Disinvited: Pro-life pressure forces parish to cancel talk by radical pro-abortion congressman
As a Michigan state senator, Gary Peters was so pro-abortion he voted against the partial birth abortion ban.
His pro-death obsession extended to the other end of life.
“He was probably the senate’s most strident advocate of legalizing assisted suicide during his tenure,” Ed Rivet, Michigan Right to Life’s Legislative Director, told me, adding that Peters frequently authored legislation to further that agenda, particularly problematic since Michigan was where Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, pushed that issue beyond the legal limits.
As a now sophomore U.S. congressman, Peters has strongly maintained his radical stance, opposing any restrictions on abortion whatsoever.
On July 7 Peters went so far as to headline a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Pontiac featuring comedienne Lizz Winstead, both pictured left.
Very funny.
So why in the world Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Oak Park, MI, chose Peters to speak on the healthcare topic under the sphere of “Dignity of the Human Person” is beyond me.
The event was publicized only a week in advance. But local pro-life Catholics were quick to jump into action. When the local parish priest wouldn’t rescind Peters’ invitation, pro-lifers appealed to the Archdiocese of Detroit. Meanwhile multiple groups, including Real Estate for Life, headed by Dave Theisen, planned a protest. Catholic media also got involved.
Finally, this past Sunday afternoon, with only 16 hours to spare, the parish buckled.
And that’s how it’s done.
There wasn’t enough time to alert all pro-life activists that the protest had been cancelled, so 40-50 still showed up. They decided to attend 9a Mass instead.
During prayer intentions, one aggravated parishioner snipped, according to Theisen, “Let us pray for Catholics that are only single issue.”
I’m sure those Catholics appreciate the prayer support.
Congressman Peters could use it as well.
[Photo of Peters and Winstead via AngryBlackLady.com; screen shot of event cancellation via Matthew McAuliff at RealCatholicTV.com]
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.
It is not about being single voters. However, some issues over ride others. On some issues decent people can have legitimate differences of opinion such as proper role of government in maintaining a social safety net. You argue government safety nets are actually harmful to those it is intended to help. I donate to charities and feed meals at a homeless shelter, but am morally opposed to government using the oppressive power of taxation to force people to be charitable. Decent people can not disagree on whether killing little kids is an okay idea.
Abortion is my line in the sand. That’s where my ethic begins and ends. You could cure cancer, feed the homeless and make sure AIDS is eradicated, but if you think one single innicent baby should be sacrificed, then that’s where we part.
Peace begins in the womb.
Social Justice begins in the womb.
Jesus’ Teaching begins in the womb.
See a trend here?
Shame on single issue people. Shame on those abolitionists rescuing black people from slavery and those who rescued Jews from the holocaust. Saving human life. Single issue. Shame. Shame. Shame.
EXCUSE ME! I meant “heard of adoption”! It is often suggested but, for some reason, few girls and women carry to term, give birth, and then relinquish.
I am freinds with a couple who just moved heaven and earth to adopt a baby girl last year. The JOY that that mom’s decision is immeasureable. Adoption has meant EVERYTHING to this couple, and this little girl will always know how much she is loved and cherished by her 2 moms, birth and adoptive.
Courtnay says:
November 8, 2011 at 10:07 am
I am freinds with a couple who just moved heaven and earth to adopt a baby girl last year. The JOY that that mom’s decision is immeasureable. Adoption has meant EVERYTHING to this couple, and this little girl will always know how much she is loved and cherished by her 2 moms, birth and adoptive.
(Denise) Do you have any speculation as to why so few females carry to term, give birth, and then relinquish for adoption?
I have read that there are something like 20 abortions for every one baby placed for adoption.
Can this choice be made popular?
The priest admires pro-abort people like Rep. Sander Levin and Gary Peters. He admitted this to a friend of mine by phone. Who cancelled the event–the parish or the Archdiocese of Detroit? It matters to me because who is really running things around SE Michigan, local parishes or the Archdiocese?
(*ergh*) The mere fact that a Catholic priest, in the name of a Catholic parish, could possibly have extended the invitation in the first place (in flat defiance of every sane standard, in defiance of the Holy Father and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in defiance of… heavens, everything authentically Catholic) shows the devastation which has taken its spiritual, mental and emotional toll on the Catholic Church. I’m encouraged that recently-ordained priests recognize that the priesthood is a vocation for those who champion (and seek to live) holiness… as opposed to their (forgive me) “aging hippie counter-parts” whose spiritual formation consisted largely of 1960’s social activism, New Age mysticism, and near-indifference to sexual morality. God have mercy on their souls, as they prepare to meet Him!
America is a free country. People have a right to vote on any basis they wish. Single issue voting is perfectly responsible voting is someone sees that issue as more important than any other.
This is what happens when we refer to abortion as “an issue.” People begin to treat killing pre-born children as one.
Do you have any speculation as to why so few females carry to term, give birth, and then relinquish for adoption?
I have read that there are something like 20 abortions for every one baby placed for adoption.
Can this choice be made popular?
This choice will become much more popular when abortion becomes illegal, Denise.
