Before leading a group of about 200 people in a procession to pray outside a downtown Louisville abortion clinic last Saturday, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz reminded them of their purpose.

“Our task today is to be prayerful and courageous on behalf of life — the life of pre-born children and the life of every child and adult with whom we come in contact with this day and every day,” he said at an early morning Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption.

The purpose is “to give witness to the gift of our faith and the sanctity of human life,” he added at the Aug. 2 liturgy attended by members of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants and others.

Following the Mass, Archbishop Kurtz led a procession of people from the Cathedral on Fifth Street to the abortion clinic near Second and Market streets about five and a half blocks away. Along the route, the group — given a police escort — prayed the rosary.

They lined the sidewalk on Market Street across from the clinic where they again prayed the rosary and sang hymns. Afterward, they continued to pray the rosary as they walked in procession back to the Cathedral for Benediction celebrated by the archbishop.

While most of the more than 200 people who attended the Mass joined the procession to the abortion clinic, some remained in church to pray during eucharistic adoration.

The gathering last Saturday mirrored the monthly prayer vigil for life that the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants hold in Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Kindred Hospital, 1313 St. Anthony Place. The vigils begin with Mass, followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, a rosary procession to the abortion clinic and closing Benediction.

In his homily at the Mass, Archbishop Kurtz asked people to reflect on three words: courage, helper and humility.

Courage is given by God “for us to cultivate in our lives,” he said. “Today, not only as individuals but as the body of Christ, we come together as men and women, young and old, of courage. The gift of courage for which we ask is one that needs to be very much grounded in the cause” of being “helpers of God’s precious children.”

The group Helpers of God’s Precious Infants is committed to maintaining a prayerful presence outside abortion clinics. The organization was founded by Msgr. Philip Reilly of Brooklyn, N.Y., and has spread throughout the United States and to other countries. Archbishop Kurtz said he came to know Msgr. Reilly while serving as a pastor of a parish in Bethlehem, Pa. A regular “monthly presence” of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants was started at his parish, the archbishop said.

“We are part of a movement of grace spreading throughout the world calling for (the) dignity and sanctity of human life,” Archbishop Kurtz said of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants.

A helper is one who is “pro the life of others,” he said. A helper is someone who “always takes care to make sure ... you say things in a way that is received well.”

Also, he said, a helper is one who reaches out “to do whatever physically we can to assist someone, to seek always to be polite and be civil, to be welcoming (and) to pray, as Jesus said, for all those who are our friends and those who consider themselves our enemies. We pray for all people, because all life is precious.”

A “true helper is someone whose life overflows in every corner of their life,” he added. “Wouldn’t it be terrible if we spent acting courageously for life, then we went home and we were terrible to someone in our family. We’d say, ‘Gosh, that’s not being a helper of God’s precious children.’ ”

About humility, Archbishop Kurtz said “everyone of us, including myself, needs to be converted even more deeply to Christ to make ourselves fully aware in our word and in our action (of) the preciousness of human life in our midst — the precious life of a pre-born child, the precious life in every aspect that God presents to us.”

Among those at the gathering last Saturday was Patti Horton, who has been involved with the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants since the group was started in Louisville about 15 months ago. She said in an interview that the group was formed after Msgr. Reilly was invited by Generation JP II to speak in Louisville.

The group’s purpose is “creating a loving and prayerful presence” outside of abortion clinics, she said. Prayers are said for all people, including women having abortions, the family and those who work in the clinics.

Abortion is “an evil,” she said, and “the only way to fight evil is with prayer.”

Horton said Helpers of God’s Precious Infants is a three-pronged ministry that includes people who pray outside abortion clinics; those who give “spiritual support” to those who give witness; and having trained “sidewalk counselors” who approach a woman going for an abortion and asking her to reconsider her decision.

Mike Kenny said he joined the group last Saturday morning to pray outside the abortion clinic “to try to do something positive to change our culture.”

Being “a public witness to our faith” is what “we’re called to do,” he said. “We’re called to bring Christ to others.”