Pro-Life Groups Picket Bishops!

By John Vennari

Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, organized a unique pro-life demonstration aimed directly at the American bishops. The rally took place on the afternoons of November 9 and 10 across the street from the Marriott Hotel in Baltimore where the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops held their annual meeting.

I traveled to Baltimore for the demonstration as I considered it a historic event. It is the first time, to my knowledge, that a pro-life group held the bishops publicly accountable for the virtual free reign of abortion and pro-abortion Catholic politicians in the United States. The election of the most pro-abortion candidate in American history to the presidency powerfully demonstrates the U.S. bishops’ failure in Catholic leadership.

At the center of the controversy is the U.S. Bishops’ “Faithful Citizenship” document which effectively gave Catholics a “rationale” to vote for a pro-abortion politician.

Randall Terry told CFN: “Our message to the bishops is this: we love our bishops, but ‘Faithful Citizenship’ is a disaster. And it must be scrapped completely, or radically shortened, modified and made unequivocal. The document has so many loopholes in it you can drive a pro-abortion truck through it.”

Even Catholic writer Deal Hudson, usually deferential to the hierarchy, severely criticized “Faithful Citizenship”. In the days leading up to the election, Hudson wrote, "If Obama wins on November 4 with the help of Catholic voters, the biggest factor in his favor will be the bishops' own document and Website, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship."

Hudson noted major loopholes in the document: “...it states that Catholics are allowed to vote for a supporter of abortion rights so long as 1) they do not intend to support that position (34) or 2) there are offsetting ‘morally grave reasons’ (35).”

“Visit any of the pro-Obama Catholic Web sites,” said Hudson, “and you will find this message taken from ‘Faithful Citizenship’ Catholic voters can ignore Obama's pro-abortion record because of mitigating factors.”

In fact, a liberal faction of the Knights of Columbus called “Knights for Obama” celebrated the “Faithful Citizenship” document. One commentator on its website said, “The American Catholic bishops’ recent document ‘Faithful Citizenship’ helps me understand I can vote for Senator Obama with a clear conscience if I do not favor abortion.”

It was this bad leadership of the bishops that was the center of the demonstration organized by Randall Terry.

The demonstration began on the afternoon November 9, the first day of the USCCB meeting. The pro-life group prayed the Rosary and held signs that read:

• “Deny Biden Communion – Canon 915”
• “Could We Vote for Herod?”
• “Faithful Citizenship Makes Unfaithful Catholics”
• “My Mother Chose Life” (held by little girl)
• “Should We Serve Herod Holy Communion?”
• “Your Silence: Affirmation of Child Killing”

The bishops had to pass the small group on their way into the hotel. Terry’s co-worker Joseph Landry said of the prelates who walked by: “Some bishops gave us thumbs up of approval, some bishops avoided all contact with us, and some bishops defended the Faithful Citizenship document saying, ‘no matter what we do, the people aren’t going to like it… so it’s no win for us’.”

Perhaps a bishop who complains of “no win” should be reminded that our Lord already foretold, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before you.” (John 15: 18) Defending true Catholic Faith and Morals, even it if means irritating people who oppose the truth, is part of the bishop’s job description. By doing what is right, the bishop may lose favor with certain people, but he will win favor with Heaven, which is all that counts.

“Our fear is that the moral fiber of these bishops is cut from the same cloth as the bishops of England who went along with Henry VIII.“ said Mr. Terry, a convert to Catholicism. “What we’re looking for are some St. John Fisher type bishops who will be loyal to Rome at all costs.”
In their public statements about abortion and the duty of Catholic politicians, the bishops seldom quote the modern popes, the popes of the past, or anything from our Catholic patrimony. “They only quote each other and USCCB documents”, Terry lamented.

Around lunch time on Monday, as some of the bishops and USCCB staff filed out of the Marriott, the pro-life group shouted, “We love you bishops”, urged them to defend the unborn and to scrap the “Faithful Citizenship” document.

Mr. Terry politely approached one bishop and another cleric as they were leaving the hotel, but both bishop and cleric scurried away from Mr. Terry as if he were covered with leprosy.

Though the pro-life group was not a large gathering, the bishops obviously felt the sting of our presence. An effort was made on Monday to shoo us away.

Police asked if we had a permit. Mr. Terry responded that we were lawfully assembled, not blocking any entrance or egress.

Shortly after, a representative from the Marriott along with a security guard and three or four policeman approached the group to say we had to leave. The corner on which we stood was about to be power-washed.

This was an obvious ruse, since the corner, despite being near a construction site, appeared perfectly clean. Of all the corners in the city of Baltimore, it was more than coincidence that our spot was suddenly picked to be hosed down at this time.

