Priests for Life official, pro-life leaders arrested at WH for protesting contraceptive mandate
Photo of pro-lifers being arrested at the White House for prayerfully protesting Obama’s contraceptive mandate (click to enlarge)…
Yesterday six pro-lifers were arrested while praying in front of the White House to protest the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate.
Those taken into custody were Father Denis Wilde, associate director of Priests for Life, Reverend Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, Jeff White, executive director of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, White’s daughters Joanna and Jayne, and pro-lifer John Randy Corish, according to LifeSiteNews.com.
The pro-lifers were later released after each paid a $100 fine.
The interfaith group of Christians was standing in witness against Obama’s violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion. Stated Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of PFL, in a press release:
The Obama Administration has attacked ideals, principles, and protections for which Americans have fought and died for. Therefore, the reaction is not only in the press, in the courts, and in the Congress. It is, should be, and will be in the streets. Civil disobedience must be a part of the response.
As I wrote previously, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has also vowed to go to jail rather than accept the mandate.
During Sean Hannity’s February 10 show, all but one in a group of national religious leaders that included Fr. Pavone, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Fr. Jonathan Morris, a Fox News contributor, Reverend Jesse Peterson of BOND, and Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, vowed civil disobedience if the contraception mandate goes into effect.
Dr. Land added, “But if they want to read my letter from the Nashville jail, I’m ready to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King, Jr., and write such a letter. I will not comply.” Hannity chimed in, “I’ll go to jail with you.”
Pro-lifers at the White House were told they needed to keep moving, although I myself have several times observed protesters parked in chairs and tents for hours on end on the north side of the White House.
In the end the pro-lifers were arrested for stopping to pray.
“Occupy Wall Street protesters have been occupying federal property for months, but when we kneel in prayer, the police are called in and we are arrested,” Father Wilde said. “We knew that was the risk when we gathered today, and we will do it again regardless of the risk. What people of faith – of every faith - need to do now is stand with us.”
Read more at LifeSiteNews.com, LifeNews.com, and Bryan Kemper’s StandTrue.com.
[HT: Scotty]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
So we’ve reached the point in this country where you can be arrested for no more than praying in public or holding a dissenting viewpoint.
I hope they do it again, and that the media actually covers it. This has to get people’s attention.
Nation, WAKE UP.
Well, you know, we’re dangerous theocratic Chistianists. We might trot across the lawn and storm the White House or something. Can’t have that. :-/
I believe Richard Land said, if they want to read my letter from the Nashville jail…he is from Nashville….not national.
Hmmm, wonder if they’d dare arrest Muslims who stopped to pray outside the White House. Maybe next time just bring some prayer rugs and face towards Mecca–would that protect free assembly?
Susie – you’re right. Changed. Thanks.
Somebody needs to sue/charge the arresting officers for false arrest. Everyone has a right to peaceably assemble and petition their government for redress of grievances.
Fight the good fight my friends. Obama has won. He got his “wedge” issue. Dick Morris hit the nail on the head when he said this was Obama’s strategy to retain power. I’m embarassed I didn’t figure it out myself. Sociopaths always have an angle, and I was darned if I could put my finger on it. Obama was a mile down the road while we were all running in place chasing our tails.
We have no alternative but to fight this. But fight or roll over and play dead, Obama has won.
I said to never underestimate this man.
Yet Occupiers rule the day…we live in a sad state of affairs!
You see, if those silly priests had only defecated onto the gates of the White House, or had raped people around them, or had vandalized the general area, you know, instead of praying, they most likely would have been left alone. Well, at least they know for next time.
Tristine and bmmg39, I thought, as well, that if they would have just called themselves “Occupy the Sidewalk by the White House” (OSWH), then they would have been okay. Actually, then the mainstream media would have praised them.
Mary, why do you define success as the ability to create a wedge issue? If Obama ends up with too many of his supporters on the other side of his wedge, he’ll lose the election. Hardly a success. He took a calculated risk and we’re still in the process of seeing how it turns out. Why concede before the war is lost?
Heck, even the putrid Dick Durbin still has a few questions about how this impacts religious liberty:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/dick-durbin-i-dont-know-if-hhs-mandate-still-violates-religious-liberty_629788.html
Where is that ACLU when you need them?
The ACLU is too busy making sure that pedobear can view porn at the local library because, y’know, expecting pedobear to buy his own computer would be restricting his access to porn.
