Pro-life activist disrupts Sebelius’s Georgetown University speech
UPDATE 5/19, 8:10p: LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that former Georgetown University alum and writer of the book, The Exorcist, is filing a canonical suit against the school.
5/18, 12:30p: LifeNews.com is reporting that the pro-life activist who interrupted pro-abortion Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s speech today at Georgetown University was with Randall Terry…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv3zqFNr9w4[/youtube]
No surprise, Sebelius told graduating students at this Catholic institution to “follow your own moral compass.” That’s the only way a supposed Catholic can square covering up for late-term abortionists during the week and taking communion on Sunday. Never mind Church teaching. Never mind the Pope. Write your own bible.
Sebelius also quoted President John F. Kennedy, who was Catholic, subversively using him to try to defend the Obama administration’s decision to force religious institutions to subsidize contraceptives and abortifacients in their insurance plans.
In his talk to Protestant ministers, Kennedy talked about his vision of religion and the public square, and said he believed in an America, and I quote, ‘where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials – and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against us all,’” she said. “Kennedy was elected president on Nov. 8, 1960. And more than 50 years later, that conversation, about the intersection of our nation’s long tradition of religious freedom with policy decisions that affect the general public, continues.
Obviously, the situation is exactly the opposite: Here we have public officials seek to impose their will on religious institutions.
But it is true that “an act against one church is… an act against us all.”
The Archdiocese of Washington issued a statement criticizing the university’s decision to invite Sebelius to speak, not that it mattered.
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.
Spot on, Jill.
Sebelius is heinous. And so is interrupting her speech.
“I’ve spent my entire life in public service”
Is she including time spent in her mother’s womb?
I have to agree with Lrning. Trying to silence your opponent’s message is a poor tactic in debate, no matter how often the pro-abortion side uses it. It smacks of being afraid of what your opponent is saying, or fear that people might listen. We don’t need to be afraid of pro-abortion arguments or speakers, because there is no good or effective defence for abortion. It’s much more effective to let them speak and then point out all the reasons their comments are bad ones. But silencing a message, or trying to, will make people wonder what you have to hide and why you are so frightened of what the other side has to say. Let the pro-aborts words be judged on their own merits; intelligent listeners will see there are none.
Alice, the goal isn’t to silence these people. The goal is to unsettle the speaker and create a viral video clip.
Cheering applause for someone who attacks the very institution that gave them their education and future prospects…
@Cranky: When pro-aborts do this, for the same reasons, we condemn them as suppressing free speech and trying to silence the pro-life message. This is an identical action, taken for identical reasons. The fact that Sebelius is wrong does not justify these tactics, it is yet another condemnation of them. Because now, pro-life people are not simply trying to silence their opponents, they’re doing it from a position of strength, which makes them bullies.
There are lots of good ways to make viral clips. This is not one of them. And I think it would be far more unsettling to the speaker if less disruptive but wider-spread tactics are employed. If, for example, all the pro-life people in the room had quietly, without speaking, turned their backs on her.
Yes, in “public service” serving her own interests with taxpayer money simply voted for only whatever whim comes across their minds…who do such people think they are kidding.
Alice, right on with “quietly turning.their backs…”. Powerful!
Whether you agree with the protester’s interruption of Sibelius’s speech or not, to rhetorically compare the true heinousness of Sibelius to the so-called “heinousness” of interrupting her speech is a little ridiculous, don’t you think?
I believe that Sibelius should be excommunicated and treated as a war criminal, since she and others of her ilk have declared a war on the preborn and the REAL “war on women.” I think that using one’s lungs to protest such dark criminality should hardly be punished by this kind of criticism.
To call the protester and others who believe in such protest “bullies” is just another form of bullying. It is like pro-lifers who freak out at other pro-lifers who choose to show graphic images of aborted fetuses. Rather than different sides of the anti-abortion camp agreeing to disagree on what tactics are appropriate, they turn on each other, thus causing the pro-aborts to think that we are divided. Quibbling about whose tactics are better than others is just off topic, and it does nothing to further the cause we all stand for.
So if Hitler was making a hate speech…Would you interupt him and bring peoples attention to the things that are wrong? Of Course…Or would you let him make his speech and hope someone was thinnking about what he said…and go on with your day. I would not be silent.
“never mind the Pope” – indeed.
