Upset over the October 8 statement from Dallas and Fort Worth Bishops that called a vote for a pro-choice candidate "morally impermissible," the folks at Catholics for Change made good on their pledge to protest outside the Catholic Diocese of Dallas for a second straight Wednesday afternoon.
As the midday downpour blew by, yesterday's happening drew seven -- yes, seven -- sign-toting Catholics to the corner of Blackburn Street and Oak Lawn Avenue, where the "non-partisan group of faithful, committed Catholics" waved at passing cars with signs like "Proud Catholic for Obama" and "Obama the real pro life candidate."
The group says they'll be out protesting every Wednesday afternoon from 4:30 to 6 p.m. until the election, demanding ... what, exactly? Their online petition calls for Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell to "reconsider and retract his pastoral letter," though Mack Hall, who shuffled out to the street corner with a sign taped to his walker, concedes, "apologizing isn't something Bishops do much of."
Nicole LeBlanc, one of the group's founders, says she just wants an audience with the Diocese to discuss the choice to read the politically charged statement during Mass -- something nobody in the church seemed too interested in doing, until the story caught traction on the Interwebs and in the media. Now, LeBlanc says, the Diocese has said they'll meet with the group after all ... sometime in November. So, for now, the protesters will keep on telling it to the rush-hour traffic.
Some probably wondered what the hell Prosperity Bank (on the corner between the Diocese and Holy Trinity Church) had done to get these people so angry. Some drivers honked approvingly as they passed, while others were less favorable. "You remember the hecklers," says the group's other co-founder Phillip Archer. "They weren't very, shall we say, Christian in their tone."
"Last week, we had one lady cursing and screaming at us -- and I know her," LeBlanc says. "She goes to my church." --Patrick Michels