Looks like selective prosecution.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/17/occupy-protesters-suspected-throwing-smoke-bomb-over-white-house-fence/
I call BS on this story.
I am very sure this is Lafayette Park.
I have myself seen ALL kinds of protests at Lafayette Park. On the south side sidewalk, on the north-side sidewalk, in the street, and in the park proper on the north side.
There are always law enforcement personnel out there. I would guess that FBI or someone federal watches this area pretty regularly. These are not some local yocals who are a little sketchy on the first amendment.
And there is ALWAYS a protest going on there. That is how I know to stroll by when I pass thru DC. You will ALWAYS see a protest there.
To have gotten ARRESTED there, SOMETHING illegal and unusual was going on. I am disgusted to see the “democrat” party to move from my values to socialist, un-American values, like ALWAYS distorting the truth or flat-out lying.
I would like to see some honesty about WHAT the arrest was for.
@TheLastDemocrat:
The official reason they were arrested was because they did not keep moving (which was in the post if you bothered to read it). Yet, Occupy protesters have done the same thing for months without any such trouble.
Hi Lrng 2:02PM
He created an issue where there was never one. He needed the issue. When I say he has won I don’t mean he necessarily has overwhelming support, I mean he succeeded in doing what he set out to do. If we fight him he looks like a hero to the mindless dolts, which includes our MSM, who will be taken in by the “threat” to contraception. If we don’t fight him, all the better.
Mary:
“Obama has won”. I have to respectfully disagree. He is cunning, manipulative, an egomaniac, and arrogant to the point of extreme hubris. It is this last thing that will be the reason he goes down in defeat in November and with him the Senate turned over to the Republicans. His hubris is a mirror image of his twisted sense of destiny. We see it in his books and the use of the word “audacity”. Audaciousness is in no short supply with this manchild, so much so that he thinks he can out fox his opponents and survive every fire fight that his words and actions engender. Between now and November he will bring on a succession of outrageous actions and statements that will serve as constant reminders to everyone ( i.e. anyone that has more than two brain cells) why he must be defeated.
To bmmg39 Please don’t give Catholic Priests any ideas about raping people on the sidewalks. What they do behind church doors is bad enough. It’s too bad that they aren’t as concerned about the health and well being of children after they are born as they are about a tiny group of replicating cells or a fetus. The hypocrisy of the Mother Church knows no bounds. The fact that there are still Catholics in America, and that Priests still have a voice is a sad indictment of the social decline of our country.
Hi Jerry,
I meant he won in the sense he created this “wedge” issue which is exactly what he wanted.
We can hope he doesn’t get the results he wants, but so far he has.
Trapper-
In the grand scheme of things, we are all just “collections of replicating cells”, my friend. Have certain operatives within the Catholic church been guilty of perpetrating evils against post-birth “collections of replicating cells”, and certain others guilty of colluding with them? Certainly. But at least those “collections of replicating cells” are able to get help to heal from their abuse. Those “collections of replicating cells” which are killed in the abortion procedure are unable to ever prevail over such evils committed against them.
Alice: ‘Somebody needs to sue/charge the arresting officers for false arrest.”
No, these guys more than any police in the country are just following orders. And unlike the military, they’re not expected to distinguish between lawful and unlawful orders. They’re just employees doing a job.
Seriously.
There are far worse things than being arrested for peaceful protests. The whole contraception flap is an example of something far worse.
Being arrested by cops, while traumatic to folks who aren’t habitual agitators, is actually pretty lightweight stuff.
Having said that, I note that the same apostle Paul who told folks in Rome to obey the governing authorities (good grief!), also leveraged his rights as a citizen in defending himself against unjust charges from the Jewish community.
Man, the relationship between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God — fascinating stuff.
To thelastdemocrat. This was real… Not at Lafayette park.. Right in front of the white house. We were told not to kneel and pray. We were warned then those who didn’t stop praying were arrested.
That’s it! No lies here… None needed…
The abuse of children by catholic priests is approx 2%, the same rate as any other religious faiths. The abuse of children by schools and other organisations is 5%. The overall majority of abuse of children is by the child’s own parent or care-giver 70%.
Keep up the good work, pro-lifers, pray the Rosary every day to defeat hell.
Defend the truth, support unborn children. They have no voice themselves.
Pope Pius 1X said “give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world”
God bless,
Anne