, Special Writer
   If you drive down Main Street by the corner of Camplain Road and you see people standing outside by Sacred Heart Church, they are peacefully participating in the National 40 Days for Life campaign.
   40 days for Life, according to its website, is a community-based campaign that draws attention to the evil of abortion through the use of a three-point program: Prayer and fasting, constant vigil and community outreach. 40 Days for Life says it takes a determined, peaceful approach to showing local communities the consequences of abortion in their own neighborhoods, for their own friends and families.
   Organizer Joe Kapp said, “ I am a parishioner at Immaculate Conception in Somerville. The 40 Days for Life was starting and a lot of people didn’t want to travel to Philipsburg or couldn’t travel as far away as Phillipsburg or Woodbridge so we were looking for a place locate more central to this area that people wanted to go and pray. Someone in the parish had mentioned that Planned Parenthood had a facility in Manville on South Main Street.”
   Manville is one of the four locations that were chosen for the vigil. Other towns included Phillipsburg, Woodbridge and Hackensack.
   Mr. Kapp signed up the group online to participate and got the group going. “The parish (Sacred Heart) here has been very helpful and allowed us to put the 40 Days for Life banner on their fence. It is very rewarding and there has been a lot of welcoming,” Mr. Kapp said.
   Manville residents and Sacred Heart parishioners Magdalena Daus and Joann Pankowski joined Mr. Kapp along with Immaculate Conception parishioners Kate Chetta and Maggie Buley on their vigil that Saturday. People riding by showed their support by beeping their horns and waving.
   Ms. Daus and her husband have been pro-life supporters for a long time and have been out praying for many hours.
   ”I have always been praying and going to Washington and to Trenton for pro life. We have done prayers in other places. I am also the pro life rep for Sacred Heart. I just try to do whatever I can in my spare time for pro life and also help the pregnancy aid center in Raritan. I am here because I think it is so important,” she said.
   ”This is hoping to be the beginning to the end of abortion in this country and in the world. Anyone is welcome to come and pray. It is peaceful vigill; we are here to help. We are meeting every Saturday in Lent from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” said Mr. Kapp.
   For more information visit www.40daysforlife.com/manville.