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Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
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LITTLE NOTES
September/October 2006
THE CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL denied a legal challenge from Jonathan O'Toole and five other pro-life protesters seeking a summary judgment against the San Diego Community College District for denying them their right to free speech.
On February 25, 2003, O'Toole, along with Michelle Chavez, Jason Conrad, Katherine Ford, Daniel McCullogh, and Meghan O'Toole came to Mesa College representing Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, a pro-life outreach to high school and college students. Armed with pro-life literature and graphic abortion photo displays, they intended to access the campus free speech areas, but assembled instead in front of the cafeteria, since it was raining heavily. Before long, heated exchanges between the protesters and students escalated, and cafeteria workers called for campus police. Campus police Lieutenant Jack Doherty told O'Toole that special permits were required for anyone displaying posters and handing out literature on campus. O'Toole and the others were directed to the student affairs office, where they applied for a permit. After completing the application, O'Toole was told that it could take as long as 10 days to issue a permit. O'Toole directed his fellow protesters to leave, and he took the posters and literature back to the cafeteria, insisting that he had a right to free speech. After repeated warnings from the officers, O'Toole was arrested and spent two days in county jail and was never charged.
Mesa's dean of student affairs, Loretta Adrian, said later that she was responsible for issuing special activities permits and had never denied an application, but she was not on campus at the time of the incident, so the permit could not be granted. The San Diego Community College District later revised its free speech policy in March 2004, eliminating the permit requirement.
A veteran of nine arrests (with charges dropped in every case), O'Toole, 26, says that the police were playing along with the administration to get rid of the protesters. "We have videotapes of the whole thing clearly showing that we were trying to be reasonable and were willing to move to a more appropriate spot. They just wanted us off campus."
O'Toole has appealed the decision to the California Supreme Court. He claims he is being used as a test case of "selective permission" for free speech on college campuses. "Ultimately, we'd like the court to vacate this ruling. We want to make sure that this ruling can never be published and cited as precedent. Among all the states, California has more explicit language permitting free speech on campus than any other state. We have the right to be there, expressing any view peacefully, and no one has to get prior permission to do so. These laws were obviously written for liberal, anti-war activists, but the Survivors have been using them for the past few years, much to the chagrin of their authors. The code includes a minimum civil judgment amount to be awarded when anyone is denied the right to exercise free speech. In prior cases, the appeals court has granted such judgments, but not for us. Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust has settled case after case, over a dozen of them almost exactly like mine, because there have never before been attorneys on the defense side willing to push it this far.
"If the Supreme Court refuses my case," he predicted, "there will basically be a revolution in the California penal code."
JOHN PAUL THE GREAT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, a month before opening its doors to its first class of students, hosted the first of what they hope will be an annual young adult conference. Entitled "To Know, Love, and Serve Him," the conference was held at Cathedral Catholic High School in Carmel Valley on August 5, 2006. A crowd of 250 spent the morning listening to a speakers panel that included Curtis Martin of Focus Ministries, Heather Gallagher, a nationwide chastity speaker from the St. Louis Archdiocese, and Steve Breen, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Later in the day, the conference attendees participated in seminar sessions, which were followed by a Eucharistic procession and Mass with Bishop Brom.
"It was great to see so many kids on fire for their faith," said President Derry Connolly, "taking a full Saturday to further get to know Jesus. The speakers were all exceptional, and Bishop Brom wrapped up the day with an incredible talk on the Eucharist."
MIRACULOUS NOVENA. On August 1, 2006, 35 San Diego Catholics gathered at the foot of the Mt. Soledad cross to pray the last decades of their 54-day rosary novena, recited for the intention of keeping the 29-foot cross in its place. The very day, their prayers were answered.
After U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr. ordered that the cross be removed by August 1, 2006, or the city of San Diego would be fined $5,000 per day, Catholics around the country timed the start of the rosary novena so that it would end on this deadline. Popularly called the "Miraculous Novena," it has proven in this case to work wonders for those who prayed it.
