Posted on 05/17/2006 9:08:53 PM PDT by Full Court
Pro-Life Activism What He Couldn’t Rescue A New Life Modern Dragons
Terry is best known for his years spent in pro-life activism. Following a prayer meeting where a woman brought up the issue of abortion and through the example of others engaged in peaceful protest, Terry founded Operation Rescue — a group that nonviolently blocked abortion clinic entrances until police physically removed them. Terry was first arrested with the movement in 1986.
While in prison, Terry met Father John Mikalajunas, a prison chaplain working in the Diocese of Syracuse.
“I would come in once a week for those who were incarcerated,” said Father Mikalajunas. “Although Randall wasn’t Catholic, when I had Mass, he would be present.”
That was the start of a 20-year relationship which would ultimately bring Terry into the fullness of the Christian faith.
After that, the two kept in contact through pro-life work, conferences, and luncheons.
“He was always very Catholic, but he kept fighting it,” said Father Mikalajunas.
Terry was arrested more than 40 times for his protests at abortion businesses.
In 1998, after a string of 27 lawsuits by organizations such as the National Organization for Women, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, Terry filed bankruptcy and lost his home. In 1991, he closed Operation Rescue.
“I was traveling too much,” he said. “It was hard on my children. I was burning out.”
Yet, his work has left its mark. Among others, Priests for Life founder Father Frank Pavone, former abortionist Bernard Nathanson, and Norma McCorvey all have spoken positively of Operation Rescue’s impact on their own pro-life commitment.
Terry said it’s only a matter of time before the “dragon” of legal abortion on demand is slain.
“I am convinced that in my lifetime we will see the full protection of law restored to unborn babies and pregnant mothers,” Terry said. “I am certain we will dance on the grave of Roe v. Wade.”
For all his success on the activism front, his travels, prison sentences, and multiple lawsuits took their toll on his three children and his first marriage, which he described as doomed from the start. After 19 years, he and his first wife were divorced.
“There were tragic problems that were inherent to the marriage,” said Terry. “According to Catholic doctrine as it has been taught to me, those problems made it an invalid sacrament.”
He still grieves the divorce.
“I recognize that decisions that I made in my 20s and 30s have lifelong implications,” Terry said. “Most of my regrets revolve around leadership decisions and personal life choices.”
In addition to his marriage, Terry was unable to salvage his New York home, his pro-life organization, his radio station — six pieces of real estate in all. Terry sold his home and property, and the equity from the home went to pay lawyers’ fees.
“I owned the name Operation Rescue,” says Terry. “This was by design. The lawsuits hit me personally rather than an entire board of people. It was a very bitter loss to me personally, but it protected other people from losing everything as well. If I had to do it all over again, I would. The lives of these children were worth the loss. It’s the cost of war.”
At the time Terry filed bankruptcy in 1998, there were 27 active lawsuits against him. Most of the suits were based upon the concept that Operation Rescue had hurt the abortionist’s business. Some dealt with interstate commerce. Some were related to a civil lawsuit stemming from trespassing. Others dealt with the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
The Supreme Court later ruled that the NOW lawsuit was improper and that RICO did not apply.
Terry describes his current home as “The Alan Keyes home,” in homage to a fundraising letter signed by Keyes that resulted in enough money to purchase a new home. Keyes asked supporters to make financial donations to the Terry Family Foundation to “restore what the enemy took.”
Randall first met Andrea Kollmorgen, who became his second wife, while working on his first political campaign in 1998. They were later reunited at a religious convocation and married.
Prior to the divorce, Terry had begun searching and asking questions of Father Mikalajunas and others about the Catholic faith.
“Terry was at a Mass I had held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on the Feast of the Assumption,” said Father Mikalajunas. “At that particular Mass, I received a Baptist person into the Church.”
Terry and Andrea had independently joined the Charismatic Episcopal Church, a liturgical denomination not in union with Rome.
“I would challenge him, but he was anti-papal,” says Father Mikalajunas. “I would tell him, you are going to other churches to be liturgically Catholic, instead of coming home where you belong.”
