Mass and Prayer Protested and Obstructed in Lower Manhattan

Around noon on Saturday, outside the back door of Old St. Patrick’s Basilica in lower Manhattan, a slim young woman with a modest, long, frilly dress and round sunglasses stood with a single rose and a handwritten sign “God F***Ing LOVES Abortion.” Love was underlined twice.

There was a P.S. to her sign: “God is def. trans.” She ended the second message with a hand-drawn heart.

That was a haunting end to the morning, capturing the depths of woundedness on display in protests to our monthly Witness to Life for the month of July. (It’s organized by the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of New York and Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.) This has been going on for about 15 years. In the last year, especially (but it would happen pre-COVID as well), We’ve gotten used to people protesting our prayer. Increasingly, too, we’ve gotten used to human blockages as we simply process the block across the street from Planned Parenthood where we pray the Rosary.

When the abortion supporters don’t make trouble, there is little spectacle. But these past few months there has been outright obstruction. On Saturday, they started their chants outside as Mass was beginning: “God loves abortion.” “Pro-Life is anti-life, you don’t care if women die.”

This month they discovered the back door to the church, and so attempts to circumvent the people blocking the front of the church failed for an hour or so, as the police eventually threatened to arrest anyone who was blocking pedestrian traffic. Slowly, things started to move — as the other crowd remained outside the Church chanting — “F*** the Church, F*** the State, people must decide their fate.” Eventually, the procession made it to their spot across from Planned Parenthood, only to be yelled at. A dozen or so people who came to pray had taken a different route and had been across from Planned Parenthood praying for the hour and a half or so while the procession was eventually inching its way to the dark block.

I suspect the prayer protesters are happy they made the Witness more difficult than it ought to be. And neighbors generally make known what side they are on. (“I have to donate $500 to Planned Parenthood today,” one of the more civil ones said, walking past the vigil. We’re encouraged not to engage or I would have pointed out they are doing fine with abortion on the increase in NY, as Governor Kathy Hochul has announced the state as an abortion destination.)

There was considerable news interest and coverage of the Witness in May, presumably because of the draft leak of the Dobbs draft opinion. Not so much this weekend, the first Witness since Roe was overturned. Many of the signs and chants — if they weren’t explicitly about socialism — were overwrought considering New York is already the abortion capital of the country, even as California, New Jersey, and others contend for the title. Abortion isn’t going away here.

During the May Witness, a performance artist simulated an abortion and carried on to the delight of the protesters, as we chose to cooperate with the police, who said they could not ensure our protection. (This was the day before Mother’s Day, with threatened protests in churches, so it seemed the prudent thing to do.) I can only help but think that what we were surrounded by Saturday does not represent the tone of most Americans who consider themselves pro-choice. Many of the chants and signs reflect people enthusiastic about abortion. At some points, you would hear shrieking. At times the streets of protest sounded hellish. Only the Devil — who relishes mothers being pitted against their unborn children — would want the misery of abortion wrecks on human hearts, bodies, minds, and souls to increase.

There was a man in black with a drum wearing a t-shirt that read “Unf*** the World.”

Another t-shirt on a man charmingly said: “F*** F***ING F***.”

A sign designed like a city parking hours sign insisted: No Forced Birth.”

“Abolish SCOTUS Not Abortions. A woman wore a t-shirt that at least on the back said “F*** your abortion ban.”

A young man held a sign that read “Give HER liberty or give us DEATH.”

“Free abortion on demand – Women’s Liberation Through Socialist Revolution!

“Regulate your F***ING D***.”

A banned printed that was part of the blockade for a long while read: “Nothing less than free abortion on demand.”

A Hispanic woman held a handwritten sign that said: “You’re Pro-Life Until the Baby is…Poor, Trans, Gay, Black, Mexican, Disabled, Sick. F***-Off…”

“If abortion is murder then [that’s how it was spelled] a blowjob is cannibalism.”

And then there was the woman with a pizza box, communicating that she wants “a fresh pizza and abortion without apology.”

You get the idea.

That dear woman in the frilly dress — I cannot believe she knows what she’s saying with her sign. There were such depths of pain on display Saturday morning — and every time I’ve been present for the protesting of this prayerful witness. And I participate as an act of penance — we’ve failed the girls and women and men who cheer for abortion. I pray we can come to rally around moms.

Instead of giving $500 to Planned Parenthood, which has the support of Hollywood and big business, consider giving to the Sisters of Life. Their Visitation Mission receives pregnant women and mothers and walks with them for a lifetime. At another mission, they welcome pregnant women and moms into their home. They are the ones who are actually about choice – the choice not to be pressured into believing a pregnancy is an inconvenience to have ended. They are love in the world today and we can all learn from them. And they don’t have the financial backing of Hollywood and big business. (A donation button is here.)