And so another election season falls upon America. Hopes are running high and so is skepticism. You can’t blame pro-life, pro-family, pro-religious-liberty Catholics for their mixed emotions. It seems that every election cycle, no matter the outcome, ends up ushering in as much consternation as consolation.

Need a reason to believe that real, lasting change for the better is possible? Read Tim Drake’s front-page report on 40 Days for Life’s fall campaign. The great group’s success has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with people.

In fact, the lay roots of 40 Days for Life make it an organization we love to follow at the Register. What started a few years ago as a prayerful, street-level, mostly Catholic response to the rising tide of abortion in Texas has become an interdenominational, interstate force to be reckoned with. As it has widened its amazingly effective pro-life reach, many priests and more than 40 bishops have gotten involved.

By the time 40 Days’ fall campaign winds down on Oct. 31, many lives will have been saved. And, if current trends continue along the arc described in Drake’s story, more than a few abortion supporters will have changed their minds and joined the side of life.

Perhaps some will run into the welcoming arms of their pro-life neighbors just in time for Election Day — which this year falls on Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls.

All Saints (Nov. 1), pray for them!