Back to the August 2003 Newsletter Index

Protesters picket Townsend speech

Local pro-lifers refused to roll over and play dead in June when they learned that yet another blatantly pro-abortion public figure was scheduled to give the com­mencement address at a Catholic school.

They first attempted to persuade Headmistress Sr. Anne Dyer bye mail, phone and letter that Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was not a good choice for graduation speaker at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda.

As Defend Life columnist Janet Baker explained in an e-mail rallying the pro-life troops, "Ms. Townsend ran for governor embracing an open, unabashed pro-abortion position as part of her campaign.

"In so doing, she acted in direct, deliberate disobedience to the Catholic Church.      What business does she have addressing Catholic girls?"

Two weeks before the June 11 commencement at the girls' school, says Janet, "I told Sister Dyer [by e-mail] that there would be a picket if Ms. Townsend spoke."

But when verbal protests failed to persuade the headmistress to cancel the controversial speaker, over 20 pro-lifers lined Cedar Drive in protest.

Three Montgomery County police officers and two parked patrol cars, lights flashing, stood watch at the stone-gated entrance as guests and graduates drove in, gaping at the sign-carrying protesters.

The pro-lifers, many of whom are regular Rosary prayers or sidewalk. counselors at area abortion mills, carried hand-printed signs with messages such as, "Shame on Stone Ridge; KKT is pro-abortion," "KKT -Bad role model for Catholic youth," "Stop coddling abortion supporters," and "Fawning over abortion-rights advocate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is not what Catholics expect from Catholic institutions."

Reaction varied from screamed obscenities and extended middle fingers (one by a boy about 10 years of age) to smiles, "thumbs­up" and "V for victory" signs.

But the predominant reaction from the well-dressed attendees was, sadly, "mostly indifference," said protester Dick Retta.

Dick and three other pro-lifers had conducted a mini-protest outside the school four days earlier to coincide with a scheduled administrative meeting.

On graduation night, five pro-abortionists held "Keep abortion legal" and other signs as a counter-protest.        

Stone Ridge alumnus.They were roundly heckled by pro-lifer Albert Stecklein ill, who protest, shouted, "Are you Catholic? If you are, you are not in good standing.  Every time you receive Communion you commit sacrilege!"  

Media coverage of the pro-life protest was heavy, with reports on Washington and Baltimore radio stations and in the Baltimore Sun and  Washington Post.        

The Post reported that the "will give them cause for pause," former Maryland lieutenant-governor was an alumnus of Stone Ridge, but incorrectly stated that none of the protesters was affiliated with the school.

Protestor Olga Fairfax is a Stone Ridge alumnus.

Assessing the impact of the protest, organizer Janet Baker says, "I think that it let people know we aren't going to sit by and suffer in silence any more."

"There will be an outcry now and in the future" when Catholic schools host pro-abortion speakers.

Perhaps the protest of a bevy of sign-carrying protesters "will give cause for pause," says Janet.

"If people won't do the right thing for the right reason, maybe they'll do the right thing for the wrong reason!"