Last week, I posted a notice from Deacon Dana Christensen, a seminarian from St. Louis, who was part of an organized protest of Catholics at a Kerry event there. Well, you should read both parts of his report on the reception they got (part 1, part 2).
It’s about what you’d expect from Kerry supporters: hatred, vile insults, assault, and so on. (I do have to make one point: Being denied entrance was not a violation of their First Amendment rights. The First Amendment applies to the government, i.e. the government cannot censor your speech. But the Kerry campaign, as a private organization, is free to rent out a public space and only allow those it wants to be allowed in. After all, if the Pope were celebrating Mass in the same arena, we’d expect anit-Catholics to not be allowed entrance either.) Still, I commend these Catholics for standing up for the faith and providing a good witness. If only the rest of America could see the differences between the two sides. On the one hand, calm, prayerful witness and on the other, a display of moral and personal corruption that would make most Americans think twice about being in the same camp as these people.
[Thanks to Earl for the link.]
I read the articles… what can you say?
Great post for great heroic people. Their action took faith and courage. If more Catholics had this kind of faith and love, commitment and guts, we’d be a strong voice for moral values in this society.
At any rate, I just heard a really good one. I was watching the news France 2, the regular news from France and the newscaster, after giving the campaign news said “John Kerry parle comment_date_gmt>
Great post for great heroic people. Their action took faith and courage. If more Catholics had this kind of faith and love, commitment and guts, we’d be a strong voice for moral values in this society.