BOTKINS — The Respect Life Committee of the Petersburg Parishes is participating for the second year in a row in the international 40 Days for Life Campaign from Sept. 28 through Nov. 6. Last year, more than 500 parishioners and community members participated in the event.

According to the 40 Days for Life website – 40daysforlife.com – 40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion. “The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion. 40 Days for Life is held twice annually.”

The Respect Life Committee will conduct a 40-hour prayer vigil at St. Joseph, Wapakoneta, and Immaculate Conception, Botkins. It will begin at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, and will continue until 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. The vigils will be held in front of each church. Participants will not be holding signs or marching, but will be standing or sitting and peacefully praying for an end to abortion. The Petersburg Parishes of Botkins Immaculate Conception, Fryburg St. John, Rhine St. Lawrence and Wapakonet St. Joseph are named for the now-vanished Petersburg settlement (between Wapakoneta and Botkins on Santa-Fe New Knoxville Road) from which the parishes emerged in the 19th century. They are served by the Rev. Patrick Sloneker and Assistant Sean Wilson. For more information about the 40 Days campaign, contact Tim Dietz, 419-639-2753, the Petersburg Parishes’ Facebook page or any of the local parish offices.