0eCember 3, 1993
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
By ELIZABETH BRUNS
Catholic News Service
)0MINGTON, Ind.
The director of a
ed pro-life or-
was disrupted by
abortion
d to speak at a
rally sponsored
Activated to Lib-
Rev. Patrick Mahoney,
he Christian De-
and also a
peration Rescue Na-
. by pro-
coat hangers at
Lgers, put in
Y every
nUtes, represented
lan who will die
Mahoney,s
a result of the un-
of Safe legal abor-
a
the protest-
Protesters disrupt Collegians for Life rally at I.U.
in Bloom.
a rally
ana Uni-
roup, which
in Madi-
SPOnsoring the
One of a series it
Lt months
in its
accused uni-
permitting
to take
Speech. After
20 min-
the res-
presi-
dinner
mterest
y,"
an associate
of the
and Indiana
ents for Life
later with
to Shannon
Hall, a senior who is president
of the Indiana campus group.
Ms. Hall said they had two
questions for Ehrlich --
whether there was pro-life big-
otry on campus and whether
the pro-life groups could ever
expect to be able to have a
speaker heard on campus.
"His answer to the first, of
course, was no .... Whether or
not our speaker would be
heard is another story," Ms.
Hall said Nov. 23. "But he said
they would try to work with us
in the future. They showed
good faith on their part to do
so. They are open to working
with us. It was probably the
same 20-second spiel he has
given to others ... but I thank
him for it nonetheless."
She said they also told
Ehrlich about incidents sur-
rounding a speech by Joseph
Scheidler, head of the Chicago-
based Pro-Life Action League,
on campus last year. According
to Ms. Hall, Scheidler was
"spat upon and thrown up on"
by students and his podium
rushed, and informational pro-
life packets handed out in ad-
vance were taken.
"It was productive meeting
in that we alerted him to prob-
lems we've had in the past,"
Ms. Hall added.
Before Mr. Mahoney spoke
Nov. 19, Ms. Hall addressed
the crowd, made up of stu-
dents, faculty, media and
members of the community.
As she spoke about .Indiana
University Students for Life
and the collegians' group, abor-
tion supporters tapped coat
hangers against their chairs.
Pro-life students are "dedi-
cated to protecting the unborn,
warning the community about
the dangers of abortion to the
unborn child and mother," she
said, adding that they work to
provide alternatives and to ed-
ucate students and the wider
community by distributing in-
formation and holding presen-
;!
tations.
"As the next generation of
leaders of this country, we
have the opportunity to turn
the tide and to create a world
that truly respects all life," Ms.
Hall said. "We can set an ex-
ample for the rest of our gener-
ation to follow."
Also addressing the crowd
was Joshua Miller, director of
Collegians Activated to Liber-
ate Life, who will have an of-
fice now in Bloomington to lead
a spring program called "Re-
store Life Bloomington."
Miller told the crowd about
recent sentences handed down
in relation to students' protests
at clinics last March in Merril-
lville and Gary, Ind.
Fourteen demonstrators con-
victed of trespassing and block-
ing pedestrian traffic at Indi-
ana abortion clinics were
sentenced in Oct. 21 to spend
eight hours in a class pre-
sented by Planned Parenthood
and to pay a fine of $7,100.
The students opted to spend
eight days in jail but on Nov.
15 an emergency stay of their
sentencing was granted and on
Nov. 19 the stay was contin-
ued, leaving the students free
pending their appeal.
The collegians' group, Miller
said, has traveled to more than
100 campuses in 1993. Their
weekend activities include
"corner revealing," which
means group members stand
outside a large gathering, such
as a football game, with
graphic posters on abortion.
They also pray and picket out-
side clinics, distribute litera-
ture and hold seminars. Group
members are pro-life college
students who take a year off
from school to participate in
the organization's activities on
campuses.
"God has called us to be res-
cuers of his children," Miller
said. "We challenge pro-life col-
legians to strengthen their
commitment to the unborn."
Anti-Catholicism seen as
a compliment to church
PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- The
strong anti-Catholicism pre-
sent in the United States
should be seen as "a compli-
ment to the church," according
to Father Richard John
Neuhaus.