Twenty-three days after the start of the novena, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a temporary stay in favor of the city and the cross's supporters to allow time for further appeals. On July 19, House Report Bill 5683, a bill to transfer the Mount Soledad Cross to the federal government passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 349-74. And on August 1, the deadline for the cross' removal and the last day of the novena, the Senate unanimously voted to transfer the cross and the land beneath it to federal control.
On August 1, when novena organizer Sue Lopez went to Mount Soledad for the last day of the novena, a press conference with local politicians was under way, and a Fox 6 reporter interviewed her. "I told her that we expected miracles," Lopez later said, "but I didn't know they'd be so big!"
"It is due to prayer and prayer alone that this remarkable turn of events has taken place," said Charles LiMandri, director of the Thomas More Law Center's West Coast regional office and the cross's chief legal advocate. "Nobody could have envisioned the turn around that has occurred at the highest levels of government. President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger have issued statements of support. We have statements of support from two of the most liberal senators (Feinstein and Boxer). The stay issued by Justice Kennedy is a measure rarely taken. We can't credit the legal maneuvers and politicking. With all that has been done, we were so far behind. It needed a miracle and that's what we got."
LiMandri, at the invitation of President Bush, attended the bill-signing ceremony at the White House on Monday, August 14, the eve of the Feast of Mary's Assumption.
THE GORETTI GROUP, an organized group of young pro-chastity speakers, took its message to the Gaslamp Quarter streets as part of its "Purity is Hard Core" conference, held at San Diego State University from Monday, July 30 to Tuesday, August 1. The conference provided training for those interested in communicating the message of chastity more effectively. On July 30, a group of over 40 conference attendees and Goretti Group volunteers attended a holy hour at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Little Italy led by Barnabite Father Louis Solcia. After Eucharistic adoration and benediction, 35 teens and young adults headed for the Hustler Store on Sixth Avenue, to counteract pornography's harmful effects by holding a chastity outreach. Goretti Group president Angie King targeted Hustler because it has mainstreamed the use and sale of pornography.
The group arrived at Hustler at 9:30 p.m. and prayed the Rosary, followed by the Divine Mercy chaplet. The group was large enough to cover the entire storefront and curb areas. Members handed out "Breaking Free" [of pornography] booklets to Hustler customers and passersby. Most people readily accepted the booklets. The outreach ended shortly after 10:00 p.m. The feedback from participants was positive, and many expressed a desire to conduct similar outreaches in front of other pornography shops such as the F Street chain. One woman said that this was the best training she had ever received and that she now felt fully prepared to spread the message of chastity.
"The Goretti Group," its website states, "was founded to support the community in its effort to make happy and healthy choices about sex and relationships. We offer a life of purity that leads to a deep understanding of the gift of true love and freedom."
The Goretti Group is named after Saint Maria Goretti, the 11-year-old girl who, in 1902, was stabbed to death because she wouldn't submit to the sexual advances of a 19-year-old neighbor. The group is a department of Culture of Life Family Services.
SIDEWALK COUNSELOR, Luis Mendoza, reported good news from his post at Chula Vista's Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy abortion clinic in an August 11 email. "This morning at the Clinica Medica abortion mill, we were blessed with another turnaround. This makes four turnarounds in three weeks! The woman's name is Perla, and she is about 18 years old. I noticed her and her sister as they drove in to the parking lot, so I started talking with them as they got out of their car. Perla took the small white-ribboned satchel containing a Rosary that I offered her. I told her that a holy woman who had suffered much prayed on it and asked me to give it to someone like her. She seemed touched and thanked me.
"They listened as I informed them about the abortionist's legal problems and his hearing before the California Medical Board scheduled for August 15th. The mill's 'deathscort' interrupted and asked them to follow her. I kept talking as we walked, the older sister took all the literature I gave her. The other sidewalk counselor, Maria, said to Perla that she would regret this abortion but she would never regret giving birth to a baby.
