In Denver, for the Democratic Convention, they had a warehouse full of cages ready. Actual cages meant for Americans who dare protest against barry were lined up one after the another with razor wire on top (indoor) and warnings that Tasers would be used.
I have to wonder if they have something like that set up in South Bend and if Father Weslin ended up in it.
On Friday (15th), 19 people were arrested, including Father Norman Weslin, founder of The Lambs of Christ, a non-violent Catholic pro-life organization. They protest by praying outside abortion facilities. They don’t throw bloody entrails at scared teenagers or plot abortion clinic bombings or attempt to mastermind the assassination of abortion doctors and nurses. They believe in the sacred Teachings of the Church, the sanctity of life being the most precious.
Fr Weslin took a sacred vow to defend those teachings and that’s what he and his “lambs” were doing. Praying the Rosary and singing in protest of a Catholic University’s awarding an honor to a man who not only believes abortion is legal – but he voted against providing medical treatment for a fetus that somehow managed to survive the attempt on its life.
What kind of priest would he be if he didn’t protest?
A Notre Dame faculty member, perhaps?
Also present was ALAN KEYES who was the first protester arrested. Video.
I call on all Christian people to bear witness this betrayal of our faith.
Then came something I hope I never see again as long as I live. A nonviolent Catholic priest, on the grounds of a Catholic University, protesting the most sacred tenet of the Catholic Church, dressed in full habit, was taken to the ground, had his hands forcibly handcuffed behind his back and then was humiliatingly laid out on a cloth “stretcher” and hauled away like a piece of meat.
It was the most shocking thing I have seen yet related to barry.
Watch the video yourself. No matter your views on abortion, embryonic stem cells, religion, politics or barry himself, ask yourself, honestly, if this makes you proud of your president and whether it makes you proud as an American. And then ask yourself if any award is worth what was done to this priest. His dignity stripped as he was taken to the ground with no regard for his habit, his hands pulled behind his back and then carried off like a lamb to slaughter. Answer to your own conscience. And then realize it isn’t quite 4 months into barry’s term.
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Father Norman Weslin is being assisted by someone and appears unsteady on his feet. He truly cannot understand why they are arresting him even though he has been arrested many (>50) times before and has been violently injured during it. This time though he is on the campus of Notre Dame University. I understand his incredulity. Why should a Catholic priest have to protest against a Catholic University to uphold the Teachings of the Church? It boggles the mind. Worse is the papal silence (until today – another post) and lack of outrage among Catholic Bishops and Cardinals.
So 26 seconds in he s told he is being arrested.
Bystander: God be with you, Father.
Bystander: Bless you Father.
Bystander 1: Bless you Father, in the name of Jesus. It’s a shame for Notre Dame today.
Father begins to sing and bystanders join in.
Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing,
You reign now in Splendor with Jesus your King.
(1:00) Father drops to the ground and four policemen surround him. He is not resisting – just trying to sing – and he is winded by the manhandling.
Disgusted bystander 1 repeats: Shame! Shame on Father Jenkins! [President of Notre Dame]
Father continues to sing:
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria,
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria.
He doesn’t pull his hand away while Policeman A is slipping a piece of rope over his wrist and pulling his hand behind his back – the other already behind him. They don’t give him instructions and he is treated like any Saturday night drunk: impersonally and hear we go again. He sings:
In Heaven, the Blessed, Your glory proclaim…
His hands are so high behind his back he has to bend forward.
Bystander 1 says something about Obama and it’s a Catholic University and ain’t nobody saying anything.
Except for her.
Father is still bent forward with his knees on the bare ground with three full sized men and a woman trying to tie him up. He is not resisting – he continues to sing:
...On earth, your children invoke your sweet name…
Bystander 1 berates someone and repeats: Shame! Shame! Shame!
It is reassuring that one human being saw what was happening was disgusted and made her thoughts known. Halfway through the arrest after she begins to cry her voice is no longer heard. What was done to her, by whom? Father continues his singing:
....Ave, Ave, Ave Maria.
They are still trying to bind his hands together behind his back. The cameramen and photographers say nothing as they hover like pirahnas.
Isn’t there a single one of them who finds this reprehensible?
Does it look different through their lenses?
There was absolutely no need to handcuff his hands in the back. They could have handcuffed him in front so he could still hold his rosary and retains his dignity – something that should go unsaid. He was not treated with respect. He was not given the simple deference a Man of God deserves. It speaks volumes of all present, especially Policeman A, who appears to be in charge.
Father continues singing to Jesus’ mother:
Immaculate Mary, Your praises we sing,
Bystander 1 is crying.
Father starts to tip, hands secured behind his back, he is unable to balance himself. It’s remarkable how supple he is with his legs bunched under him. He begins to speak:
Notre Dame…
Slapped on the shoulders and upper arms by Policeman A.
…is putting a priest–
Policeman A then puts both hands tight across Father Weslin’s shoulders as he grimaces in pain. Freeze it at (2:22) and ask yourself how it makes you feel. Ask yourself if you would feel differently if it were your relative, or a Holy Man of any other ethnicity, race or religion. And if so, why?
Father continues:
Notre Dame is arresting the police. We don’t need the people out there to correct us.
Policeman A grips down on Father’s shoulders, his legs crumpled to the side, pinning him in place on the hard cement pavement. Imagine for a minute if this was an 82 y/o black priest and four white policemen were videotaped doing the same. Would there be outrage? What if it were an Imam outside a mosque?
Father looks into one of the cameras, incredulous:
We-we-we’re Catholic priests. Why are you arresting a Catholic priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? Use your mind. What are you doing that for? Why are you arresting a priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? You’ve got it all backwards. They’re trying to hurt the policemen so they shut up. That’s what you do. That’s why you’ve got this whole problem.
