A ‘simple yet powerful’ Good Friday tradition: Families take prayer for life to the sidewalks in vigil of Christ’s death
Bishop Michael Olson led approximately 200 faithful of all ages in praying the Rosary at the 40th Annual Good Friday Rosary Vigil for Life on April 18, 2025, on the sidewalks of Planned Parenthood in Fort Worth. (NTC/Susan Moses)
FORT WORTH — This year, Good Friday will look just a little different for William Schauf, a teenager who will be fasting for the first time this year.
William, 18, explained the usual Schauf family routine for Good Friday has always involved a noon trip to downtown Fort Worth, where a crowd of people will gather before Planned Parenthood on 6464 John Ryan Road to pray for life alongside Bishop Michael Olson at the Annual Good Friday Rosary Vigil for Life.
“It’s an especially fitting day to pray the Rosary for the unborn,” Natalie Schauf, aged 17, said. Her brother explained, “Since our Lord died on that day, it’s a good day to make sacrifices or do service, or in this case, pray. To come out and pray for the unborn babies and their moms and their families.”
Natalie said her family has been attending the Good Friday Rosary Vigil for Life for as long as she can remember. “We arrive as a family around noon, and we’re there to help out and hand things out and do whatever people need,” she said. “It’s kind of cool to know that you have a purpose being there and have something important that you’re praying for with all these other Catholics — even when you’re a little kid and even if you’re getting tired and your legs hurt.”
For William, the faint memories of physical discomfort are superseded by the meaning behind the day. “On Good Friday, the Lord was suffering for about eight hours, so being out there for an hour and a half is not a lot of time compared to that.”
This year, the siblings will continue the tradition of attending the Rosary Vigil on April 3 “because the fight for pro-life isn’t over,” Natalie said. “We still have problems here we need to recognize.”
Take prayer to the sidewalk
St. Thomas Becket parishioner Bobby Warren is a longtime pro-life advocate.
For the past 17 years, he and his wife have attended the Rosary Vigil on Good Friday.
“We would bring the family and we would go directly from [the Vigil] to the Veneration of the Cross at 3 o’clock, then go home and continue the walk across the Triduum,” Warren shared.
His kids have since moved and aren't always available to join them, Warren said, but “they’re attending in other parts of the world.”
The Rosary Vigil for Life is a “pretty simple, but very powerful” experience for attendees, he said.
“The bishop has really solidified it as a moment of prayer. We're not down there recruiting for other pro-life efforts, and there are no tables up with items that we're giving away to spread the message. We're doing nothing of that sort.
“We get there and we pray for the lives of these children that are going to be lost, for the mothers, and the families that are extended from there.”
A Catholic convert, Warren quickly recalled the theology of how we are each a body and soul composite. “We're bodies and souls. Both go together, so getting out of the house to take prayer to the sidewalk is very important. It expresses with the body the inner yearning of the soul for whatever that prayer may be about — in this case, an end to abortion.”
Praying at home is important, but “it’s also efficacious to take your body and spirit to the sidewalk,” he explained. “It’s very easy. There's no training involved, you don't need to worry about saying anything to anyone. We are there simply to pray and to be present on the sidewalk.”
The faithful’s presence outside Planned Parenthood also holds a significant power and importance.
“I've had women roll their window down and say that they were praying for a sign, and they saw prayer warriors out on the sidewalk, and they turned away,” Warren said.
Considering the “different world in relation to pro-life work now,” the Fort Worth parishioner will be praying for the unborn, their mothers, and extended family as well as for a unified pro-life movement that is called to action.
“Everything's been thrown on its head with the overturning of Roe and what we've seen go on since then. But abortions continue to happen. They haven't stopped. In fact, they're up, so we still have prayer and work today.”
The Diocese of Fort Worth presents its 41st annual Good Friday Rosary Vigil for Life on Friday, April 3 at 12:30 p.m. at the sidewalks of Planned Parenthood, 6464 John Ryan Road in Fort Worth. Parking is available on the street, not in private parking lots or the hospital lot.