Pro-Lifer Assaulted And Knocked To Ground Outside Catholic Church UPDATED!

In my previous posting a few hours ago I described what happened to me earlier this morning at St. Patrick's Church. Here's a short video of the incident.

I was strangely reluctant this morning to get out and do my regular protests at the parishes in St. John's area. Mostly I think this was a result of the troubling comments made recently by Pope Francis. Immediately that I read the transcript of his remarks I thought to myself that he has just made it doubly difficult now for anyone on the frontlines in the culture wars. Not only will we get the usual flack and venom from the secular side but we'll also have liberal Catholics and dissidents of all stripes reminding us that we "obsess" too much over abortion, contraception, etc....according to none other than the Pope.

Even before my day started, the psychological and spiritual damage from the Pope's words were, for me, quite significant. I predict there may well be a serious backlash to pro-life efforts on a widespread basis. I am not directly blaming the Pope for the attack which I endured today but I will simply say that considering I suffered a vicious attack from a fellow Catholic, I expect that future attacks from this quarter will be even more probable. In fact I was truly expecting some Catholics today to mock my protest using the Pope's words! It didn't happen today but I guarantee it will sometime soon.

By the way, the Catholic man who assaulted me today accused me of being "on our property" but in fact my sign, which is six feet wide, was about half way on the sidewalk and half way off the sidewalk. It was a crude and cheap way for him to try to justify his violent behaviour.

UPDATE 1:

I filed a report today with the local police, providing them with my videotape as well as still shots of the perpetrator and at least 6-8 witnesses, all of whom, by the way, were content to watch the vicious assault without saying a word or offering help when I was lying on the road. One gentleman did approach me after the assault and indicated that he had witnessed the event and that he was prepared to corroborate what took place if I required a witness. I later learned that he attends St. Patrick’s Church and is actually a local police officer, although he did not know the thug who attacked me.

I explained to the officer at police headquarters today that I was prepared to press the matter to the limit of the law for two reasons. Firstly, it was a vicious crime which came not only suddenly but with violent force and entirely without provocation. Also the potential outcome of the assault was extremely serious.  Fortunately I am a 63 year old man in very good physical shape without any disabilities which means that my body withstood the hard impact of the road without serious injury. All I have today is a bruise on my knee, a sore shoulder and some numbness and weakness in my right arm which took the major force of the fall. Had my physical health been poor, I suspect I would have sustained broken bones or back injury or even head impact. It is entirely possible that an ambulance would have been required. Furthermore, I was shoved into the actual path of traffic and landed where the wheels of traffic would have traveled. There was normal Sunday traffic that day and I could quite possibly have been struck or run over while on the road.

Secondly, I explained to the officer, I protest regularly throughout the St. John’s area, not only at churches but at other sites as well. I take a good degree of abuse every time I carry a sign, from cursing to spitting to throwing stones to the one finger salute and every possible and colourful epithet imaginable. But never before have I endured such a despicable, cowardly attack, one with potentially life threatening consequences. The person responsible must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if for no other reason than as an example so that other similar minded thugs will not be encouraged to do the same to me or to some other peaceful, law abiding citizen. As far as animosity is concerned I can honestly say I have forgiven the man and I do indeed pity such a poor cowardly wretch. But forgiveness and justice are two different things.

UPDATE 2:

On another note, I tweeted out my experience at St. Patrick’s Church to my Twitter followers as well as sending direct tweets to LifeSiteNews , LifeNews and ChurchMilitant.TV. (Check out my Twitterfeed in column to the right.) So far it appears that none of them are interested in following up on the story. I haven’t heard back from any of them and none of my tweets have been retweeted, favorited or otherwise passed along. I find that to be more than a little surprising. I thought a pro-lifer being assaulted and knocked to the ground for protesting abortion would be news worthy....more so being outside a Church and perpetrated by a fellow Catholic. But I must be mistaken I guess. Maybe this sort of thing happens all the time and nobody says anything. Could it be the graphic abortion sign that troubles them or could it be the message against contraception in the pews that scares off pro-life media? I'd really like to know. Come on now, I'm a big boy, I can take the truth. 