He seems confused. I don’t quite get what he means about the police. Policeman A puts a tag on a piece of rope around Father’s neck – like he’s a prize head of beef that needs identifying. Like his collar no longer identifies him.
And now you’re putting one around my neck!
Male bystander: His arms are already hurt.
Policeman A: I understand that.
Policeman off camera: Just drag him.
Policeman A, who understands that his arms are already hurt, continues to yank Father by arm to lay him down so they can haul him away. He knows his arms are hurt and doesn’t have the humanity to untie his hands from behind his back.
Ask yourself if the level of violence by the police matched the benign, justified nature of the protest and the protester’s non-resistance.
What is your threshold for police brutality?
Policeman A and Female Officer roughly drag Father back and roll him over on his left side on a thin blue piece of cloth with his hands still bound tightly behind his back. After he is given a final shove and knee by Policeman A, Father says: (3:20)
Land of Freedom!
Poignant words coming from a man who defended it with his life for 2o years in the US Army.
Bystander or cameraman: Wow. I can’t believe I am seeing this.
I choose to believe he is uttering it in disbeliefe and disgust rather than vicarious bystander. And I can’t believe people are just standing there, doing nothing to help Father. No comments to the police about the insanity of it all.
Wouldn’t you like to know what was going on inside thos bystanders and officers’ heads? Inside their consciences?
Bystander 1 can no longer be heard. What was done to her?
Male bystander: His arms were broken by the last police officer.
Said loud enough for all to hear and yet Father is left on his side having to hold up his head with his hands bound behind him – not resisting in the least. And as the bystanders start to sing, the Policeman B holds the blue cloth right up to Father’s face, who clearly cannot move it away himself. He can’t move at all because Policeman A has his boot on the blue cloth and his leg and knee tight against Father’s lower back like he’s propping open a door.
Look around. Look at all the cameramen and regular folks talking pictures as a 82 y/o Man of God lays in full habit on the ground with his hands bound behind him, the blue edge of the cloth stretcher in his face and a leg pinning his back.
What are you feeling as you watch this?
Imagine if that were your father or grandfather. And what would you feel if he was wearing his Army uniform instead?
Father begins singing again – never once complaining about his position or his humiliation or the fact that no one is coming to his aid.
Immaculate Mary, Your praise we sing,
You reign now in Splendor–
And then suddenly there’s quiet (4:06) except for the click of the camera – which even stops – as Father lays with not a single person offering to support his head. Not a single person asks him if he’s in pain. Not a single word from the four policemen who surround him. No apologies to a man who is twice their age, who served his country before they were born. No embarrassment with what they are doing to a harmless Man of God. No: I’m sorry, Father, that I have to do this.
This is really hard to watch. Especially over and over to transcribe it. Each time overcome with a profound bewilderment mixed with something unnameable that folks – my fellow Americans can do this to an 82 y/o Man of God, who is doing exactly what he is supposed to. This video proves that there is no sanctity for sentient life, either.
And the words I feel about the man who brought this about are untranscribable.
A full minute Father lays on the ground on his side with his hands bound behind him and Policeman A’s leg propping him up from the back and Policeman B & C holding up the blue cloth in front of him. He is being restrained like a common drunk. Like he is about to get up and flee.
They then finally lift him up and struggle as they haul him away.
Father, still not uttering a word of protest or complaint, his shoes hanging off the end.
This was not a big group. There were no agitators. Bystander 1, the vocal protester with a conscience was silenced somehow. The police and security were there waiting and yet it took four full minutes to arrest a 82 y/o man who was not fighting them.
Now recall how Policeman A said he knew about Father’s injuries. That means he knew who he was and was expecting him. So why not a simple wheelchair?
If nothing else, why not hoist Father Indian style between two policemen with another in front and back? They could have removed him from the scene in a minute – the time he laid on the ground helpless and defenseless while bystanders and professionals took pictures and videos.
Would you want to be laid out like that? Would you like to witness your parent laid out like that, helpless with a pack of silent humans surrounding them?
Why the need for the complete humiliation of a peaceful Man of God, who was not in any way resisting?
And why can’t a Catholic priest walk onto the campus of a Catholic University to peacefully proclaim his faith and stand up for what he believes: the sanctity of human life?
And why were there no University priests or nuns there protesting his manhandling? Catholic professors? Catholic students? Anyone with an inch of a soul and ounce of compassion?
I hope you folks are fully aware that barry could have showed up and given his teleprompter reading and avoided this by simply not accepting the degree Notre Dame was offering him. But his ego wouldn’t let him. ASU wouldn’t give him anything but naming rights to an already established scholarship. So he wasn’t about to go 2-0. Professor Mary Ann Glendon, who was to have received the highest award Notre Dame bestows, having already been honored by them, would not have had to decline if barry had chosen not to accept the . She did so because Notre Dame, the premier Catholic University in the US, was giving an award to a man who believes killing a fetus is okay and vows to keep it legal.
A Catholic University, which is supposed to be guided by the Teachings of the Church – the most absolute the sanctity of life – allowed the arrest of a Catholic Priest for simply standing by his Faith. For doing what he took a sacred vow to do: defend the Teachings of the Church. The same exact Church the University should be defending.
And how is it a Catholic University when it allows a devout Man of God to be manhandled, bound and humiliated for the sake of a man who disregards the most sacred tenet of the Church? A man who believes killing a fetus is not murder. A man who voted to withhold treatment from a human life that by any definition was alive despite the attempt to murder it?
Why was a Catholic priest arrested on the campus of a Catholic University for protesting abortion?
And why weren’t the faculty and surrounding parish priests standing right next to him?
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