PORT EWEN/ESOPUS — In support of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) dedication of January 22 of every year as the Day of Prayer for Legal Protection of Unborn Children, Presentation-Sacred Heart Parish invites all people of goodwill, families, and individuals alike to its prayer programming at its two churches that day.

“Although the Roe v. Wade decision of January 22, 1973, was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 by its Dobbs v. Jackson ruling,” said Father Arthur F. Rojas, pastor of Presentation-Sacred Heart Parish, “much work needs to be done prayerfully and practically to foster legal and cultural respect for the life and personhood of the preborn child in America.”

Two Masses will be offered at Sacred Heart Church: 8 a.m. in the Ordinary Form and 11:30 a.m. in the Extraordinary Form, with confessions heard from 10:45 to 11:15 a.m. Additionally, at Presentation Church, the parish’s pro-life prayer group, the Prayer Warriors for Life, will meet for its prayer session at 10 a.m.

“Locally, our parish cooperates actively with the Ulster Deanery Respect Life Committee,” added Father Rojas, who was succeeded as moderator of the UDRLC on Jan. 1, 2025, by Deacon John Carr of St. Mary-St. Peter’s Parish in Kingston, New York.

Presentation-Sacred Heart Parish serves the town of Esopus in Ulster County via Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church at 209 Hoyt St., Port Ewen, and Sacred Heart Church at 1055 Broadway in Esopus. The Port Ewen site is also home to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Hudson.