Praxedes says:
November 8, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Do you have any speculation as to why so few females carry to term, give birth, and then relinquish for adoption?
I have read that there are something like 20 abortions for every one baby placed for adoption.Can this choice be made popular?
This choice will become much more popular when abortion becomes illegal, Denise.
(Denise) 1) Can it be made popular now?
2) Why was dangerous, illegal abortion frequently preferred to having the baby and giving it up for adoption pre-Roe v. Wade?
Ali MacGraw wrote an essay about her illegal abortion. She was terrified that she would die, be maimed, or be raped by the abortionist. Yet she went in for the abortion rather than give birth and relinquish.
She was convinced that when she was in her 20s, impoverished and struggling to establish herself, she could not have raised the baby adequately. Was this belief unfounded?
Praxedes says:
November 8, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Do you have any speculation as to why so few females carry to term, give birth, and then relinquish for adoption?
I have read that there are something like 20 abortions for every one baby placed for adoption.Can this choice be made popular?
This choice will become much more popular when abortion becomes illegal, Denise.
(Denise) The most popular choice of female confronted by unplanned pregnancies is to carry to term and raise the baby. This is much more popular than EITHER relinquishment OR abortion. Do you know why?
You’d have had a far different outcome had you found three apologists ready to attend the meeting and politely and respectfully clean Peters’s clock on Obamacare, starting with its blatant unconstitutionality and the political skullduggery required to pass it.
As it is, can people be blamed for asking why, on a matter of principle, the Archdiocese allowed itself to appear to cave in to pressure? And if they think it’s irrational to disinvite a sitting Congressman because of his opinions (bad as they are) if they perceive them as unrelated to the subject matter?
Kudos to the good people of Our Lady of Fatima for preventing that debacle from occurring in their parish!
Apparently the pastor at the church did a Rip Van Winkle thing. He went to sleep not long after Cardinal Bernadin coined the “seamless garment” travesty. He reawakened in time to schedule Congressman Peters to lavish his unique insights upon a grateful congregation just how it is the pro-life community has it all wrong.
Well at least the pastor has something to put on his resume when he applies for a position at a nearby Unitarian church.
This priest should be stripped of all priestly duties and spend the remainder of his life doing penance in a monastery. Excommunicate him if he chooses not to repent.
Peters was absolutely right to vote against making “partial birth abortion” illegal, because there is no such thing. This is just a nasty-sounding term invented by anti-choicers . It isn’t even a recognized,official medical term. Ask any physician or gynecologist or obstetrician.
Voting to make the non-existent thing called “partial birth abortion” could criminalize means taken by doctors to save women’s lives. But anti-choicers don’t care if women die . They only care about fetuese- until they’re born !
“Peters was absolutely right to vote against making “partial birth abortion” illegal, because there is no such thing.”
Right! Nevermind the fact that “partial birth abortion” is the informal term for the dilation and extraction abortion procedure- if you don’t use the proper and given, accepted term for something, then it doesn’t exist! In fact let me try this out:
Hi Bob Berger.
Now there is no such thing as Bob Berger since I didn’t refer to him using the proper and given term, and hence, no such thing as Robert Berger. QED.
Wait a second… how does banning a procedure that doesn’t exist put women’s lives at risk?
Bob Berger,
You’ll find out what partial birth abortion is when you face your Creator and the jury consists of the millions of slaughtered children whom you scorn.
I see nobody answered any of my questions (even though I made it clear I wanted Peters’ clock cleaned), and two of you are mighty quick to judge a parish priest.
Didn’t the Father commit all judgment to the Son (Jn. 5:23), and didn’t the Son delegate interim judgment to his apostles and their successors (Mt. 18;18) – not to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who has an opinion?
Robert Berger – since you seem to be in favor of making ‘late term abortion’ legal, I challenge you to go to an abortion facility and watch one. I want you to stand by as the ‘doctor’ goes into the womb and cuts the limbs off the baby – while the baby struggles to get out of the way…then the doctor will suck all the parts out and line them up to make sure they are all there…the medical community has stated many times that rarely does one need to terminate the life of an almost full term baby to save the life of the mother…and believe me, no woman ever forgets having had the life of her pre-born baby terminated whether in the early stages of life or later on…I know. i work with these women and they grieve forever,and often their marriages are ruined…as for no one caring once the baby is born…will you please try to think for yourself and stop spouting anti-life slogans…there are centers all over the States caring for the mother and the baby before and after birth…the ones who don’t care are those who promote the killing of the babies and then – and then they just let the mother go and never ask after her. Do you really think the abortionist is going to take care of the woman after he kills her baby?
False. Late term abortions ARE necessary at times. But they’re only a tiny fraction of all abortions.
I don’t “scorn” fetuses who have been aborted . I’m certainly not happy about these abortions happening, but the alternative , having the government try to force all pregnant women to bear those children no matter what the adverse circumstances, is infinitely worse. And if this happens, not only will abortion not “end” - the number of abortions will SKYROCKET . This is inevitable with government-ordered compulsory childbearing . It doesn’t work. Never has and never will. It’s like trying to stop a forest fire by pouring gasoline on it .