Canada: Get Your Eyes Open

Today I left in the morning as usual to protest at several parishes in St. John's area with abortion signage.

At St. Patrick's Church I was standing on the sidewalk with my usual signage when a well dressed gentleman strolled towards me and when he was about 15 feet away he yelled out: "Get that sign off our property" and by that time he was at the edge of my sign and then gave it a huge shove. Since I was holding up the sign, I went with it and before I could even think about what was happening he took advantage of me being off balance and gave me a big push out onto the road. Basically I went flying and hit the ground hard, fortunately not on my head. However, more fortunately still, no traffic was coming my way or it could have been lights out.

I picked myself up, got my hat and picked up my sign and within a minute or two was back to my spot. The man had gone into the Church by that time. But I didn't have to call the police. Someone in the Church had already called the police and said there had been a confrontation with an anti-abortion protester. Nice twist, eh? The police soon arrived.

When the police arrived I had to clear up that confusion and explain that the confrontation was 100% on the other side. I didn't know the man nor did I say a word to him. I have the proof because I videotape all my protest events. As I explained to the police I will be processing my video and will be filing a formal complaint to lay charges.

More to come.

Canada, do you see what you are becoming? When the ones who expose the violence become the targets of new violence? And that violence is perpetrated by well dressed Catholics minutes away from Mass who take offense that you are "on our property."

The Catholic Church of Nice is Dying On The Vine

Pat Robertson Gets A Smack Down on Contraception

Ouch! Pat Robertson stepped into the hot subject of contraception recently. Michael Voris sets the record straight and takes advantage of the situation to expose a major weakness of Protestantism.

The Mass Explained By Catholic Convert, Former Evangelical Pastor

Entertaining and instructive video from Catholic convert Michael Cumbie, former Protestant, Evangelical pastor, now a lay Catholic evangelist. Worth the watch.

Question: "Since Billy Graham Is Not Catholic, Do You Believe He Will Be Saved?"

Response from John Martignoni, Bible Christian Society

Very interesting question there about Billy Graham being saved or not.  But, even though it is an interesting question, it is the wrong question to be asking.  I understand that we, as Catholics, can look around us and see many Baptists, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and so on who, from all appearances, seem to be sincere and devout followers of Christ in accord with the teachings of Christ as they understand them.  They go to church every Sunday, and many every Wednesday, too.  They read their Bibles, they seem to love their families, they volunteer at various charities that help the poor and the oppressed...they just seem like all-around good folks.  But, what we need to remember, just as it is not within our authority to condemn anyone to Hell, so it is not within our authority to canonize anyone as a saint of Heaven, either.

No matter how good someone may seem on the outside to us, we have absolutely no way of judging the interior of their heart - that is the province of God, and God alone.  When speaking about judgment, particularly about his judgment, St. Paul said, “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.  It is the Lord who judges me.  Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart,” (1 Cor 4:4-5).

St. Paul did not even judge himself, because he recognized that it is the Lord’s place to judge man - good or bad - not man’s place.  I want to expand on this by looking at that question about Billy Graham.  Will Billy Graham be saved, even though he is not Catholic?  I think many people, including many Catholics, would say, “Oh, absolutely.  What a good and holy man Billy Graham is.  He obviously loves Jesus. Look at all the revivals he’s done in his life.  Look at all the people he has brought to Christ.  Surely Billy Graham is on his way to Heaven!”  And I believe anyone who thinks that way is doing a great disservice to Billy Graham.