Love the idea of turning their backs.. wish they had all simply stood in their place and turned their backs on her, silently. The problem with the protester who interrupted is that the students ended up applauding Sebelius for carrying on after the guy was removed. To these idiot students, she looked like a classy guest speaker, some kind of hero. GAG. She is an apostate of the worse degree. Shame on Georgetown for inviting her. But what do we really expect from a no-longer-Catholic-but-still-trying-to-fake-it University?
I don’t know how I feel about them interrupting her speech. To me it just seems like they stooped to the “pro-choicers” levels.I kinda thought it was a bit tacky. I do understand protesting but I know that we get upset when they shout and yell at us when our side tries to make speeches and so to do it to them seems kind of hypocritical. Like “it’s okay for me to be rude and interrupt you but don’t you even dare do it to me.” What happened to “Do unto others as ye should have them do unto you.”? I think we all need to be respectful of each other. Yes, she’s wrong, yes Georgetown didn’t need to invite her but we can protest and still be respectful to others.
I grow weary of these types of tactics. We should give them the respect that we complain they don’t give us. Anything less would be incredibly hypocritical.
I think the protestor was doing what Sibelius was advocating: he was following his own moral compass. Why the outrage?
I’m not outraged. You’ve seen me outraged. I’m much snarkier when I’m outraged. ;) And I don’t think that talking about whether this particular tactic used in the video is actually “off-topic,” as Lisa alleges. We are talking about Sebelius’ talk and the response to it, which is the subject of the post. It’s hard to get more “on-topic.”
However, Lisa does bring up a good point in that pro-lifers should, as much as possible, back one another’s plays and not spoil them. It’s something I agree with and advocate myself re: Personhood vs. Incremental. But talking about whether a particular strategy is good or useful isn’t the same thing as trying to shut down the people who use the tactics you don’t like. I wasn’t involved with this person’s actions. I wasn’t consulted. Had I known ahead of time, I would have taken no steps to try and force them not to take them. I would have felt, and do feel, justified in saying that I don’t think this strategy is good, for the reasons I have outlined above.
The interruption was unintelligible, not a smart move. There is a war on religion and Georgetown is playing her role in grand fashion. They know better than the rest of us. They know better than God. They all need our prayers, and a copy of the latest Catechism of the Catholic Church (It’s been updated since the old Baltimore Catechism.)
*sigh*
Not that I’m trying to be divisive in the pro-life community, but it’s true. I think it shows, as has been mentioned, an intent to silence.. and because of that stoops to the pro-choice level.
Now, what I think would have been MUCH more effective would have been to coordinated shirts- All the same, bright colors, with the words “LIFE LIBERTY & FREEDOM” in big, black letters. Then, they could have stood and turned their backs on her. She would get the message, I hope.
Great idea, Hailee!
Not super cool, but not heinous either. I get it, but I am having a hard time reconciling the “do onto others” comment with the Hitler analogy. What would Jesus do? He doesn’t strike me as a heckler, but He did turn over the tables in the temple. Perhaps the interruption was either too confrontational or not confrontational enough. I am undecided myself, but just throwing this out there.
The heckling is ineffective and cements the audience’s sympathies with the speaker. Yes, I think that doing something that makes heinous Sebelius look classy and sympathetic is heinous too.
I love the idea of the t-shirt and turning backs on her. Or protest outside the building with signs and handouts and try to get conversation going with those that will be attending the speech. Nothing good was accomplished by this stupid interruption.
Sebelius classy and sympathetic?! Yikes. If that is/was its effect, then that is hard to disagree with. And you may very well be mostly right, Lrning, but I wonder if the outburst was thought-provoking for anyone. And yet, probably not enough to justify making Sebelius look more authorative. Hmm …
@Jasper, yikes! are you allowed to use that word?
@Hailee, I agree, great idea. Maybe on the other side of the t-shirt a picture of a preborn child with another message like, “wonderfully made, or abortion stops a beating heart”, etc.
Does anyone here seriously think that interrupting Hitler would have achieved anything?
I am going to have to agree with the pro-heckler side here. As a proud Catholic, it is my view that the honoring of the apostate Sebelius at a Catholic institution and then allowing her to spew her vile heresy is completely intolerable and unacceptable. It’s like awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a violent terrorist at the White House and then allowing him to make a speech about how much he hates America. Totally and outrageously unacceptable.
I like the idea. The sooner we start matching societal force with them, the sooner this whole thing can come to a head and some actual progress can be made.
No, no. Shirts? Turning one’s back? We can do better.