“We didn’t stand much of a chance [of not becoming Catholic], with Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo praying for us,” said Randall’s wife Andrea, pointing to the photograph of Randall meeting the Pope.
Terry now has his eyes set on new issues.
“The abortion movement, the homosexual ‘marriage’ movement or the militant Muslims who are murdering Christians, don’t care if we have seven sacraments or two. They don’t care whether we have priests or preachers or if we are in communion with Rome or Constantinople,” says Terry. “They despise us equally.”
Terry has tried to share the suffering inherent in the abortion issue by being jailed.
But he’s also taken on the sacrifice of raising two adopted and one foster child.
Some of his critics took delight in the spectacle when one of those adopted children, Jamiel, announced in 2004 that he was homosexual. Belief.net interviewed father and son for articles on the subject.
“There are three options when you find out a family member is homosexual,” Randall Terry is quoted saying. “One is accept them and their lifestyle as if it’s normal. Two is to reject them and sever your relationship. Three is to love them unconditionally, but to tell them you do not accept their behavior as normal, and to tell them the truth. If I love my son, I can’t say to him, ‘Hey, you’re committing suicide on the installment plan. This is a great lifestyle.’”
Instead, said the interviews, he reaches out to his son by phone and in letters, telling him that he loves him. But Randall has limited in-person contact with his son while he is living in the lifestyle.
Jamiel told Belief.net that Randall was, “A phenomenal father. I could not have asked for a better father. He was my best friend. I know that my dad, even in that letter, he’s doing it out of love. He’s doing it because he feels that that’s what he has to do to ‘save me.’ So I don’t even hate him for that but it just hurts me.”
Jamiel was legally adopted at age 14, but lived with the Terrys from the time he was eight.
Randall said it was hard to decide how to treat his son’s homosexuality once he passed the stage of struggle and publicly celebrated it.
“I have to be honest with him,” said Randall. “Would you tell a drug addict, ‘I accept you. This is your choice, this is your life and I will stand by you’? The average death age of a male homosexual is 42 years old because of disease, because of suicide, because of alcoholism, because of drugs, because of violence. It’s just not a good world. It’s a self-abusive, self-destructive sexual addiction.”
After a two-year study of Islam, many of Terry’s recent writings have focused on Islamist extremism.
“If we are going to understand the Islamic mind, we must study the life of Mohammed,” he said. “‘What would Mohammed do?’ needs to be the grid through which we view Islamic culture, law and acts of terrorism.”
Terry is currently working on a book with this title.
“For example, Muslims who attack or threaten death to those who mock Mohammed are following in the footsteps of Mohammed himself,” he said.
In addition, Terry serves as president of the Society of Truth and Justice, an organization dedicated to “proclaiming Christian principles in matters of public policy.” In this role, Terry became the chief media strategist for Bob and Mary Schindler, the parents of Terri Schiavo.
As a child, Terry dreamed of attending Juilliard and becoming a musician. While he never realized the first portion of that dream, in recent years he has realized the second. During a year in Nashville, Terry worked with professional musicians to produce two high-quality music CDs. Reviewers say his voice is reminiscent of contemporary Christian musician Michael W. Smith.
Now that he’s Catholic, he looks forward to completing some unfinished business — namely completing music for a Mass and finishing a book about early Christianity that he started while in Rome.
“I laid down all of the basic tracks, but could never finish the Mass,” said Terry. “Now, I can understand why.”
He’s also written a series of articles a la C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, from the perspective of a knight writing to a young apprentice. The title: Dragonslayers.
Whether facing the successes and failures of the past or all of the future endeavors before him, Terry realizes that his newfound faith has also given him new friends to call upon — the saints.
Taking the confirmation name of David Mark, Terry has frequently sought the intercession of the Old Testament’s warrior-king and giant-slayer.
“These are the ones who have fought and suffered before me,” says Terry.
“They will help prepare us for the battles that lie before us through their prayers and example.
Left his wife for another woman, both daughters pregnant out of wedlock, (one is now a Muslim,) one son is a homosexual.
Good gosh his daughter is a muslim too. You know he has a good heart but he has always sort of struck me as a little odd. That must have bben an interesting family to grow up in.
