Please pray for Fr. Norman Weslin, on trial today
We here in Los Angeles need to pray hard and long for elderly pro-life Father Norman Weslin, a Catholic priest of true holiness and valor, founder of Lambs of Christ.
It is going around on the Internet that he is on trial today, Holy Thursday, in federal court in Omaha, under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), for simply praying the Rosary at an abortion office and asking the moms to save their babies.
To any seamy garment type who clucks, "Well, if you disobey the law you've got to accept the consequences," may I remind you that, as the Church has held from ancient times right up to now, and as Pope John XXIII wrote in his encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, AN UNJUST LAW IS NO LAW AT ALL -- and that Pope John Paul II echoed that many times and said we in fact have an obligation not to obey unjust laws.
Obviously Father Weslin is undergoing a Passion on this Holy Thursday, when Jesus was betrayed, captured and put on trial.
As for observing the "law," well, police in the past savagely beat up Father Weslin at a baby-saving rescue.
Would that every Catholic priest and bishop, and every one of us, was like Father Weslin.
You can read about heroic Father Norman Weslin at this link (and an excerpt is below):
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3af18c9525b6.htm
...Obeying a Higher Court
Father Norman U. Weslin, O.S. is a Missionary Pro-Life Roman Catholic priest. After losing his wife, Mary Lou, in a tragic automobile accident, Father met with his two adopted children and they agreed to turn their Colorado home into The Mary Weslin Home for Pregnant, Unwed Mothers which has served hundreds of pregnant women and their children.
Father entered the seminary in 1982 and was ordained in Puerto Rico by Bishop Juan Fremiot Torres in 1986. He was assigned by Cardinal O’Connor to serve St. Christopher’s Church, Staten Island and later joined Mother Teresa and her priests in the Bronx serving the poor and saying Holy Mass, hearing confessions and giving conferences to Mother Teresa’s sisters using St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary and Blessed Josepha Mendendez’ The Way of Divine Love.
Father has been arrested 60-70 times and spent many months in jail – his crime – placing his body between the abortionist and the unborn American child -- trying to stop the killing of Jesus Christ’s babies -- while they are helpless and dependent on their mothers’ love and their father’s protection -- and our country’s promise to protect their Right to Life.
It would seem a perfectly legitimate behavior given the fact that Father Weslin had put his life on the line for our defense as a 20-year veteran in the U.S. Army and a Lt. Colonel, in charge of New York’s Nuclear Defense. He, like all our veterans, has been willing to die for our posterity. Defending American lives was his career. As a Catholic Priest, defending Jesus Christ’s newly formed infants is his vocation!
At the height of The Rescue Movement, Father and his National Lambs of Christ joined tens of thousands of American citizens and religious leaders who were arrested at over 6000 killing center sites and imprisoned in a Civil Rights Movement for the Unborn Child. These Pro-Lifers were working under the assumption that non-violent, civil disobedience was needed as a matter of conscience to raise public awareness, sympathy and action to stop a nation, blessed by God, from killing its future.
These Pro-Life Witnesses knew that a nine-man Supreme Court had no authority to create an unjust and immoral law that superceded God’s Law and our own Declaration of Independence. They were following in the footsteps of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
However, Gandhi’s and King’s movements were covered openly by the press and their witness won many supporters in the media. The secular, liberal media never accepted the goals of the United States Rescue Movement and therefore created a black-out of news about these actions.
Not only did they purposely not report on these peaceful demonstrations – they went out of their way to report on the confrontational aspects when the abortion industry developed training manuals for pro-death supporters to physically and verbally abuse people kneeling in prayer...
It is going around on the Internet that he is on trial today, Holy Thursday, in federal court in Omaha, under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), for simply praying the Rosary at an abortion office and asking the moms to save their babies.
To any seamy garment type who clucks, "Well, if you disobey the law you've got to accept the consequences," may I remind you that, as the Church has held from ancient times right up to now, and as Pope John XXIII wrote in his encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, AN UNJUST LAW IS NO LAW AT ALL -- and that Pope John Paul II echoed that many times and said we in fact have an obligation not to obey unjust laws.
