"The Call" in San Diego a Success

From Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse:

The Call, the Pentecostal gathering at San Diego's QualComm football stadium this past Saturday was incredible. My family and I went to the Mass at the Mission San Diego prior to The Call. For those who are unfamiliar with California history or Catholic lore, the Mission San Diego was the first of the Missions founded in California by Father Junipero Serra back in 1769. Padre Serra is consider the “Father of California.” You might say he is “The Original San Diego Padre.” We felt his presence there at the Mission as our Auxiliary Bishop, Salvatore Cordileone, said Mass for us on the Feast of All Saints. The bishop had invited Pastors Jim Garlow and Chris Clark, to do the readings. Thus, the Evangelical and the Baptist churches were represented at the Catholic event.

We then had a procession from the Mission San Diego, over to QualComm stadium, for The Call. The Call was a major Pentecostal prayer rally, hosted by Lou Engel. Approximately 30,000 people attended the event, which ran from 10 AM to 10 PM.

Around 3 PM, the pastor introduced Bishop Cordileone to the mostly Evangelical crowds. He said that when we've been at battle for hours it was always a relief to see fresh troops. Bishop Cordileone was introduced as “the leader of fresh troops.” Bishop Cordileone then told the crowd that at that very moment there were 1.8 million Catholics (that would be all of the Knights of Columbus) all over the world praying with them for the fight on 8. He then lead the crowd in a beautiful prayer to stop abortion, end pornography, return morals and values to our nation, and for the unity of all Christians in this spiritual war.

People from around the country should know that the struggle for marriage in CA has enlisted the support of all the major religious groups, as this particular rally demonstrates. Over the months of my involvement, I have worked with members of the Mormon church and the Orthodox Jewish community. This past week, I was on a Spanish language radio station. Win, lose or draw on Tuesday, I consider it an honor and a privilege to be part of this great ecumenical effort to preserve natural marriage. I will treasure the friendships I have made over the course of this campaign.