NATIONAL BORDERS ARE NOT IMPORTANT IN GOD’S EYES.  WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT IS THAT ALL PEOPLE RESPECT THE LAW OF GOD AND IN PARTICULAR THE SANCTITY OF LIFE.  IF BABIES ARE NOT SAFE EVERYWHERE THEY ARE NOT SAFE ANYWHERE.

Mike Gerrety

Police Chief Mike Gerrety had only six years to go before retirement on a comfortable pension.  He might have retreated from the problems of the world to enjoy the company of his family.

Instead, he took up the cause of the unborn.

He became a ‘Lamb of Christ’, dedicating himself along with others to take the place of the babies who can neither speak for not defend themselves.

Chief Gerrety first risked arrest on June 22, 1990 with the Pro-life Action Ministries at the Planned Parenthood clinic at Highland Park in St. Paul, Minnesota.  On May 31, 1991, he joined the Lambs of Christ in a rescue at women’s ‘health clinic’ in Fargo, North Dakota.

Redwood Falls

With this story of self-sacrifice for unborn children, Mike Gerrety from Redwood Falls, Minnesota, visited several centres in Saskatchewan October 10-14.

Mr. Gerrety has served for 22 years in law enforcement in the state of Minnesota, and for 12 years as Chief of Police in Redwood Falls.  He also served for 18 months as director of an eighteen-county drug investigation unit.

He has been married for 30 years.  He and his wife Paula have five children ranging in age from 21 to 28, all involved in pro-life work.  They also have two grandchildren with more to come.

Radicals

The Lambs of Christ are often portrayed as radicals by the media.  But they are not the radicals we might expect – the ones who carry guns and hold innocent people hostage to achieve their purpose.  These ‘radicals’ carry rosary beads and wear crosses.

Instead of firing bullets, they pray together and sing hymns of praise to God.  Instead of taking innocent hostages, they make themselves hostage in an effort to rescue the innocent unborn babies being dragged to death.

This radical activity got Mike Gerrety 102 days in jail.

But in another way, the Lambs of Christ are indeed a radical group.  In his book, Yes, I’m a Radical, Fr. Ted Colleton points out that to be radical is the opposite of being superficial.  This is something he realized one day while looking at the crucifix.

If we base our judgments and actions on appearances only we are being superficial.  When we base our actions on fundamental principles we are being radical.  Dedicated pro-lifers are no longer deterred by the charge of being radical.  Rather they take it as a badge of honour.

Mike Gerrety is a radical because he lives by the motto ‘obedience to God comes before obedience to man’, which was first voiced by the Apostles Peter and John who refuses to be silent about Jesus Christ in the face of persecution.  (Acts 4:19)

This makes him a law enforcement officer who keeps in mind the law written by God on our nature – the natural law.

This law is expressed in the Ten Commandments, and we are all safer because Chief Mike Gerrety and the other Lambs of Christ uphold it.

Clash with secularism

When the Lambs of Christ show respect for these principles, it brings them into direct conflict with our secular society.  The power of the state is brought down to try and break their determination.

This was evident in the treatment given the twenty-four Lambs in jail.  It lacked the basic humanity which is shown for rapists, robbers or hardened criminals.

They spent three weeks confined in cells, sleeping on foul, urine-soaked mattresses.  They had no opportunity to take a shower or have exercise for a week.  It was another two weeks before they were given such basic items as soap, a toothbrush, linen or blankets.

Normally drunks would have spent about 24 hours in such cells until they sobered up.  The Lambs, however, received this treatment because they did not so-operate with the authorities.  They refused to give their names and refused to walk to court.

This, the Lambs explained, is their way of sharing the lot of the babies who cannot speak for or defend themselves.

Good v. evil

The real reason for this inhumane treatment lies in the confrontation between good and evil which underlies today’s events.

The dedication of the Lambs of Christ makes them dangerous in the eyes of society, which treats the Lambs sores than real criminals.  Run-of-the-mill criminals are motivated by materialism and pleasure just like the majority of the population.  They are not in fundamental conflict with society.

The Lambs of Christ are motivated by the sacrificial love of God.  They are not deterred by being deprived of the comforts of life.  This punishment only makes them more determined.  A secular state knows how to handle self-indulgent materialists but is afraid of men animated by a higher power.

The Lambs are treated differently by the secular state because they are different.

Father Michael G. McCarthy is a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.  He is parish priest at Kindersley, Saskatchewan.