Obviously Father Weslin is undergoing a Passion on this Holy Thursday, when Jesus was betrayed, captured and put on trial.
As for observing the "law," well, police in the past savagely beat up Father Weslin at a baby-saving rescue.
Would that every Catholic priest and bishop, and every one of us, was like Father Weslin.
You can read about heroic Father Norman Weslin at this link (and an excerpt is below):
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3af18c9525b6.htm
...Obeying a Higher Court
Father Norman U. Weslin, O.S. is a Missionary Pro-Life Roman Catholic priest. After losing his wife, Mary Lou, in a tragic automobile accident, Father met with his two adopted children and they agreed to turn their Colorado home into The Mary Weslin Home for Pregnant, Unwed Mothers which has served hundreds of pregnant women and their children.
Father entered the seminary in 1982 and was ordained in Puerto Rico by Bishop Juan Fremiot Torres in 1986. He was assigned by Cardinal O’Connor to serve St. Christopher’s Church, Staten Island and later joined Mother Teresa and her priests in the Bronx serving the poor and saying Holy Mass, hearing confessions and giving conferences to Mother Teresa’s sisters using St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary and Blessed Josepha Mendendez’ The Way of Divine Love.
Father has been arrested 60-70 times and spent many months in jail – his crime – placing his body between the abortionist and the unborn American child -- trying to stop the killing of Jesus Christ’s babies -- while they are helpless and dependent on their mothers’ love and their father’s protection -- and our country’s promise to protect their Right to Life.
It would seem a perfectly legitimate behavior given the fact that Father Weslin had put his life on the line for our defense as a 20-year veteran in the U.S. Army and a Lt. Colonel, in charge of New York’s Nuclear Defense. He, like all our veterans, has been willing to die for our posterity. Defending American lives was his career. As a Catholic Priest, defending Jesus Christ’s newly formed infants is his vocation!
At the height of The Rescue Movement, Father and his National Lambs of Christ joined tens of thousands of American citizens and religious leaders who were arrested at over 6000 killing center sites and imprisoned in a Civil Rights Movement for the Unborn Child. These Pro-Lifers were working under the assumption that non-violent, civil disobedience was needed as a matter of conscience to raise public awareness, sympathy and action to stop a nation, blessed by God, from killing its future.
These Pro-Life Witnesses knew that a nine-man Supreme Court had no authority to create an unjust and immoral law that superceded God’s Law and our own Declaration of Independence. They were following in the footsteps of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
However, Gandhi’s and King’s movements were covered openly by the press and their witness won many supporters in the media. The secular, liberal media never accepted the goals of the United States Rescue Movement and therefore created a black-out of news about these actions.
Not only did they purposely not report on these peaceful demonstrations – they went out of their way to report on the confrontational aspects when the abortion industry developed training manuals for pro-death supporters to physically and verbally abuse people kneeling in prayer...
posted by Quintero at 10:53 AM
10 Comments:
In October 1998, I attended a Marian Conference in Rochester New York, where I had an opportunity to listen to father Norman Weslin speech "I knew You before I weaved you in your mother womb" (quotes scripture) not one day has gone by that I don't think of Father Weslin and his message. That day I was twice blessed: first to be in the presence of a Holy Man of God and and secondly to have this Man blessed my Rosary. I will remember you in my nightly Rosary forever! Friend! Father Weslin Keep doing what you are doing, and do not be afraid! FOR GOD IS AWESOME! and our time on earth is brief compared to the joys of eternity in heaven with our precious Lord. Sincerely Sister in Christ Jesus -Tyyger-
Dear Tygger,
Thank you very, very much for writing so nicely about the time you met Fr. Weslin and he blessed your rosary. What a treasure that is -- and it's a treasure that you pray for him and for the moms and babies.
priests and pastors shoul talk to their church members not the government about the morality of abortion. In my opinion the government has no business legislating on something that is a moral issue. abortion is something that has to be delt with by individuals according to their religious belifs and moral standars.
I served under Fr. Weslin when he was Capt. Weslin in the NY Air Defense Command. He was the finest officer I served under and one of the finest I ever met. He was very compassionate then and is deserving of our compassion now.
