Father Weslin arrested - I'm fuming

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tabsie3210

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There’s a reason this is in family life, and I promise I’ll get to it.

Father Weslin was arrested at at Notre Dame for holding an anti-abortion protest. That’s not exactly what this is about. I’m angry enough about that.

What upsets me the most is, having seen the footage, we’re watching an eighty-year-old priest who has done no harm to anyone, no gross pictures, no fake blood, no fake fetuses, nothing - just a cross he had on his shoulders - was being dragged off in handcuffs.

I know old people can be violent and sometimes need to be handled, since if they’re not handled they can and do sometimes kill police officers.

This is insane, though! Fr. Weslin wasn’t resisting. I’m watching this poor old man singing Ave Maria as he’s being lead away, and it wasn’t an easy arrest, though nobody hurt him, Thank God!

I’m angry. It’s one thing if there were a radical pro-life idiot threatening to blow up abortion clinics, splashing fake blood on people the way anti-fur folks sometimes do, carrying guns, stuff like that. That, I can accept as being a danger. Police, who are doing their jobs and have to leave their personal beliefs at home, can be hurt or killed. Likewise, confused young women who need counciling can be hurt or emotioanlly scarred. And a truely ignorant doctor, who might otherwise come around, would be destroyed in the blast.

But this was nothing like that, and there was nothing the least bit fair about this old man’s treatment. He was on Catholic property, addressing an issue, and not doing any harm.

Everyone involved in that arrest should be ashamed.
 
Oh, and the point was, in addition to stopping someone from holding a protest to get people not to pre-born babies, they had to go and disrespect an elder. That’s why I put it in Family Life. It seems like we’ve become so self-centered that neither the very young nor the very old deserve any kind of protection. I bless the people who were there witnessing the good Father’s arrest and praying for him.
 
tabsie3210 said:
Oh, and the point was, in addition to stopping someone from holding a protest to get people not to pre-born babies, they had to go and disrespect an elder. That’s why I put it in Family Life. It seems like we’ve become so self-centered that neither the very young nor the very old deserve any kind of protection. I bless the people who were there witnessing the good Father’s arrest and praying for him.
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Wow that is awful. I will have to look at the news coverage, I didn’t see that. Still I bet his calm arrest singing Ave Maria, will be very inspiring to people.
 
Did they say why he was arrested? In America we have the right to free speech so my gut feeling is that there was something else going on. Do you know if he was on private property and asked repeatedly to leave but refused?

I’m all ofr free speech, but we also have to make sure that we obey the laws of the land when we do so. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, render unto God what is God’s”.

Without seeing the footage, I am glad he was not hurt and pray that the police were as gentle as possible. I truly hope there is more to this story than what is currently known.
 
Tabitha… Thank you for talking about this. I didn’t hear about the arrest of Fr. Weslin 😦 . Does it surprise me, that the media hasn’t reported on it? No, not really. They aren’t about to show images of an elderly priest, being dragged off… cross on shoulder… singing “Ave Maria”. Such an image might evoke sympathy for the Pro-Life movement.

How tragic. I will keep Fr. Weslin in my prayers. God bless him. And please keep us updated (if you can) on this story… because I’ve seen nothing about it on the news.

:gopray:
 
EeyoresButerfly said:
Did they say why he was arrested? In America we have the right to free speech so my gut feeling is that there was something else going on. Do you know if he was on private property and asked repeatedly to leave but refused?

I’m all ofr free speech, but we also have to make sure that we obey the laws of the land when we do so. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, render unto God what is God’s”.

Without seeing the footage, I am glad he was not hurt and pray that the police were as gentle as possible. I truly hope there is more to this story than what is currently known.
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He was arrested b/c he was “trespassing”. Technically, he walked onto the campus (private property)…it would be like someone walking into your front yard.

But I think he’s uber courageous for doing what he did and I bet he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

I saw the footage live, and it’s also on youtube- or at least it was when it happend. It’s the most nauseating thing…A Catholic Priest being hauled off of a "c"atholic university, like an animal. Real nice.

I feel sorry for Bishop D’Arcy…he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders… everyone involved needs serious prayers.
 
tampagrl said:
He was arrested b/c he was “trespassing”. Technically, he walked onto the campus (private property)…it would be like someone walking into your front yard.

But I think he’s uber courageous for doing what he did and I bet he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

I saw the footage live, and it’s also on youtube- or at least it was when it happend. It’s the most nauseating thing…A Catholic Priest being hauled off of a "c"atholic university, like an animal. Real nice.

I feel sorry for Bishop D’Arcy…he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders… everyone involved needs serious prayers.
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I read the news coverage and they were trespassing, he was arrested with Alan Keyes and 18 other people. I guess Father Weslin is very active in abortion protests.

Here is a link:
foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/16/nineteen-obama-protesters-arrested-saturday-university-notre-dame/
 
I’ve not heard of this man or am familiar with the situation, but you say he was at a Catholic university? If so, then why were the police called? Why was he protesting at a Catholic unviersity to begin with? Wouldn’t that be like preaching to the choir?
 
I subscribe to 4marks, which offers a lot of Catholic news - I got into it looking for a Catholic dating site, but for the news information, it’s 1000 times better.

