Posted on 02/02/2008 12:17:57 AM PST by ConservativeTrucker
Catholic Prolife Heartache: Prolifers Arrested at St. Petersburg Cathedral
ST. PETERSBURG, Fl., Jan. 31 /Standard Newswire/ -- Two Catholic Pro-life activists were arrested at St. Jude's Catholic Church in St. Petersburg Florida for handing out pro-life literature in the parking lot.
Andrea Terry, 32, and Joseph Landry, 26 were arrested on Sunday, January 20 (ironically, Pro-life Sunday) for placing pro-life literature on car windshields during the 6:00 p.m. Mass. (See news stories below.) Both spent about 5 hours in custody and were bailed out of the Pinellas County jail for $250 each.
Also present: Randall Terry, Steve Pokorny, and Francisco Gonzalez.
They were handing out "The Slavery Tract" which asks the question: "If you as a Christian would not vote for a racist or someone who espouses slavery, why would you vote for someone who supports child-killing by abortion?"
The flyer – which is aggressive but clearly pro-life - was non-partisan and did not endorse any candidate. The Priest who summoned the police knew that it was pro-life material and that the activists were fellow Catholics urging Christians to vote for pro-life candidates.
Andrea Terry is the wife of Randall Terry, the Founder of Operation Rescue.
Mrs. Terry states: "I am a pro-life mother of four small boys, trying to uphold and obey the teachings of the Church. I still can't believe we were arrested for doing exactly what the Holy Father has urged the faithful to do – namely, defend life. I'm hoping that Bishop Lynch will drop the charges."
Joseph Landry is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville Ohio (2004) and has spent the years since his graduation in mission work and youth work in two dioceses.
Mr. Landry states: "It is an injustice to us that we were treated like criminals for handing out literature that promotes the Church's teachings. It's a sad day when a Parish uses resources to fight fellow Catholics, rather than fight against the killing of children. We should be viewed as ideal young Catholics who are striving to protect the innocent unborn.
"I'm asking faithful Catholics nationwide to call Bishop Lynch and ask him to drop the charges against us."
Bishop Lynch's Diocesan number is: 727-344-1611, ext 354. (Please be polite.)
Placing voting material on cars during Mass is a common practice during an election cycle and is not against the law. It only becomes a problem when someone is told to stop. Obviously, any church has the legal right to eject someone from their property.
The troubling question is this: why would a Catholic Church forbid its most vibrant members from defending the unborn who are urging Catholics to vote pro-life? Why would a Catholic parish have a Catholic arrested for doing the very thing Catholics are trained to do – speak up for the defenseless?
This needs to be met with something aggressive.
I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true.
Because they are dogs of the state.
Bishop Lynch should have been gone immediately after his disgraceful performance in teh Terri Schiavo affair.
Lynch is horrible. He has forbidden Adoration in his diocese, actively harrasses pro-life people and priests, and is a moral wasteland himself. There has been financial hanky panky and he had to settle a case against him for sexual harrassment of a male diocesan employee a couple of years ago.
I don’t know what it’s going to take to get him out of there.
Lynch is a miscreant who has no business being a Bishop. He's one of Bernardine's boys who was "reared" in the Miami Diocese before "coming" to St. Pete. Fortunately, there are a few Priests in our Diocese who manage to keep their distance from him, but that's difficult to do for most Priests.
Sa.dly most of the Hierarchy and the clergy who were involved with the Horrendus Homosexual abuse of children were not arrested and put in prison.
This “priest” should be defrocked.
The property really belongs to the faithful in the parish.
Shame on that idiot of a priest.
On what grounds, and what did the priest have to say about it??
By calling this Bishop and letting him know that people all over the country are aware of what he has done here will also let his bosses know that the faithful are fed up with this sort of “leadership”. Lynch had pro-lifers arrested, what sort of Catholic does that?
Not a Catholic, I can tell you that.
I’m glad you reminded me that this is the same guy. Thank you. He is a disgrace. I am a practicing Catholic and sometimes feel like I need to do a “background check” on a priest before deciding whether I am willing to receive the sacraments from him.
Better than windshield flyers, parish members can try to get the priest’s permission to distribute a condensed version of the massive “Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility” as a morally educative document. Plus, Voter’s Guides can be distributed on public sidewalks around the church as a politically educative document. This avoids hassles and draws more attention to the pro-life position of the church articulated by the Pope generally, but sometimes muzzled locally.
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