My friend just converted. He gave me some books to read and I discovered many things that don't allow me to convert:
First of all, he believes that forgiveness ONLY comes through a Priest and communion...that if a man sins, and prays for forgivenss, and truly repents, that if he dies before he can see a Priest and confess and ask for forgiveness, then he will go to hell and burn in eternal damnation-I don't see that an anywhere in the Bible.
Secondly, he believes Mary was born without sin...that she, along with Jesus, was born sinless and didn't need salvation, as she never sinned. I don't see that anywhere in the Bible, either.
Third, he believes that Mary, along with others who have died, can hear the prayers of everyone who prays for them...that they are basically omniscient, hearing all who pray to them...I don't find this in the Bible, either.
As far as transubstantiation...I can see that being possible.
Ed
You wrote:
"First of all, he believes that forgiveness ONLY comes through a Priest and communion...I don't see that an anywhere in the Bible."
John 20:21-23.
"Secondly, he believes Mary was born without sin...that she, along with Jesus, was born sinless and didn't need salvation, as she never sinned. I don't see that anywhere in the Bible, either."
Okay, and where in the Bible does it say everything has to be in the Bible to be true? Can you post that verse for us?
"Third, he believes that Mary, along with others who have died, can hear the prayers of everyone who prays for them...that they are basically omniscient, hearing all who pray to them...I don't find this in the Bible, either."
Again, where in the Bible does it say everything has to be in the Bible to be true? Can you post that verse for us?
And have you forgotten about the cloud of witnesses?
Right off the bat, there's no way Christianity is represented there as stating that any Christian who commits a sin will die and burn in eternal hell because they have not gone to a priest, confessed their sin and taken communion.
That is absurd. That posits that a man can do something really bad, like sleeping with his girlfriend, then...even if he repents of it, apologizes to God and his girlfriend, and ask their forgiveness, yet if he dies that evening before he can go to a priest and give confession and take communion, that that Christian will burn in eternal flame, there is no way that Christianity teaches that...
Ed
This is not what the Catholic Church teaches. Venial sins do not send people to hell and do not require confession for forgiveness, although we believe it beneficial.
Mortal sins are an entirely different kettle of fish. Catholics believe they are the "sins unto death" mentioned in the bible. When you knowingly, willingly, and with full consent commit a mortal sin, you are basically pulling a "Lucifer" on God and will go directly to hell if you die, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
You have two ways out of this pickle. The first, and usual way, is to repent and go to confession. Et voila, no more Hellfire (although a chance of purgatory if you weren't repentant enough). It's quick, sure, and easy.
Option 2, not so simple. You must have Perfect Contrition, and the intention to confess the proper way first chance you get. Perfect Contrition means you repent of your sin out of love for God and sorrow at the horrible offense you have made him. This kind of contrition does not include repenting out of fear of Hell or because you've realized how awful the sin itself was (either of which is sufficient for confession). Achieving Perfect Contrition is Not Easy, especially if you've just made yourself dead to the grace of God by comitting a mortal sin. Why take the chance? That's why God gave us confession in the first place, so we wouldn't have to go around wondering all the time.
For supporting bible passages and quotes from the Church Fathers, check out:
and
To overly simplify:
As soon as you are contrite and resolve to go to confession and do penance as soon as you are able you're ok. If something prevents you or you get hit by a car on your way you have a shot at getting into Heaven.
On top of that we Catholics are supposed to try too hard to figure out who's in heaven or hell (excepting those in the Catholic Hall of Fame aka Saints).
We have that "out clause" with purgatory if we're bad, but not super bad....though we do get stuck there if we're good but not super good too.
Grace alone would be so much easier.
Ed:
Eepsy has it right. This is the Church's real teaching.
No, he didn't "leave his wife for another woman"--the article implies that the divorce happened before he met his second wife. And for the rest, since he has joined the Roman Catholic church, I'm certain he's been to Confession and had any sins involved forgiven.
Why don't you try the same???