Maybe something like Jack does: http://goo.gl/xofEL
;-)
I think a wonderful statement would have been the pro-life students showing up with red tape with the words “Life” across their mouths, signifying their support for the voiceless unborn. Either that, or pro-life students walking out during her speech. I like to hope that I would have been brave enough to do something like that. Heckling isn’t really brave, it doesn’t make a statement, its easy to do, and its disruptive. Nothing much gets accomplished, and we end up looking like bullies.
Hmmm,
Maybe they should have held up crucifixes in the air and prayed the Our Father in unison. Just saying it could have been very powerful.
”As a proud Catholic, it is my view that the honoring of the apostate Sebelius at a Catholic institution and then allowing her to spew her vile heresy is completely intolerable and unacceptable.”
So you’re OK with pro-choice protesters interrupting a pro-life speaker? How bout victims of pedophile priests interrupting a Mass. I guess you’re also OK with ACT-UP’s interruption of Catholic services.
And BTW, the students gave Sebelius a rousing ovation after the crazies were escorted out. Speech interrupters (on either side) don’t score points for their side.
Another BTW, as a devoted Catholic, did you support the students who stood with their backs turned when torture (condemned by the Catholic Church) supporting former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez spoke at Georgetown? Oh right, once the pre-born make it into this world, all bets are off and in the eyes of today’s right wing Republican Catholic Church, the only sins worth kvetching about are abortion and gay marriage.
Funny, the Catholic Church hasn’t publicly rejected the tithings of pro-choice Catholic politicians. Neither have they publicly excommunicated them. Oh right, they self excommunicated – which means that if you count all the church going Catholics who use birth control and are pro-choice, there’s a lot of self ex-communicated Catholics. Funny, your church did publicly excommunicate that nun in Arizona, the head of a Catholic hospital, who approved an abortion. But no pedophile priest has ever been excommunicated. Interesting. Also interesting is that one out of every ten Americans is an ex-Catholic. Somehow, pay, pray, and obey ain’t cutting it anymore.
“I like the idea. The sooner we start matching societal force with them, the sooner this whole thing can come to a head and some actual progress can be made.”
The sooner you look like idiots and get escorted out the door and possibly arrested.
“I think the protestor was doing what Sibelius was advocating: he was following his own moral compass.”
Spot on Courtnay. Of course, what Ms Sebelius aka Hypocrite meant was:
“Follow your own moral compass to disagree with the Roman Catholic Church, but not with me. Don’t let the Church tell you what to think; the President and I will do that for you.”
All things Catholic must be like catnip to Crazy Cat. She just can’t resist.
What’s fascinating, CC, is that for any particular Catholic advocating anything at all, you seem to believe that this or that failure of Catholicism (qua Catholicism) stands as some kind of critique.
I don’t understand. You’re an American, right? Am I to impugn any position you advocate on the grounds that the American government does things at variance with what you advocate?
Your most fascinating motif is the whole “don’t care about ’em once they’re born” thing. It’s mysterious and weird. The image your recurring venom conjures is of a Catholic giving birth, and immediately beginning to snarl at the child.
Your hate is a bit stunning, CC.
“So you’re OK with pro-choice protesters interrupting a pro-life speaker?”
If Planned Parenthood were to honor Dr. Alveda King and allow her to make a speech about how evil Planned Parenthood is, I would certainly expect her to be interrupted.
“How bout victims of pedophile priests interrupting a Mass. I guess you’re also OK with ACT-UP’s interruption of Catholic services.”
Only if the priest/homilist/speaker advocated pedophilia or denounced the victims of pedophilia during the mass. That would be an almost analogous situation.
“And BTW, the students gave Sebelius a rousing ovation after the crazies were escorted out.”
Naturally, it is no surprise that graduates from a school that would honor Sebelius have no concept of right and wrong.
“Speech interrupters (on either side) don’t score points for their side.”
It’s not about “points”, it’s about what’s right. I’m sure some of you have seen The Avengers movie, in particular the part where an old man refuses to kneel before a tyrant. Doing so nearly costs him his life, but he had to stand up to tyranny because it was the right thing to do.
”Another BTW, as a devoted Catholic, did you support the students who stood with their backs turned when torture (condemned by the Catholic Church) supporting former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez spoke at Georgetown?”
Why would I object to a protest against torture? Torture is objectively evil. If the students believed that Gonzales was a proponent of torture I would expect them to speak out about it.