Dear Leo McSherry,
Thank you very, very much for your first-person testimonial about Fr. Norman Weslin being the finest officer you ever served under and being a compassionate man.
I'm writing this on May 16, 2009, not long after you made your kind and very helpful comment.
Today, the U. of Notre Dame had Fr. Weslin arrested for the second time in two days for being in a pro-life prayer demonstration.
Let's keep him in our prayers, as well as all the pro-lifers, the pro-life cause, and all babies whom the abortionists target.
Thank you again for writing. I'm going to quote you in a post I'll write today.
Dear Anonymous 4:51 p.m.,
Thank you for writing.
You're right that priests and pastors should talk to their parishioners about abortion.
But remember, priests and pastors have the same right as any other American to speak up in public.
And the thing is, there are laws against killing people after they are born. There should also be laws against killing people before they are born.
Lots of laws outlaw things that are against the Ten Commandments -- stealing, for instance. Should we legalize stealing because there is a Commandment against it?
The last time I saw Fr. Norman was over 20 years ago in the South Bronx when we were in formation together in Mother Teresa's priest branch of the Missionaries of Charity. I knew him as a genuine Catholic priest filled with love, courage and conviction. Seeing a TV clip of him arrested at Notre Dame yesterday confirms to me that 20 years later he continues to be a witness in the same way that early martyrs were witnesses of the faith. Though I moved on from the South Bronx to become a priest in a poor diocese in Peru 16 years ago I am inspired by seeing Fr. Norman again. I graduated from Notre Dame in 1980 and regret that the university is giving both a "platform and honor" to President Obama against the directive of the U.S. Catholic bishops. I am not surprised that most of the students there are "fine" with the administration's decision to honor the president, I was no pilar of faith as an easy going ND student either. But life and the Lord eventually ask you to make a stand to see what you are really made of, and I have been relentlessly pressed into service of the poor in Peru as a Catholic priest. I could not be happier (though I believe I would be very happy to be in that jail cell with Fr. Weslin tonight). But that is not my battle today, rather I baptized 56 amazing babes all living in dirt floor bamboo homes and married 20 couples too. Pretty normal fare week in and week out (www.santisimo.org). I am inspired by the heroic efforts of people like Fr. Norman Weslin because American Culture deserves more than a tolerant dismissal of the gravity of abortion. Peru will not have that evil even though President Obama is providing funding to groups that are trying to get abortion installed here. Peru is 90% Catholic and is one of the most blessed places in the world. It is poor but filled with a culture of life - no abortion, no capital punishment, limited access to firearms. Jesus, Mary, Eucharist, generosity, hope and forgiveness abound in the hearts of nearly everyone who is connected to the Catholic Church. I invite you to come and see, and I admire those who, like Fr. Norman, are doing what they can despite the suffering they endure to push the American culture to the kind of blessing that only comes to those who respect the teachings of Christ. Thank you for this very helpful blog on Fr. Norman. I am praying for him. - Rev. Joseph Uhen, Pastor Santisimo Sacramento Parish, Piura, Peru
Reverend and Dear Father Uhen,
I'm answering your comment of May 2009 on May 23, 2009. Thank you very much for writing!
And thank you very, very much for being a priest, and a missionary. I'm so glad to hear about your calling, your happiness, and the flock who are in your care.
May God bless and protect you and your flock in Peru and fill you every moment of every day with graces and guidance and help.
May everyone who visits this blogspot visit your web site:
www.santisimo.org
Thank you so much for testifying about Fr. Weslin and his goodness. It's clear that you were with him in spirit in the jail cell in South Bend.
Que Dios te bendiga, Padre.
Father Norman Weslin is my Great Uncle and he is a kind and loving soul
Dear Eliina Nicole,
Today is January 24, 2010, and I'm just now answering your e-mail about Fr. Weslin, your great-uncle.
Thank you so much for writing about him. For sure, everyone who has met Fr. Weslin or even just read about him knows that he is a kind and loving soul just as you say.
Thank you so much for defending and loving your great-uncle. I am so proud of him -- and of you.
God bless!
Post a Comment
<< Home