See if Revelation 5:8 proves helpful in this respect:
5:8 Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.These 24 elders are already in heaven, and look what they are said to be holding: 1) a harp and 2) golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints
Somehow, someway, those 24 dead elders are in possession of the prayers of the saints, which they then put onto the golden altar before the throne (Rev. 8).
That isn't Catholic belief either; Catholic belief is that she was preserved from sin by a work of grace which is a prior application of the merits of her crucified Son. Jesus is as much Mary's savior as she is mine.
This seems to be the pattern with children when the parents are involved in a cause. Look at Phylis Shafly or Dick Cheney.
Cool. We protestants traded Randall Terry for a dunce to be named later. OK...I want either Laura Ingraham or Ann Coulter or better yet Peggy Noonan in return. LOL!
The article implies it, but his former cohorts at Operation Save America tell it differently:
"Mr. Terry's critics also say many donors who receive the fundraising letters are likely to assume that the proceeds of the Terry Family Trust benefit Mr. Terry's four oldest children, along with Cindy Terry, his wife of 19 years. Instead, the Terry Family Trust is to help Mr. Terry get back into ministry and to benefit his infant son and his second wife, the former Andrea Kollmorgan. She was 22 and served as Mr. Terry's personal assistant during his failed 1998 New York congressional campaign. In August 1999, Mr. Terry left Cindy Terry, and obtained a divorce in November 2000. He married Miss Kollmorgan seven months later."
http://www.operationsaveamerica.org/articles/articles/world-mag-exposes-randall-terry.htm
Your "source" sounds rather bogus. I think I'll wait on the result of the Church's judgement in his annulment case.
You wrote: "Right off the bat, there's no way Christianity is represented there as stating that any Christian who commits a sin will die and burn in eternal hell because they have not gone to a priest, confessed their sin and taken communion."
1) Since the Bible never even remotely claims to have all truths explicitly in it don't expect it to. 2) it should be clear to anyone that reads John 20:21-23 that Jesus gave the Apostles power to forgive sins.
"That is absurd. That posits that a man can do something really bad, like sleeping with his girlfriend, then...even if he repents of it, apologizes to God and his girlfriend, and ask their forgiveness, yet if he dies that evening before he can go to a priest and give confession and take communion, that that Christian will burn in eternal flame, there is no way that Christianity teaches that..."
It does nothing of the kind. True contrition is true contrition. If a man knows that Christ ordained that sins such as fornication be confessed to a priest, however, then why shouldn't they be so confessed? God is not cruel. He will not allow a man who is truly sorry to perish uselessly. At the same time, however, Jesus established a way for us to have forgivness applied to us in normal situations. That way is confession.
You don't seem to understand what confession is let alone what it is not.
It's a shame it comes after he abandoned his wife. Also, I question his commitment to Christ if the reason he can't receive Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is that he is not willing to live as brother and sister with his current wife. It's like he's reserving his right to sin if he's really accepted Church teaching. Anybody know if this is the case?
Not true. One can make a perfect act of contrition without a priest in an emergency. The sacrament of penance, instituted by Christ in one of his post-Resurrection appearances (telling the Apostles, "whose sins you forgive are forgiven...", is a wonderful, tangible channel of God's mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Secondly, he believes Mary was born without sin...that she, along with Jesus, was born sinless and didn't need salvation, as she never sinned. I don't see that anywhere in the Bible, either.
As I understand Catholic doctrine on this point, Mary was conceived and lived without sin and was thus saved through the merits of Christ's passion and resurrection. God dwells in eternity and is not limited by time, and thus she was saved in advance.
Third, he believes that Mary, along with others who have died, can hear the prayers of everyone who prays for them...that they are basically omniscient, hearing all who pray to them...I don't find this in the Bible, either.
Revelation speaks of the prayers of God's holy people at the altar in Heaven, with the elect standing around. It doesn't seem too far fetched to me that the saints can hear the prayers of the faithful on earth through the communion of saints within the Body of Christ.
I'm not a fan of Flip Benham and his group by any means, but since they were allies of Terry's at one time, I include it for what it's worth. I hadn't thought about Terry in years until he resurfaced during the Terri Schiavo thing, and his TV blitz being "spokesman" and keeping himself in the spotlight reminded me of what he is.
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