Pro-Abortion Activists

Assault Catholics in Argentina

(Remnant News Watch, 11/15/08)

Mark Alessio
REMNANT COLUMNIST, New York


On October 10, 2008, the Catholic News Agency published details of a pro-abortion feminist protest outside the Cathedral of Neuquen in Argentina. On August 17, attendees of the annual “National Encounter of Women,” held this year in the city of Neuquen, converged in front of the Cathedral, where they encountered a group of one hundred young men and women who had gathered there to defend the church.

One of the men who stood in defense of both the Cathedral and Catholic teaching on abortion that day was 21-year-old Pablo. In an interview with the website, ReligionEnLibertad.com, Pablo described the events of that afternoon:

Everything lasted more or less an hour and forty minutes. It was terrible. They wouldn’t go away. They screamed at us, they spat on us, they threw cans and rocks, they tore up an Argentinean flag and burned it. We were only praying one Hail Mary after another, without stopping, praying for each one of them, praying for each aborted child, praying for our Church and her pastors, and also in reparation for the blasphemies.

We felt an extraordinary peace, and all of us who were there agreed [it was] a peace that cannot come from anyone else besides Our Lord and God. We felt His consolation in our souls.

When asked whether any of his fellow defenders of the Faith felt any inclination to react violently to the insults and abuse heaped upon them by the “National Encounter of Women” participants, Pablo replied that the Catholic youth had come to defend the Cathedral “to the last drop of our blood.” He continued:

Some guys up in front became very upset, because they insulted the Virgin Mary, calling her a lesbian. You feel like doing everything, but we know that our testimony needs to be different, and the virtue of fortitude is more perfect when we resist than when we attack.

Comment: A video of the event posted on You Tube depicts the youthful defenders of the Cathedral standing on the church steps, holding a pro-life banner while praying the Hail Mary over and over again. Rabid pro-aborts can be seen chanting such slogans as:

- “The Church is trash. The Church is a dictatorship.”

- “Women who come together go to Mass no longer.”

- “Killers! Killers! Killers!”

At one point, a protester throws a bottle at one of the people at prayer. Another protester spits directly in the face of a young man who is praying. Occasionally, the crowd of “National Encounter of Women” attendees erupts into a chorus of frenzied, feral whooping yells. A protester proudly displays a tee-shirt emblazoned with the words, I’m a lesbian and a teacher. A young male protester dressed as a priest pretends to bless the pro-abort crowd. A harpy shouts, “Pray to God now!,” as she tries to wrest the pro-life banner away from the people on the steps. When the protesters succeed in obtaining the banner, they burn it.

Last year, the “National Encounter of Women” was held in the Argentinean city of Cordoba. The participants marched then upon the Cathedral of Cordoba. Life Site News reported (Oct. 18, 2007):

The feminists, who were participating in the Twenty-Second Annual National Women's Encounter, erupted into a frenzy of obscenity and violence, throwing trash and screaming epithets at the counter-demonstrators, who stood on the steps of the Cathedral with a banner over their heads that read "Cordoba Defends Life," and depicted a baby's hand.

As the peaceful Catholic contingency stood fast and prayed the Rosary on the cathedral steps, feminist marchers “embraced each other sexually…and chanting obscene slogans.” They also hurled bags filled with red paint against the cathedral.

Today’s politicians, talking heads and talk-show hosts prattle on about “evil” as though they actually understood the word. And what do they posit as antidotes to “evil?” Politics as a spectator sport and current political candidates as ephemeral messiahs, ready to right the world’s wrongs. However, the attacks upon the Cathedrals in Argentina cast the world’s problems in a different light. How much more proof do we need that the social sicknesses driving mankind to despair are ultimately spiritual in nature? The enemies of the Church know this:

- On December 10, 1989, members of the militant homosexual group, ACT-UP, interrupt Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, tossing condoms at the altar, shouting anti-Church slogans and chaining themselves to pews. Some of the “protesters” receive Holy Communion, then spit it out onto the floor.

- On February 25, 2000, soldiers and police thwart an attempt to burn down the Roman Catholic cathedral in Kaduna, Nigeria, after days of violence between Christians and Muslims.

- On January 1, 2001, two machete-wielding Rastafarian men storm the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in St. Lucia during Mass, hacking at worshippers and setting others on fire. A 72-year-old Irish nun is bludgeoned to death, while the priest, Rev. Charles Gaillard, is sent to the hospital with severe burns.

- On September 18, 2008, two anti-Catholic vandals break into the 120-year-old Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Jabalpur, India, and set fire to the altar.

- On September 21, 2008, an anti-Catholic mob attacks Thai Ha Church in Hanoi, Vietnam, hurling stones, destroying statues of the Virgin Mary and threatening to kill the archbishop. On the same day, two Catholic churches in the Bengaluru District, India, are attacked. The Blessed Sacrament is desecrated and property, including statuary, is destroyed.

These are examples of a “trend” which has only gotten stronger over the past decade. The Psalms admonish us to “put not your trust in princes, in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.”

The enemies of Christ are not as easily fooled as are those who pretend that a vague “spirituality,” fused with political obsession, is all one needs to win the day. The mounting assaults upon Catholic houses of worship prove eloquently that the enemies of Christ – who are the true enemies of mankind – understand well the nature of the struggle.

Further proof of this can be found in the brutal assaults upon Catholic priests. The murders of Fr. Ragheed Ganni in Iraq, of Father Michael Kamau Ithondeka in Kenya, of Fr. Andrea Santoro in Turkey and Fr. Thomas Padipally in India are only the tip of an iceberg of anti-Catholic persecution which spans the globe. Yes, the enemies of Christ and mankind understand the true nature of the struggle. But, will our political leaders ever figure it out, or be able to summon forth the humility needed to turn to Christ and the Church for help in the struggle?

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