ATLANTA—Catholics in Atlanta will remember the day the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion with prayer at the Cathedral of Christ the King, on Peachtree Road, and a silent protest.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the country’s highest court issued its Roe v. Wade decision. Since then to 2011, some 53 million pregnancies have ended with abortions.

Catholic school students from across the archdiocese, families, professionals and parish groups in 2014 overflowed the pews at the Cathedral of Christ the King for prayers and Mass.

Organizers last year estimated that 1,000 people participated in the annual Mass and took part afterward in Stand for Life, which stretched 17 blocks from the cathedral to a nearby shopping center. Some 300 Atlanta Catholics also attended the national March for Life in Washington, D.C.

Mary Boyert, archdiocesan director of the Respect Life Ministry, said in a statement the day gives people an opportunity “to come together in prayer to mourn the loss of the lives of millions of unborn babies due to legal abortion, as well as the heartache suffered by their mothers and fathers.”

The day brings “public awareness of the tragedy of legal abortion in our community and to encourage others to take a ‘stand’ for life,” she said.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, a rosary for life will begin at the Cathedral of Christ the King. People are asked to pray for the protection of mothers and the unborn, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

A Mass for the Unborn will be celebrated by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Concelebrating at this Mass will be the priests of the archdiocese assisted by deacons.

Participants will later line the sidewalk along Peachtree Road to Lenox Square Mall, beginning at 12 p.m. All are invited to “Stand for Life” in a protest of abortion and offer aid to pregnant women.

And men, women and youngsters are encouraged to join in an effort of quiet evangelization, by eating a simple meal as part of an act of prayer and penance.