Here is a followup on the Counter Protest/Prayer Vigil of the faithful in opposition to the Catholic Action Network for Social Justice (CAN) Candlelight Vigil on the Cathedral Basilica steps last night which they (CAN) called "People of Faith for Gay Rights". This report has been slightly edited for spelling/grammar and such but remains essentially the same as I received it.
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Although I am not what you would call a veteran protest organizer or attendee, there is a certain element of predictability that goes with trying to gather Catholics together to confront an attack on the Church. For example, you can make a pretty good assumption about those who will attend, based on your previous experience. You know that the police will eventually appear at the protest. You can also expect to be surprised by one or more attendees whom you did not even know would know about the event. Tonight's [Evening of Nov 8] circumstances however were completely out of my limited realm to 'predict'.
My last communication with Brandon R. was an email he sent to me on Monday night, saying he and 'some' of his friends would get to the Cathedral a little after 7PM. He asked me if I had any ideas for slogans on signs and wondered if I had any anti-homosexual pamphlets to hand out. (I didn't). When I pulled onto the side street next to the Cathedral at 6:30, Valerie had already arrived. Shortly afterward, Dr. and Mrs. Z. pulled in behind us. As it was early, we sat quietly chatting in our car. Before long, I decided to do a "reconnaissance" mission and Dr. Z. and I walked around the back of the Cathedral to get a view of how the CAN protest was setting up, without the protestors noticing us. I thought it better not to let them know there might be a counter-protest, thinking that even if it were only the four of us, we could make our presence felt if we got a good 'position' in front of the Cathedral.
When we came back to the car, Valerie told us that Donald L. was talking to Mrs. Z. on her cell phone. Donald was standing on a corner across the street from the Cathedral. Now we were five!
Donald called Brandon and left a message on his cell phone. We waited nervously as we watched the CAN crowd of 40-50 people assemble on the Cathedral steps. Before long Brandon called Donald back and said that he and his 'friends' were on their way and would arrive in minutes. Just before hanging up, Donald asked him how many 'friends' he was bringing with him. Brandon's answer was music to our ears, he was bringing twenty five friends.
Just as Donald hung up the phone, Mr. H. and his grandson, Alec, arrived with Mr. and Mrs. P. They (Mr & Mrs P) had come to their first ever meeting on Sunday and were admittedly reluctant to come to the Cathedral to counter-protest. By now, we were nine! All of us were standing on the corner waiting for Brandon's group to arrive.
Soon, Brandon arrived and discreetly called from his car as he drove by; "Reinforcements are on the way!" Soon we could see them, all twenty five off in the distance on the side street from the Cathedral. In the dark shadows there appeared to be men wearing cassocks among the group. Could it be? Clergy? We could also see that they had come prepared with signs - this was getting to be very interesting.
We met midway on the block and Brandon introduced us to Father (I don't remember his name) and a seminarian. We chatted for a moment and then I asked Father what parish he came from, he replied St. Mary's Assumption Church, to which Dr. Z. replied; "Isn't that near the Pius X Chapel?" Father smiled wryly and said, "Yes close, extremely close."
Next Father told us that should some priests from the parish or Chancery appear, he and the seminarian would remove themselves from the crowd - likewise, in the event the media appeared, they would give no interviews. Father stated clearly that he and all of us were there to make reparation for this act, and for ourselves as we are sinners too. He said those other things (media, diocesan clergy) would bring politics into the matter which was definitely not the reason that they had come. He did not want 'politics' to become an issue in this prayerful act of reparation.
Our strategy was simple. Some of the young men from St. Mary's were eager to debate, while most others wanted to keep their heads down and pray. Father was very deferential to me and asked how I thought we should go about our battle plan. We decided that the 'debaters' would freely encounter the protesters and debate at will, the others would form a line and pray the Rosary while walking in front of the Cathedral.
The moment we turned the corner onto Lindell Blvd will long live in my memory.
Father had somehow adopted me as his 'bodyguard' and the two of us took the front of the column. The others fell in behind us in twos and our 'procession' extended quite far behind us. Just as we turned the corner, Father started; "In the Name of the Father...", meanwhile the protesters were giving testimony and sharing thoughts of 'happiness and love' for each other and empty rhetoric against Holy Mother Church.
As we 'marched' towards them loudly praying the Rosary, the speaker was forced to stop, so as to not be drowned out by our prayers. This happened virtually every time we crossed in front of them. At times they would join in on our prayer and on one occasion they began to sing "We Shall Overcome".
Before long however it was evident that we had deflated their 'balloon'. Their protest had lost its gusto. The speakers were limited to choppy, almost incoherent, dissertations. The protesters started to lose interest. Some of them even left early. But still we marched, prayed and sang. We sang Salve Regina and Immaculate Mary, we prayed the Litany to the Blessed Mother, and continued on. Even after they finally disconnected their amplifier and ended their 'vigil'.
The protesters stood somewhat in disbelief and dismay as we continued until we finished the Joyful Mysteries. Lastly, Father asked Brandon and I to assist him in reading the Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This we did standing squarely in the middle of the sidewalk at the bottom of the steps to the Cathedral.
In the end, the police had arrived and watched us. Almost looking like they didn't know what to do. The protesters appeared to complain about us, but we were moving along the sidewalk in an orderly manner. Another amazing thing tonight was the absence of media. Not one reporter was there - no Print media or television or radio.
Our Lady won! Against amazing odds, with assistance that was completely unexpected, our Blessed Mother had defeated the Promoters of Homosexuality, the Dissenters of Church teaching and the Natural Law and had thwarted their insipid agenda with the Rosary! It was a privilege for us to be called to this fight tonight. It was a privilege to be Her instruments in defeating the Dark Revolution's latest attempt to destroy the Church.
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We are extremely indebted to Mark S. for his excellent report of last night's events. We are also indebted to all of those Catholics who marched in prayer asking for Our Lady's intercession to oppose those who fight and rebel against her Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and His Church. We are profoundly grateful for the extraordinary intercessions of Our Lady in helping us to combat these attacks. We are humbly indebted to our Lord, Who generously bestowed His graces on those who came to the aid of His Church.
We must continue to pray that He will give us the graces to do His will and to do so with obedience and charity. We must continue to pray that those who oppose our Lord and His Church might someday see the errors of their ways and follow His call for repentance and come back to His fold, His Church.
Thank you, Mark, for your excellent report!
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