4marks.com/articles/details.html?article_id=3438

From the article:
I write these words on May 17, 2009—a day that will surely go down in infamy in the annals of the once mighty Catholic Church in America. The springtime of Vatican II has obviously given way to darkest winter when Our Lady’s University in South Bend, Indiana, selects an ardently pro-abortion, pro stem-cell research, pro homosexual unions socialist for its commencement speaker. But this whole, sorry incident is indicative of a much greater catastrophe at the very heart of the Catholic Church.

Even after Archbishop Raymond Burke, a top ranking Vatican official, as well as nearly one hundred American bishops had objected to the public scandal at Notre Dame, President Barack Obama was still welcomed on campus where just the day before, priests had been dragged away in handcuffs for protesting the outrage. “Why is Notre Dame arresting Catholic priests”, Fr. Norman Weslin had asked campus police , “merely for trying to stop the killing of little baby?” Why indeed! “Ave, Ave, Ave Maria,” the 80-year-old priest sang out as police shackled him like a common criminal.
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This is a link to the actual video of his arrest. It upsets me something awful, so be aware.

4marks.com/videos/details.html?video_id=1292

What bothers me the most about this is, listening to the priest, I hear the good Father singing off key, his voice strained.

He’s probably like me - can’t sing a note but can fake it with the best of them at Mass. I’m always amused when our poor Deacon tries to sing. I know I could never do better. It’s fun, though, knowing that God doesn’t care that we’re off-key. We do our best and have fun with it.

Now here’s this poor old man, praising God in song, not doing well, being arrested, being humiliated by his position, men of the law having to do the arresting, and I listen to him sing and instead of feeling the charm that I should be feeling when I hear him, all I can feel is anger and sadness. I feel like him raising his voice is an act of defiance against a very stupid way of life, and no matter how off-key he is, I find his voice ringing clear as a chapel bell.

I know it’s probably just me feeling that way, but I wanted to say it because I’m that upset, and I wanted to get that off my chest.
 
This was at Notre Dame? Wow!

I just received my Master’s two weeks ago and we had a similar issue with our speaker- John Ashcroft. They had to have police and everybody around. People protested by holding up copies of our school newspaper during the speech, turning their backs, etc. Some did hold signs, and one person wrote on tape on the back of their gown “End Torture” but nowhere di it get that out of hand. None of the protesters were arrested. I can’t imagine why Notre Dame would arrest nonviolent protesters on their own campus. That seems truly bizarre.

Is he a professor there?
 
Emotions run high in such an atmosphere as one of public protest. I can certainly understand your anger over such a situation, while at the same time I can understand why police, who have probably seen innocuous assemblies and peaceful protests turn into violent mobs in a matter of seconds, would be hypersensetive in such a situation.

But your right, with so many radicals and angry people really just looking to cause trouble, it’s unfortunate that a peaceful demonstration was stamped out in such a manner.

My prayers will be with Father Weslin, hopefully he will be released soon.
 
apromisemade said:
Emotions run high in such an atmosphere as one of public protest. I can certainly understand your anger over such a situation, while at the same time I can understand why police, who have probably seen innocuous assemblies and peaceful protests turn into violent mobs in a matter of seconds, would be hypersensetive in such a situation.

But your right, with so many radicals and angry people really just looking to cause trouble, it’s unfortunate that a peaceful demonstration was stamped out in such a manner.

My prayers will be with Father Weslin, hopefully he will be released soon.
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it’s because Obama is going to visit. They have very tight security for him.
 
tabsie3210 said:
Oh, and the point was, in addition to stopping someone from holding a protest to get people not to pre-born babies, they had to go and disrespect an elder. That’s why I put it in Family Life. It seems like we’ve become so self-centered that neither the very young nor the very old deserve any kind of protection. I bless the people who were there witnessing the good Father’s arrest and praying for him.
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Wow. This is terrible. Was he lawfully protesting? Or trespassing? I have to admit I didn’t see the news about this, so this is the first I’m hearing about it.
 
oops…i just read further into the thread. I see it was, indeed, for trespassing. I have to admit, he should have gotten a permit or protested lawfully somewhere else. We have to follow our laws in the US.
 
I do applaud Father Weslin’s message and agree with his beliefs. But he knew what he is doing. Father Weslin knows the rules and the law. He’s been arrested numerous times for the same thing.
 
Erich said:
Just because something is a law doesn’t mean it’s good.

Slavery was lawful 150 years ago, and of course abortion is lawful today.
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Do you honestly think the trespassing law should no longer be? Let’s face it, the President of the US was on campus. They had to be very strict about who was doing what on that property. It was for his safety. Secret Service has always been this strict, whether we are talking Obama or Bush. I don’t understand why people are surprised? And now we’re thinking the law of trespassing is a bad one too? I just don’t understand this mindset. Maybe these protesters should have protested legally if they wanted to avoid arrest. They knew what they were getting themselves into, and I certainly don’t feel sorry for them. They broke the law in a very public way, no less.
 
A university is not the owner’s backyard. Different standards should - and probably do, in theory - apply.

We can go on about laws for hours, but imagine if it were a pro-“choice” protesting group getting hauled off at the request of a Catholic university that cares. What outrage would be there.

I’ve begun to think that the establishment is violently, emotionally, resisting the outburst of conscience which the protesters cause.
 
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