“Oh right, once the pre-born make it into this world, all bets are off and in the eyes of today’s right wing Republican Catholic Church, the only sins worth kvetching about are abortion and gay marriage.”
Not really. It’s just that things like torture and murder are already illegal, and nobody wants to legalize them. Unfortunately killing the pre-born remains legal, making it a more serious problem at the moment.
”Funny, the Catholic Church hasn’t publicly rejected the tithings of pro-choice Catholic politicians. Neither have they publicly excommunicated them.”
They are very much held up in prayer, however.
“Oh right, they self excommunicated – which means that if you count all the church going Catholics who use birth control and are pro-choice, there’s a lot of self ex-communicated Catholics.”
Using birth control and being pro-choice doesn’t result in automatic excommunication. That is reserved for far more serious offenses, like trying to kill the pope or taking part in the intentional killing of a completely innocent child.
“Funny, your church did publicly excommunicate that nun in Arizona, the head of a Catholic hospital, who approved an abortion.”
She took part in the killing of an innocent child. It is automatic excommunication, but it became public. And the excommunication has since been removed.
“But no pedophile priest has ever been excommunicated. Interesting.”
I don’t know about NO pedophile priest ever being excommunicated. Many have been defrocked. I’m sure that if they actually took part in the killing of a child that they would be excommunicated.
“Also interesting is that one out of every ten Americans is an ex-Catholic. Somehow, pay, pray, and obey ain’t cutting it anymore.”
Most people who call themselves Catholic or ex-Catholic have no idea what the church really teaches or why it does what it does. I blame poor catechesis. The more I learn and the more I come to understand the Catholic Church, the more I love it.
The sooner you look like idiots and get escorted out the door and possibly arrested.
Great. With a captive audience of Pro-Choicers there with us, perhaps some actual progress can be made. You can’t just leave the thread and stop reading/commenting in real life.
I’m an ex-Catholic. I don’t agree with the Catholic Church’s contraceptive position, but I am still Pro-Life, and I’m sure that plenty of other ex-Catholics are, too.
Free speech means leting others talk even when you don’t agree/they are annoying/they talk about murdering babies as a right. The more hitler spoke the more he betrayed his true self and that started the rebellion that unfortunately failed (Read mataxas’ Bonhoeffer book). I am puzzled as to why catholic institutions and people who are openly against the church’s teachings are not immediately dealt with. I learned with my own children that if you don’t deal instantly with behavior problems you are in for a serious confrontation at a worse time. PS I am not Catholic.
Sebelius is not Catholic. Has the Church issued anything on excommunicating her?
ALLOWING her to wear the robes while defiling the eucharist is blasphemy.
This needs to be public so the other Catholics know where we stand as a single church. Otherwise democrats are going to use these wolves in sheep’s clothing to re-elect the anti-church OBAMANATION. If she’s not a CAtholic she can’t go around using the name of our faith to promote her anti-catholic principals. The bishops strength relies on how they handle women like her and Shriver, and Pelosi all of whom are claiming the Catholic Faith while desacrating the rights of those it is meant to protect; the fatherless and the widow. Maybe they are not paying enough respects to the most humblest of all women, the queen of the saints, the BVM??? Match words with action.
Just to clarify to any of the Catholic Clergy who may feel excommunication for high pro-file ‘Catholics,’ promoting abortion might be uncalled for..
Drawing a line in the sand is critical, RIGHT NOW.
It would be the difference between
• Georgetown inviting a high-profile Presidentially Nominated CATHOLIC PRO-ABORTION WOMAN, and…
• Georgetown inviting a high Pro-file Obama Administration HHS Mandate Official Ex-communicated Catholic Woman…
… to speak at the Georgetown commemoration.
Big difference in the messages we’re sending to the US voting population, in an election year.
The only people I can think the Church is really afraid of right now, are those in the mainstream media. Does the Church think it cannot survive excommunicating powerful officials?
I just can’t understand how this woman, this woman who is telling millions of young American woman to consider accepting all that abortion is, and all that aboriton stands for, into their lives, is still in good standing with the church. And Pelosi, TOO!
I heard she is to talk with one of the Bishops concerning her standing… I hope he is clear, not just to her but to all Catholics of how the Church sees the promotion of abortion via governments.
What exactly did the hecklers say?
I sounded like the hecklers shouted “ABORTION IS MURDER” and something about a millstone around her neck, probably a reference to Matt. 18:6: