The parishioners of St. Theresa Parish, Little Egg Harbor proudly proclaimed their love of the pre-born Sept. 15 as Father K. Michael Lambeth dedicated a new granite monument on the plaza of the Ocean County parish. About 100 faithful were present at the unveiling of the stone bearing the message, in both word and picture, the profound truth that life in all its forms is sacred.

“This was 15 years in the making,” declared Virginia Del Conte, St. Theresa Respect Life representative. Del Conte described the efforts of former group leader and founding member Marie Konchan as she strove to make the group’s mission of life visible to all. “Marie got the ball rolling and was inspiration, the driving force,” Del Conte said. More than a decade of bake sales, parish bus trips and private donations were necessary to raise the $10,120 cost of the monument.

The new memorial is a three-piece granite slab roughly six feet high and four feet wide and weighs nearly four tons. Its front bears an etched picture entitled “The Visitation” as detailed in the book of Luke. St. Elizabeth lifts her hand in greeting to her cousin Mary as she celebrates both her own imminent motherhood and the birth of the Lord. The dedication etched across the bottom of the marble edifice reads “In memory of the unborn”.

The concept for the pro-life monument’s picture lay right at the members’ fingertips. “This picture of the Visitation is in our scriptural rosary book we use each Tuesday afternoon at the church,” Del Conte said. Picture in hand, group members approached Toms River’s Master Memorials, Inc., and designer Tim Doerr delivered the stone in about four months.

On the reverse of the monument, a quote from the prophet Jeremiah greets the faithful leaving the Ocean County parish: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. (Jeremiah 1:15).

Respect Life Committee members and parishioners watched in fascination as the monument’s sections were set into place by crane on Sept. 11; the new marble testament to their faith was kept covered in tarp in the days before the dedication. Father Lambeth gave a blessing as the tarp was pulled away to reveal the weighty pro-life memorial of pink marble to match the main church.

The group’s pro-life message was echoed in the parish center after the unveiling, for the sheet cake baked for the reception bore a photographic stencil of the Visitation etching atop its icing layer.

Del Conte’s take on the towering testament to the sanctity of life was simple, yet profound.  “We wanted to make a statement, and we made a statement,” she said.