"About an hour later Perla and her sister emerged from the mill ... the older sister informed us that the doctor had refused to perform the abortion because the baby is at 20 weeks. My heart filled with joy as I knew God's mighty hand was moving.
"When the older sister mentioned that Perla was 20 weeks pregnant I remembered that I had brought a life-like 20-week fetal model. As soon as Perla saw it, she began to weep. Maria, the other counselor, consoled her and began speaking to the young mother more powerfully than I had ever heard her speak before. Perla was deeply moved by the counselor's testimony. The older sister took down Maria's phone number. I asked if we could call the Culture of Life Clinic to make an appointment for that day. The older sister said that she had to go to work soon, so that would not be possible. I told Perla that her being the first to receive the special Rosary, the doctors refusal to abort, my bringing the 20-week old fetal model for the first time, and Maria's powerful testimony were God's way of expressing his infinite love for her. Please pray that Perla accepts Our Lord's grace so that she chooses life for her baby."
THE ERUPTION OF HOSTILITIES in Lebanon touched Saint Ephrem's Maronite Catholic parish in El Cajon closely. At that time, about 150 of its parishioners were visiting family and relatives in Lebanon and were unable to leave the country following the bombing and closure of the Beirut airport. Other parishioners have family, relatives and friends there who have suffered directly from the war.
On the Maronite liturgical calendar, Sunday, July 23 was observed as the Feast of Saint Charbel, a Lebanese saint. After Mass, parishioners, led by their pastor, Father Nabil Mouannes, processed with images of Our Lady of Lebanon and Saint Charbel to their Mariam Mother of Life shrine, to hold a prayer service for the safe return of St. Ephrem's parishioners and for peace.
Most of the stranded parishioners had been able to return to the U.S. by late July or early August. But, when the war broke out, parishioners Raja and Randa Abi Hashim and their two children, ages 14 and 16, were spending the summer with Randa's family in Beirut. They had plans to repatriate permanently to Lebanon a few months later. "Unfortunately, our plans were all changed because of the war," Randa lamented. "It [the war] was unexpected," her husband Raja explained. "We were there just a couple of days before this whole war began."
Within 10 days, the Abi Hashims were evacuated by ship to Cyprus and returned to San Diego in late July. Although their families in Lebanon were not then in immediate danger, Randa explained that all of Lebanon is affected by this situation because "over 400,000 refugees came from the south to go towards Beirut and the mountains; one third of the country is moving into two-thirds, and I don't think there will be room for everybody."
Catholic World News reported on August 3 that "some observers" feared a large Christian exodus from Lebanon once the Beirut airport reopens. When asked about the war's impact on Maronites, who comprise the majority of Lebanon's Christian population, the Abi Hashims conveyed that many Maronites are determined to remain in Lebanon or eventually return there. "It's our country, where our roots are. We're going to be there," Raja said, with great feeling.
"A lot of people who have their jobs, their businesses, their homes there, they don't want to leave," Randa added. "We do want to go back. We love the United States, but Lebanon is our country. We were born there; we have our culture there." She ended on a note of optimism: "The Lebanese people are people who have hope. They are survivors; they always put things in the hands of God. They are courageous."
In an August 11 interview, Father Mouannes said that, in the Maronite Church, in times of crisis, "We turn to the Virgin Mary. If we run to her protection, the war can be finished in another way."
Among this war's many tragedies, he especially lamented the bombing of the village of Qana, which is believed to be the site of Jesus' miracle of changing water into wine at the request of the Blessed Virgin. He expressed hope that a ceasefire agreement would be reached by the Feast of the Assumption on August 15. Indeed, a U.N.-mediated ceasefire agreement went into effect on Monday, August 14.
Saint Ephrem's is collecting funds for war relief efforts in Lebanon. Donations may be sent to Saint Ephrem Church, 750 Medford Street, El Cajon, CA 92020. Make checks payable to Caritas Liban (a Catholic organization).