A Greenwood native says he feels a closer connection to his late grandfather after attending the March for Life in Washington on Friday.
Christopher Winter, 19, graduated from Pillow Academy in 2022 and is a freshman at the University of Notre Dame.
His maternal grandfather, Phil Carnaggio, was a devoted anti-abortion activist. Carnaggio was also the founder of a beer distributing company, a lifelong member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and a graduate of Notre Dame, one of the country’s premier Catholic universities.
The March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally and march, regularly attracts tens of thousands of people. Friday’s gathering was the first one held since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had established a nationwide right to abortion.
Winter said Carnaggio attended the march several times. This was Winter’s first opportunity. He went as a member of Notre Dame’s Right to Life student club, which has nearly 500 members representing all 50 states.
“I was just so happy to be there,” he said. “Notre Dame hasn’t taken students the past few years due to COVID. This was our first time since, I think, 2019.”
He said his grandfather was a “major activist for the pro-life cause for Mississippi and in the country” and inspired him to attend.
“He died in 2014, and I was 11 at the time. I never was really able to have mature conversations with him about this type of thing because I was just too young,” Winter said. “Now that he’s not here, I just have the memory of him. It serves as a great inspiration to spur me on to be the best that I can be.”
Winter said Carnaggio was a strong role model who “would have wanted me to have gone” to the march.
While in Washington, Winter also visited Pillow classmate Dia Chawla, who is attending Georgetown University.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