Mr. Terry responded in a civil manner that we would disperse when the power-wash machine arrived, or at 1:45 pm when the rally was scheduled to disband.

The power-wash machine did not arrive until around 2:00, shortly after the pro-life group withdrew.

When I saw the power-wash machine wheeled into place, it occurred to me that perhaps the bishops themselves need to be power-washed by collectively making a traditional Ignatian Retreat in which they spend two full days reflecting on the reality of eternal hellfire and their possible place in the abode of the damned (such a Retreat would be good for us all).

Bishop Sheen once said, “We priests usually don’t lose our souls because we do evil. Rather, we lose our souls because we fail to do good.” This “failure to do good” was reflected in the latest Election. One of the greatest tragedies of the 2008 presidential race is that most bishops, with some exceptions, simply made a weak pro-life statement, or signed a joint pro-life document, or printed a pro-life article in their diocesan newspapers. They never mobilized the faithful to effectively fight for the unborn.

“Not one bishop held a press conference to say, ‘This is the teaching of the Church’,” said Terry. “A handful of bishops put out decent documents but even those were in the Catholic ghetto. The soul of every person in the diocese is in the charge of the bishop. If you want it to reach every soul — or at least as many souls s possible — don’t simply release the message in a church bulletin or in the diocesan newspaper. Have a press conference; buy time on the radio; send out a mailing to everyone in the diocese that says ‘This is the teaching of the Church: we cannot vote for someone who supports the killing of children’.”

Terry commended prelates such as Scranton’s Bishop Joseph F. Martino who publicly said of the Faithful Citizenship document, “the USCCB does not speak for me”. He also commended Bishop Rene H. Gracida Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi, who produced a short radio spot in English and in Spanish that said unequivocally, “a Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate."

As it turns out, Mr. Terry was not the only one to schedule a pro-life presence at the USCCB meeting. American Life League, the Catholic Media Coalition, STOP Planned Parenthood, Maryland Right to Life and the Baltimore-based Defend Life held a candlelight vigil on November 11. They urged the bishops to sanction Catholic lawmakers who support “legal” abortion by refusing them Communion or through excommunication.

Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, told Catholic News Service, "Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate to ever run for the presidency, yet 54 percent of Catholics voted for him. The bishops have said they will try and work with him. Archbishop(Donald W.) Wuerl (of Washington) said he wouldn't seek to deny (Vice President-elect Joseph) Biden Eucharist. Is it any wonder why 54 percent of the Catholic congregation felt like it was OK to vote for Barack Obama?"

Sedlak denounced the scandal of pro-life politicians whose bishops allow them to receive Holy Communion on a regular basis.

"This is in direct conflict with canon law," he said. "These politicians are guilty of the gravest of sins — facilitating the death of innocent children — and yet so many present themselves for Communion week after week. It's causing scandal and confusion in the church and this must cease."

The National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen reported that the bishops stated at their meeting they intend to challenge Obama on abortion and on the Freedom of Choice Act that Obama promised Planned Parenthood he would sign.

Despite the tough talk suddenly emanating from some of the bishops, one can only hope they are truly committed, that they know how to fight effectively, and they know how to withstand an opponent such as Obama who was trained in Saul Alinsky tactics. “CRUSH THE OPPOSITION” is a key principle in Saul Alinksy’s Reveille for Radicals. (p. 150).

Pro-abortion forces play for keeps! Based on their track record, one may be permitted to wonder about the collective resolve of the U.S. Bishops. Catholics desperately need to storm heaven for these prelates.

On November 11, John Allen summed up what he saw as the bishops’ response: “‘No retreat, no surrender’ is perhaps the best way to sum up the spirit of the U.S. bishops’ discussion of abortion and politics this afternoon, though the bishops stopped short of adopting any new policy on the denial of communion to pro-choice Catholic politicians.”

There are bishops, such as Scranton’s Bishop Martino, who support denying the Eucharist to pro-abortion Catholic politicians. Other bishops oppose this course of action. Yet the bishops' refusal to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians is not merely bad strategy. It causes confusion among the faithful, promotes sacrilege and bad example. It signals that the bishops are not fully committed to fight abortion with all their strength, and with all the supernatural weapons at their disposal.

Randall Terry, American Life League, STOPP Planned Parenthood and other pro-life groups who assembled outside the Marriott must be congratulated for publicly confronting the USCCB at the bishops’ front door.

For too long, Catholic bishops and their modernist theologians have effectively given great liberty to abortion and to Catholic politicians who are allowed to remain “Catholics in good standing” while simultaneously promoting the slaughter of unborn babies.