Why do I say that?  First of all, as already mentioned, it is not our place to judge.  Second of all, do we have all the facts with which to make such a judgment?  Have many people come closer to Christ because of Billy Graham?  Undoubtedly so.  But, have many Catholics left the Catholic Church because of Billy Graham?  We cannot be sure, but for the sake of argument, lets say that there are Catholics who have left the Catholic Church because of Billy Graham - I would be willing to bet that many have, whether he knowingly pulled them out or not.   Which would mean, while he has brought some closer to Christ, he may have actually helped to pull some away from Christ.  For any Catholic who leaves the Eucharist has moved away from Christ.  

Also, Billy Graham is a very intelligent man and a very learned man, so it is reasonable to assume that he is aware of what the Catholic Church teaches - about the priesthood, about the Sacraments, about Mary, about the Pope, and so on.  Yet, since he isn't Catholic, he quite obviously rejects those teachings and he quite obviously rejects the authority of the Pope and the Church.  Jesus tells His disciples, “He who rejects you, rejects Me,” (Luke 10:16).  Is Billy Graham rejecting Christ by rejecting the Church founded by Christ and by rejecting those who have been appointed to lead the Church of Jesus Christ?  We are not in a position to know the answer to that question, but these are all questions we need to ponder before we canonize the man.  

So, why do I say it is a disservice to the man to believe he is well on his way to Heaven?  Because by doing so, we are essentially saying that Billy Graham is just fine, thank you, without the Eucharist, without the Sacrament of Reconciliation, without the Communion of Saints, without the priesthood, without recognizing Mary as his mother, and so many more treasures of the Catholic Church.  So, since we assume he’s just fine as is, we assume there is no need to try and evangelize him.  And that is doing him a disservice.  That’s why I said at the earlier that asking whether or not Billy Graham (or anyone else) is saved, even though not Catholic, is the wrong question to ask.  The question we should be asking is: “Would Billy Graham have a better chance of being saved by receiving the Eucharist?  Yes or no?”  

That is the proper question to ask about Billy Graham, or about anyone else who is not currently Catholic.  The answer to that question, is “Yes!”  Everyone who is not currently receiving the Eucharist would be better off by receiving it.  So, our question regarding the non-Catholic should not be: “Are they saved” - that’s a question that is beyond our pay grade - our question, rather, should be: “Would they have a better chance of being saved by receiving the Eucharist?” Since the answer to that question is, “Yes,” then the next question we need to ask is: Are we are doing everything we can to bring those who currently do not receive the Eucharist into the Catholic Church so that they, too, may become “partakers of the divine nature,” (2 Peter 1:4)?

Banal Goofiness: The Bishop Dance

Bishops Must Lead To Recover the Catholic Vote

In an article entitled “How to Recover the Catholic Vote” over at Crisis magazine, Matthew Hennessey makes the case that:

Ensuring our survival in the public square will require brave and faithful Catholics to step up, sally forth, and get their hands dirty doing politics. Politics leads to power, and power is what it will take to beat back these unprecedented intrusions on our basic rights and constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms.

This is not a job for the bishops. This is a job for Catholics who are interested not just in fighting the battle, but in winning it.

He says it’s “unclear why the bishops have been so reluctant to meet steel with steel” but maintains that it’s really up to the average faithful Catholic to get the courage to step up to the plate and change things.

This is a very naive perspective in my opinion and completely discounts the role of Bishops in shaping the moral and political landscape of a nation, particularly one with a ready-made Christian heritage. The author doesn’t expect much from the Successors of the Apostles. One wonders why Jesus even inserted them into the equation if, when the going gets tough, the only tough ones to get going are the laity.

Some of the comments accompanying this article indicate that a good number of readers hold Bishops responsible but if lay Catholics are to do anything they must start expecting much more from their Bishops and Priests. If there is any hope of recovery in our land, the key lies in the words of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

"Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious."

Take this statement very seriously…and decide today what you can do to fulfil your “mission”, as the Archbishop described it. Apathy is not an option. It will prove fatal.

