It is July 23rd, and I have just returned to the office from the abortuary on Harbord Street. Things have been happening there and these are some random thoughts on what I witnessed.
Yesterday afternoon I received a call from Campaign Life Office saying that Dan McCash had been arrested on a charge of “harassment” or some such legal term. Dan and the pro-life picketers who were there said that all he did was try to talk to a girl who was going in to have an abortion. One of the police – who are guarding the “clinic” like a mother hen brooding over her chicks – arrested Dan, put handcuffs on him and took him away.
Who is Dan?
In case you don’t know Dan McCash here is a thumb-nail description. Dan is Scottish, stubborn, glib of tongue and chock full of courage. He has a wife, Muriel, and three young children not yet in their teens. Dan was released on condition that he will not go within 200 yards of the “clinic” until his case is heard. Incidentally, today Dan obeyed this order but his wife, his two sons and his daughter went along with such placards as “My Dad tries to stop the killing of babies. For this he was arrested by the police.”
I called at Dan’s home yesterday afternoon to assure him of my support. Muriel was naturally concerned. She is a young wife with three young children and a husband who is taking the risk of going to jail and losing his job. Dan arrived back while I was there and gave us the story blow by blow. Then we got down to serious talk about what we can and must do.
Simple logic
Dan’s logic is simple and clear. He puts it like this. “IF I am passing a house and I hear a baby screaming in terror and through the window I see that the baby is being killed, what should I do? Should I stop to decide if it would be trespassing to break in the door and save the child? O course not. I would break in the door and save the baby. I would probably get an award for bravery and citizenship and have my photo on the front page of The Globe and Mail. Now, inside that abortuary, I know for certain that babies are being killed – torn to bits and thrown in the garbage. Can I, as a man, stand by and do nothing?
Cowardly government
To me the logic is perfect and it disturbs my conscience. The fact that we have a cowardly government – two if you wish – which brags about all it is doing for the Canadian people but has its police force – Salus Populi – protecting the criminals who are every day murdering Canadians does not absolve any of us from doing all in our power to save those lives.
Real action
Around lunch-time today I visited the abortuary and there was real action. There were police cars everywhere, TV cameras were dotted here and there and reporters were in abundance with pencils ready to pounce. I asked what was happening and was told that five pro-life people had got into the abortuary and were staging a “sit-in.” Then the door burst open and out came Steve Jalsevac, carried by four police officers. He was dumped into a police car and driven away. Next thing Annette McLoughlin – five feet six and about 110 lbs was hauled out by four more police. Then out came Barbara Brown followed by her husband Tom, also in custody. After them Tony Canhotto was dragged through the crowd to the waiting police car. While all this was going on the picketers were shouting, “Arrest Scott, not the people.” Scott is the “doctor” who kills most of the babies.
Guilty
I am writing this wile it is hot – off the cuff as it were – because I feel guilty – terribly guilty. All these five people are married; they have jobs which they could lose; some of them have children. And here am I a priest with nothing to lose – no wife, no children, more economic security than any of them – and I am cheering them on their way to jail.
I am just wondering for how much longer I can face my God every morning and continue to encourage these heroic lay people, while I “lead the army from behind.”
