Silent Witness

"Meandering Mind of a Seminarian" is a blog written by a Catholic seminarian. He writes a two part post (Part One and Part Two) about a silent pro-life prayer vigil at a Kerry rally in Saint Louis.

It's inspiring - but it's not pretty.

Remember the prate and gabble from the left about "loyalty oaths" at Bush rallies last summer? (By the way, I've been to two Bush rallies, and never saw a loyalty oath - and I've heard of none at any other rallies. Go figure) Contrast that with this scene:

The group [of seminarians], which was about 25 in number, gathered at 5:30 pm for prayer and instructions, after that we walked to the America's Center while praying the Stations of the Cross. When we arrived we got in line to enter the event like everyone else. Two of us carried two bags containing signs for the whole group to hold. We (the two of us with the signs) were immediately confronted by some "Firemen for Kerry" who were providing security for the event. They informed us that we would be unable to take the signs into the event. I informed them that I had already spoken to the security officials earlier that day and they informed that if there were no sticks or any other thing that could be used as a weapon that they would have no problem with us bringing the signs in. At that point I asked to speak with the person who was supervising them. After a short wait a gentleman claiming to be a secret service agent (although I have my doubts) came and conceded that legally the could not keep us or the signs out of the event, but that the Kerry/Edwards people decided that we should not bring them in. I then asked to speak to someone from the Kerry/Edwards campaign.

After a longer wait a young lady claiming to be a staff member of the Kerry/Edwards campaign approached. She asked to see the signs, so we showed them to her. As soon as she realized that the signs said things such as "You CANT be Catholic and pro-choice. She said that we would be unable to enter with the signs. I produced a document from the ACLU that said otherwise. At this point we began to be accosted by various Kerry supporters. They were right up in my face, screaming and yelling. With their arms flailing they informed me that I was not welcome there. Others screamed "Who are you to tell me that my daughter who was raped cannot have an abortion." We remained calm and prayerful.

It got worse:

When the event was over Kerry supporters poured out of the building just as fast as the obscenities and ridicule poured out of their drunken mouths (yes, many of them were rather intoxicated). We were hailed as pedophile hypocrites who needed to clean our own house before we tell them what to do. We were accused of being the scum of the Catholic Church and homosexuals. We were accused of harboring criminals and being oppressive of women and African Americans. We had some “homosexuals for Kerry” stand in front of us and make out…that was a great photo-op for many of the Kerry supporters. Needless to say it was a very ugly scene, but during it all we remained calm and prayerful – which infuriated them all the more.

A few good things happened too. We were thanked by the police and security for not causing a scene inside. They were very impressed with our silent witness. Clearly they would not have needed to deny us entrance. The only people who caused any disruption the whole evening came from the Kerry supporters themselves.

Read the story. If it makes you as sick as it make me, there's a contact at the DNC to complain to.

I will be.

Posted by Mitch at October 11, 2004 12:58 PM | TrackBack