CURSE OF THE LAND

                     by Fr. Benedict Groeschel

I knew it would be a moving scene-and it was. They sat quietly
praying the rosary in the middle of the wide driveway. The elderly
bishop looked like he came out of a Norman Rockwell painting, while
the young friar with him resembled a figure in a Giotto fresco in the
medieval Basilica of St. Francis. Every demonstration has a sense of
drama-a clash of ideas-people dedicated to opposing points of view
and holding them with real emotion.

The thought occurred to me: Today there was no way that the
opposition to life was going to be able to match these two men
willing, as they were, to take on the whole federal government if
necessary in their opposition to infanticide. Congress and the courts
had made it clear that they might have to take on the federal
government in their effort to stand up for the sanctity of life. 

Both of these prolife witnesses knew what they were doing. Bishop
George Lynch, the retired auxiliary bishop of Raleigh, N.C., and
Brother Fidelis Moscinsid, a student friar of the Franciscans of the
Renewal, had been arrested many times before. Both had spent extended
time in jail. Both were well aware of the possible consequences of
their actions, a form of civil disobedience to an unjust law that
permits and even encourages the destruction of human life for
personal convenience. They are both soft-spoken, gentle people, not
the type to enjoy such confrontation.

Aware of the absurdity of being arrested for defending babies from
destruction, they were both calmly serious about their witness, which
is, in itself, a profoundly serious act of Christian discipleship.
Bishop Lynch has been to jail more than 20 times. Recently he was
taken from Westchester County Jail to his doctor in handcuffs. This
was, no doubt, to fulfill some regulation lest he run away. He had
told demonstrators protesting his imprisonment: "Don't be upset. The
rest of the people in here don't want to be here. I want to be in
jail."

Brother Fidelis, for all his youthful appearance, has been a jailbird
too. Before joining the friars he had to drop out of his Rutgers
University class to spend two months in the same county jail. Like
many in the prolife movement, he's convinced that the protection of
human life is the greatest single moral challenge facing our society,
requiring religious groups to act as a conscience for the nation. 

This picture is incomplete, though, without mentioning the 30 other
people who showed up that early Saturday morning. These prolife
demonstrators were old hands at anti-abortion protests and knew the
rules of engagement.

They kept moving as they prayed the rosary, lest they be accused of
loitering. Three so called "pro-choice" pickets were also experienced
demonstrators, but none of them had done jail time for their
convictions. This morning they were not only outnumbered but
outclassed. Jenny shows up first and spends her time shouting
"prochoice" in an obvious but futile attempt to interrupt the rosary.
Then there's Bob who refers to me as "mister monk" and once told me
to go back to my "comfortable life." We don't answer such
provocations but I was really tempted to invite Bob to accompany me
on my daily routine. Bob's specialty is telling us that we are
"crazy, wicked, hell itself." Bob's no dope, though, and when he
observed the dignity of the old bishop and the young friar blocking
the gate, he retreated to the other side of the street and focused
his attentions on the police who quietly went about their
embarrassing task.

Then there was Judy. She's openly, almost violently antiCatholic.
Since most of the weekly demonstrators at the abortion clinic in
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., are Catholics, she tends to forget that millions
of Protestants, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, Moslems and
Buddhists are equally opposed to abortion on demand. Judy's shouted
remarks are so anti-Catholic that they technically constitute a
disturbance of the peace-a common enough activity for pro-abortion
demonstrators, but one I've never witnessed once with prolife people.
About the noisiest thing we do is sing hymns. Suddenly, in the midst
of all this, the manager of the clinic arrived and drove up to the
gate so quickly that she came to a breathtaking stop a few feet from
Brother Fidelis. A police officer pointedly asked her if she was
trying to hit him. I'm told that this lady's name is Ruby and she
works for the abortion doctor, Stephen Kali.

I keep them all in my distracted prayers because I fear for their
eternal judgment and I fervently hope that they have a change of
heart someday and join us in campaigning for life. The three noisy
demonstrators, Judy, Bob and Jenny, don't appear to be paid clinic
employees, although they could be. Unlike the directors and employees
of the place they don't seem to be profiting from this shedding of
blood. Even some of those who have made a living off abortion have
been converted and are well known prolife activists today. We all
prayed for the opposition-paid and unpaid-outside that abominable
death house.

There are some other members of the cast who should be mentioned. The
Dobbs Ferry Police went about their task in a quiet, professional
way. They appeared to be embarrassed when they had to drag the old
bishop off to the side in handcuffs. I don't think that the officers
ever thought that enforcing the law would require them to drag a
78-year-old bishop off to jail for doing something holy. Surely the
greater sin is on those who've passed the unjust laws which demand
such a response.

We cannot leave out the judge who ordinarily handles these cases.
Judge Luba Iler is known for dealing with prolife demonstrators with
a serene objectivity-touched at times with severity. She's sent
prolifers to jail, Bishop Lynch and Brother Fidelis among them. 

Today's charge was not so bad, disorderly conduct. Except that the
whole thing is a travesty of justice-something like the trial of St.
Thomas More. Is it really "disorderly" to pray at the entrance to a
place of death? The law has gone mad since Roe vs. Wade.

We were all appalled when 19 children were killed in a federal
building in Oklahoma City by a mad bomber. But that many children are
killed every Saturday in Dobbs Ferry under the protective mantle of
the courts and Congress. Mother Teresa is certainly right when she
says that abortion is the greatest threat to world peace. Whose
conduct is disorderly? That Saturday morning in Dobbs Ferry, the
disorderly conduct of Bishop Lynch and Brother Fidelis, in fact, had
a marvelous result: Two women who came for abortions turned around
and did not kill their children.

Some people tell me that they don't like to demonstrate, although
Pope John Paul has called upon us to use conscientious objection and
protest to lift the conscience of a nation in his encyclical, "The
Gospel of Life." If demonstrating is not your "thing"-then what are
you doing for life? I believe we who live in this dreadful time will
be asked that question on judgment day. 

I do not think that American Catholics can feel that they have
responded to the Gospel of Life until there's a quiet group of
Christians praying every morning outside every abortion clinic in our
country. Then the ultimate "disorderly conduct," the murder of the
innocent and defenseless, will come to an end and the curse will be
taken off our land. 

Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.FR., is a Franciscan Friar of the
Renewal and a spiritual writer. 

Taken from the "National Catholic Register," July 16, 1995. For
subscriptions contact the "National Catholic Register", P.O. Box
260380, Encino, CA 91426-0380, (800) 421-3230.

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