Father Neuhaus, president
of the New York-based Insti-
tute for Religion in Public Life
and a former Lutheran pastor,
made the comment in an inter-
view with the Pittsburgh
Catholic, the diocesan
newspaper.
"In many ways the church is
rightly seen as the most formi-
dable institutional voice for the
understanding of moral truth,
the understanding that we are
creatures who are accountable
to the Creator, the understand-
ing of life as a moral contest
with eternal consequences."
"These very fundamental
truths are primarily defended
and advanced by the Catholic
Church," Father Neuhaus
added. "Those who are opposed
to these truth claims quite un-
derstandably view the church
as their enemy."
In the interview, Father
Neuhaus said Pope John Paul
II's papacy has been "a major
rallying point for serious public
argument ... and reflection on
the nature of moral truth."
"A formidable array of forces
in government, the courts, the
media and the university cer-
tainly are not receptive to the
kind of serious and reasonable
moral discourse that the pope
is calling for," he said.
"But within each of these
sectors there are indications of
people having very grave sec-
end thoughts about their pre-
suppositions, and I think that
such 'second-thoughters,' so to
speak, ought to be encouraged
and engaged in creating a new
level of discourse," he added.
Father Neuhaus said he
thinks the level of religious
sentiment in the United States
is much greater than would be
indicated by the religiousness
of its leaders.
Studies show that "on a
transnational or global scale,
India has about the most per-
vasively religious society, and
by the same measure Sweden
has the most thoroughly secu-
larized society," Father
Neuhaus said. "So it has been
observed that a large part of
our problem in America ... is
that we are a nation of Indians
ruled by an elite of Swedes."
He said many Catholics in
public life fail to adhere to "the
requirements of faithful Chris-
tian discipleship," not because
of an inherent conflict between
those requirements and the de-
mands of the state but because
of political expediency.
"We should not confuse the
tests of Christian discipleship
of this sort, which so many
people fail, with the test that
one faces when in fact con-
fronted with conflicting de-
mands of Caesar and of
Christ," he added.
Father Neuhaus also dis-
cussed his recovery from a re-
cent bout with cancer, and said
he was "stronger, both physi-
cally and mentally but most
importantly spiritually, as a
consequence of the past year's
experience."
re" s How
aVlngs. Catholic sisters, brothers, and order
meager resources. Please take this
for their lifetinm of dedication and devoth)n.
to the Retirement Fund for
COllection in your parish.
Box 73140, Bolbmore, MD 21273.
Miller & Miller
Colonial Chapel
Supports the
Knights of St. John
MEMBERS
Bernie Miller • Gerald Miller
Jon Miller • Greg Betz
I
15
K
Lake Cit:
bishop for Salt Lake
was not:immediately name,
seminary student Stev
Cook, and asked acou foa
quick disposition 6f the
spokesman said,::
Toi ....
The past,
Catholic (
will be examil
sr
Bishops
lO to May 8,
i
Tests are 'wrong'
spokesman said.::
'Hero' honored .- !:
A Mercy nun who is chief
of staff to Chicago Cardinal
Joseph L. Bernardin and for-
mer superintendent for arch:
diocesan Catholic schools
was named the winner of a
top prize in education. Sister
Mary Brian Costello. one of
cthree educators named to re, [
eive the 1993 McGraw|
Prize in Education,:waaise |
letted as a
tion:because of . effo i
] behalf of inner:city chil ]
I and awarded $25,000.. i |
I
Love acknowledged
Franciscan Fathe
Leonardo BolT, a promiaen
and controversial Brazilim
theologian, said he has be
in love with a female.theolc
gian for 12 years, Fathe
Boff, 54, said that;he start
a post-modern relationship' |
in 1981 with Marcia Men
I
teiro de Silva ,Miranda, a 50
year-old divorced mother o
six, Father Boffalso saic
that he will ask the Vaticm
to accelerate the pocess o
his lajcization, rwhi$h he re
quested in mid-1992.
n i
