Last month, Mary Mulvaney, BA ’98, forgot about the cold in Washington, D.C., as she and her sons walked down Constitution Avenue toward the capitol. Thousands of people were assembling, and the energy was contagious. Smiles, hugs and knit caps from different pro-life groups were passed out in abundance. She recalls rooftop snipers overseeing the March for Life and she thought about how wonderful it was to be protected while she and her fellow marchers prayed the Rosary for the protection of the unborn.
“It was an amazing day,” Mulvaney said. “The opportunities for roadside Confession were numerous. Latin hymns, litanies and the holy Rosary were recited along the route. As we walked together, a warm feeling of unity wrapped around us, and we knew each step counted for the unborn.”
Mulvaney was one of several chaperones for a March for Life class trip of Faustina Academy in Irving, where Mary’s two teenage sons attend.
Although it was her first March for Life ever, Mulvaney’s personal experiences have made her particularly sensitive to the sanctity of life, and not just because she’s a devout Catholic. Mulvaney is a cancer survivor, having undergone multiple surgeries since her diagnosis in 2021. Because her genetic testing detected no prior cancer in the family, her cancer came as a surprise. Out of an abundance of caution, Mulvaney had all her family tested — she and her husband Mark Mulvaney, BA ’98, have seven children — and found that two of their older children had cancerous tumors, which have since been removed.
It wasn’t Mary’s first time on the East Coast. Just months before, she and her family traveled to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to participate in a clinical trial. The Mulvaneys visit NIH annually to help with cancer research, hoping to help others and eventually discover the cause of their own cancer occurrences.
Upon her recovery from fighting for her own life, Mary focused on defending other lives, especially the weakest and most vulnerable: the unborn. Mary was grateful to be finally strong and healthy enough to take her two sons to what she called their “pilgrimage.”
“I look forward to our next pilgrimage coming up, which actually will not involve a lot of walking this time,” Mulvaney said. “We will be fasting and praying with the 40 Days for Life starting March 5 during Lent. How powerful it is to come together and show support for unborn babies and their moms!”
