Montana is the 4th largest State in the United States, and also one of the least densely populated with just over one million residents, almost a quarter of whom identify as Catholic. Nicknamed “Big Sky Country” for its panoramic vistas, Montana became the 41st State in 1889.
Numerous Indian burial mounds of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes still rest on the high bluffs above the Big Sioux River, near the picturesque falls that Lewis and Clark came across some 210 years. Bringing Our Lady of Czestochowa to a state that joined the Union in 1889, the From Ocean to Ocean Campaign in Defense of Life was welcomed kindly by local Catholics.
South Dakotans have gained a reputation for defending life in their state laws. In fact, an Appeals Court in 2008 upheld a South Dakota law that requires abortionists to inform women in writing that the abortion procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."
Liveliness best describes the scene of arrival for the pilgrim icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In Kansas City, the Wyandotte Pregnancy Clinic provides abortion clinic alternative services and free pregnancy tests for families in need. This proved to be best “first stop” for Father West to bring the Pilgrim Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
- Pilgrim Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa Arrives at the Gateway to the West
- IN DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE – MARCH IN WASHINGTON
- In Wisconsin, The Pilgrim Icon Visits Catholic Communities and Marian Shrines
- The Black Madonna Visits the Grave of Fr. Paul Marx, Founder of Human Life International
- The Black Madonna in the Twin Cities
- Our Lady Visits Two Cathedrals on the Grassy Plains of North Dakota
- Anticipating Her Visit to Mexico, Pilgrim Icon Visits the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin
- A Gift from Our Lady of Czestochowa for the Feast of Corpus Christi.
- The Pilgrim Icon Visits Southern Minnesota
- Wrapping up the Visit in Chicagoland – at the Polish Mission in Lombard