View Comments      Email Article       Printable Version

Published: June 12, 2007

Saturday, June 2, 2007 -- Protest at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, San Diego

“How could a Catholic parish give a platform to a man who believes that it’s OK to kill a viable baby by pulling it part way out of the birth canal, puncturing its skull, and vacuuming out its brains?”

News from the Trenches

We are blessed in San Diego with Catholics eager to respond to what our Protestant brothers refer to as a “Jeremiah call” (“…to whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.” -- Jeremiah 1:7). On Friday morning in front of the Clinica Medica abortuary in Chula Vista, we received a “Jeremiah call” when a sidewalk counselor informed me that extreme pro-abortion Congressman Bob Filner was scheduled to speak the next day at an immigration event at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in San Diego.

Al Conlin, a prayer warrior, confirmed this and showed us a flyer that announced: “Community Action Meeting -- Comprehensive Immigration Reform with Congressman Bob Filner and the offices of Susan Davis and Barbara Boxer...” At the bottom of the flyer it read: “ We would like the whole church to be present... Sponsored by Our Lady of Guadalupe & Saint Jude Shrine of the West Churches.”

I couldn’t believe it -- Congressman Bob Filner, who received a 100 % score from NARAL Pro-choice America (formerly the National Abortion Rights Action League) for his pro-abortion voting record. That record includes voting against the partial birth abortion ban twice and voting against the Child Custody Protection Act, which would have made it a federal crime for a non-parent without parental consent to transport a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion. How could a Catholic parish give a platform to a man who believes that it’s OK to kill a viable baby by pulling it part way out of the birth canal, puncturing its skull, and vacuuming out its brains?

Al informed us that he had spoken with the former pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in hopes of convincing the present pastor to cancel this community action meeting. But it was to no avail.

We decided that if this meeting was to go on as scheduled, we needed to protest it. Al volunteered to be one of the protesters. I called my wife on the cell phone and she agreed to be part of the group. With only 30 hours notice, we now had three protesters. I left Clinica Medica and headed for work.

Late that afternoon, after arriving home from work, I sent out an email to my pro-life list giving the details of Bob Filner’s voting record, the logistics of the protest and most importantly asking for prayers. In response to my email, pro-life activist and home schooling mom Sue Lopez called Bishop Brom's office and suggested that others do the same in hopes of getting the Filner event canceled. Several people called the bishop’s office and the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe to complain.

On Saturday, my wife and I arrived at Our Lady of Guadalupe church about 4 p.m. The plan was to have some of us outside the church hall with signs. My wife, Tricia, would go into the church hall to ask questions of the congressman if there was a question and answer session.

As I scouted for a good spot to set up our signs, I encountered a Hispanic lady who had in the past joined us in prayer vigils at Clinica Medica. I had not seen her in several months. We greeted and she said it was good to see me involved in the cause. I told her we were there to protest Bob Filner being allowed to speak on church property.

We ended up with seven protesters. Two of them had volunteered that morning when I informed them about the Filner event as they arrived to pray in front of Family Planning Associates. We set up both of our 3-foot by 5-foot horrific images of aborted babies across the street from the church hall. The protesters held up placards that read, “Bob Filner Voted No on Protecting Children,” “Planned Parenthood Protects Child Predators – childpredators.com,” and “Abortion Kills Children.” The placards were in English and Spanish.

Just as we finished setting up, Allyson Smith, a sidewalk counselor from El Cajon, recognized Linda Areola, an assistant director at the Office for Social Ministry for the San Diego diocese about to walk into the church hall. Because we were across the street Allyson had to shout: “Linda why is virulent pro-abortion Bob Filner being allowed to talk on church property?” Linda replied that the event was about immigration and was for “SDOP.” (SDOP stands for the San Diego Organization Project, a local interfaith political organization that seeks to build political coalitions to take action on issues.) Allyson responded by saying, “You know this is wrong, Linda.” Linda turned and entered the church hall.

Allyson and I spoke with the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe , Father Robert A. Fambrini, SJ, about Filner’s appearance. I showed Father a printout of the Congressman’s pro-abortion, anti-faith voting record. (Filner consistently votes against tax breaks and federal funds for faith-based organizations). Father listened and asked if he could get a copy of Filner’s voting record from me. I told him I would get him a copy later.

We told Father that Filner’s pro-abortion stance should disqualify him from setting foot on parish property, even if he were there to talk about immigration issues, according to a US bishops’ document prohibiting such appearances (http://www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml). Father told us that Filner’s appearance was in keeping with diocesan policy since Bishop Brom follows USCCB pronouncements to the letter. Allyson asked Father if, since he refused to disinvite Filner, would he please tell his congregation about Filner’s pro-abortion, pro-homosexual views and inform them that those positions directly contradict Church teaching? Father said he would.

A Hispanic man came up to inquire about the horrific abortion graphics and our signs. We informed him about Filner’s voting record. He told us that he was pro-life and agreed that Filner should not be given a forum at a Catholic parish.

My wife Tricia, once inside the parish hall, called on her cell phone to inform us that Filner was seated on the stage. I took one of the placards showing a photo of the decapitated head of a baby girl aborted in her third trimester and carried it across the street, placing it on the sidewalk in front of one of the open doors of the church hall. Allyson picked up a smaller image of an aborted baby and held it in front of the other open door. Peaking from behind the abortion image I could see that Congressman Filner was forced to look at it every time he looked at the audience.

After a few minutes, ushers wearing red vests with white Holy Spirit doves on the back crowded the two front doors so as to obscure the view of the abortion images. Allyson and I held the images higher so that they could be seen above the ushers’ heads. An irate man with a hoop earring in his left ear came out of the hall and confronted me. He said that the focus of this meeting was immigration and that we should take our signs back across the street. I informed him about Filner’s anti-life voting record and told him I had a right to stand on this public sidewalk. The man asked the ushers to close the doors, but they opened them again after a few minutes because it got too hot inside.

Inside the hall, Tricia waited anxiously for the question and answer session. At the beginning of the presentation the audience had been requested not to say anything negative. When the question and answer session began, Tricia and three other people went up to the microphone set up in front of the stage. As the three TV cameramen positioned themselves to get better shots of the questioners, one of the event handlers intercepted my wife and told her she could not ask a question. When she objected, the handler told her: “You can’t ask a question unless you have been picked beforehand.” He assured her that the congressman would be available after the meeting for questions and comments.

When the meeting ended, Tricia noticed that Filner was being whisked out the back door. She wound her way through the crowd, and quickly exited the hall hoping to intercept the congressman. She caught up with him and asked one of her questions: “Why do you always have to vote against faith-based organizations such as this one, especially because they have proven to be more successful than government bureaucracies?” The congressman grinned and said he did hot vote against them. “But you do, your voting record shows it,” Tricia insisted. He reiterated that this was not true and patronizingly stroked her arm before abruptly leaving.

-- Luis Mendoza
(Allyson Smith also contributed to this report.)

© California Catholic Daily 2007. All Rights Reserved.