UPDATED: The quote from Archbishop Sheen may seem contradictory, on the surface, to my point that Catholic Bishops must lead in the spiritual (but also moral and political, if at times only indirectly) battle. It may appear that the Venerable Archbishop is saying that the laity--not the Bishops--must save the Church but note carefully the means by which the laity are to save the Church. They are to save it by holding Bishops and Priests accountable to their calling and responsibility under God. At the end of the day the words and actions of duly ordained Church leaders will mold and fashion our society into a righteous or unrighteous people. Clearly then, our future is greatly dependent on a sort of dynamic tension between laity and ecclesiastics.

I think it's fair to apply this passage to the relationship:
Iron sharpeneth iron; So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17

Parable of Poverty, Dead Children And A Religious Coalition

We are strolling down the street with representatives of the Religious Social Action Coalition. We have come from a faraway country to learn strategies for dealing with poverty in our own country, having learned of the formation of this remarkable Coalition.

They are about to take us on a tour of the streets of St. John’s and show us the reality of child poverty, which they claim needs to be urgently addressed—even abolished—because children are needlessly suffering every day.

As we walk and they share with us their exciting vision of a city and a province without poverty, a horrid sight suddenly overcomes us. There on the sidewalk is the lifeless body of an extremely young child, severely lacerated and with some body parts even missing. We are immediately repulsed and horrified.

“What,” we exclaim, “has happened here to this child? Surely a great and violent crime has been perpetrated against this child and neither the criminal nor the neighbourhood has had the decency to ensure a proper burial! Furthermore it is obvious that the police have not even been called to inquire into this greatest of all injustices against an innocent child!”

Leaders of the Coalition assure us not to be alarmed. They note that we are likely to see at least three of these children in such condition in the city of St. John’s each day that we are on our tour, some of them even much younger than this child and some of them entirely in small pieces as if shredded.

We protest and demand how it is that this can be so. Leaders try to calm us and assure us that this is not a problem to be concerned with. They would like to hurry us along past the dead child and further along into the tour. But we protest further, insisting that we must know more about these heinous crimes that are taking place against innocent children in this great city of St. John’s. We simply cannot move past this child and resume the tour until the grave injustice has been explored and understood.

The Coalition emphasizes that this is not their mandate and that they have chosen to look at other ways in which they can help children and their families, poverty being what they consider to be the most pressing matter. They boast that the urgency of addressing poverty was such an animating force among the leaders of the Coalition that never before in the history of NL is there a record of such a diverse group of religious leaders from all faiths coming together with a united voice to address such a great injustice.

But immediately we ask the leaders, “But what of these children lying in the streets, violently killed and disposed of in such an inhuman, undignified manner? What of justice for them? And why did not such a diverse and powerful Coalition first come together to put an end to the evil practice of child killing in the city? Of what use is it to expend energy in feeding and clothing children when clearly many children in the city are in serious danger of being killed?”

The leaders seem somewhat shaken and at a loss to answer these penetrating questions but assure us that others are looking after the problem, and that, in fact, many residents of the city do not find the killing of these children objectionable.

We are dumbfounded by this claim, asking Coalition members what sort of callous hard hearted people live in this city. Furthermore we demand to know why it is that those who have been assigned to solve these despicable crimes have not been able to put a halt to such barbarism.

We surmise that such crimes might be the result of recent actions by some particularly heinous serial killer(s). But upon inquiry we learn that this activity has been going on for almost forty years in the city. We are totally shocked and appalled by this disclosure and immediately cancel our tour in order to return to our native country, realizing we will learn nothing from Coalition leaders about addressing any of the needs of human beings, let alone children, and admonishing the Coalition to immediately change the focus of their efforts from “abolishing poverty” to abolishing child-killing.

**********

[This parable needs only one distinction be made in order to clearly reflect the reality of our decrepit condition: Mothers don’t dump their children on the streets of St. John’s. It’s certainly too visible but also unnecessary. The government pays abortionists to kill their children and dispose of them in a dumpster or sell their body parts to various private enterprise firms.]

FLASHBACK: Originally posted on the Vote Life Canada blog, Sept. 9, 2007