This year’s 40 Days for Life campaign is well under way in 306 American cities and towns, as well as others all over the world. This is a peaceful campaign of prayer, fasting and witness which aims to save babies by mounting prayer vigils outside abortion mills. It has been operating in England for several years now. I was privileged to meet its founder at a pro-life gala (pronounced “gail-a” in America) in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
David Bereit is a very unassuming man, I would guess in his 40s. He is neat and bespectacled, looking rather like my idea of an American academic or lawyer. He is extremely personable and relaxed, with a great sense of humour but also a kind of gravity and strength. When he speaks you realise that he is passionate but not fanatical. St Bernadette famously said: “My job is to inform, not to convince,” and David shares that attitude.
