One Year Later: Remembering Andrew “Kent” Moore (’14)

On Thursday, to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Andrew “Kent” Moore (’14), students of Thomas Aquinas College spent the afternoon the same way that Kent spent many of his afternoons — by praying for an end to abortion.

Some 50 of the students who are on campus for the summer and two chaplains made their way to the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in the neighboring city of Ventura, Calif. While at the College, Kent spent many an hour at that facility, usually with fellow members of the student pro-life group, but sometimes by himself, praying the Rosary for the young mothers entering the building and the unborn children whose lives were in danger. Whenever anyone was willing to speak to him, he gladly listened to their concerns and provided information about pro-life alternatives to abortion.

Kent died one year ago — on July 20, 2012 — while participating in the Crossroads Pro-Life Walk Across America. He was walking along the median of an Indiana highway when a passing motorist struck him at high speed. Kent died instantly.

This Saturday, the 2013 Crossroads team that is taking the central route across the United States will be in Indiana once more, where it will attend a memorial Mass for Kent at Holy Rosary Church in Indianapolis. Among those present will be two Thomas Aquinas College students — Sophia Macik (’15) and John Kurzweil (’15) — who are participating in this year’s Central Walk.

“I didn’t know Kent well,” Miss Macik notes, and it was not his example, in particular, that inspired her to walk across the United States for an end to abortion. “Ever since I was young, I have always desired to contribute to the pro-life cause. Although I have been involved in various pro-life activities, I wanted to do something more.” Rather than deterring her, Kent’s death made her only more determined to walk the miles.

“God is going to call you home when He is going to call you home,” Miss Macik reflects. “You have to trust in God. With Kent, he couldn’t have been in a better position to die. He was literally fighting for life, fighting for what’s good and right, and in many ways you could call him a martyr,” she says.

One year later, this is how Kent is remembered, both in prayer and in action: a young man always willing to serve; devoted, even to the point of death, to answer God’s call.

May his soul, and those of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.

Posted: July 19, 2013