The Picket That Didn't Happen..

Because the reason for it apparently disappeared!!  Click the "read more" to get further details!


As you know, the dinner announced by the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service to honor volunteers was scheduled to occur this evening at the St Francis Hall of the Franciscan Monastery.  We objected to their reprehensible choice of speaker - Chris Matthews.  We've said enough on that in previous posts. 

Having received no assurances of its cancellation, we arrived at the Monastery.  We appeared to be the only ones who arrived.  One of us went to the front door of St Francis Hall to find it locked.  Looking inside, she could see that nothing was ready; chairs were still stacked, etc.  We waited until 6:50 and still no one arrived: no staff, caterers, no one.

I suspect they simply relocated to another venue.  The attendees had to pre-register, so it's conceivable that they were told to go elsewhere.  I know for a fact that CNVS visited this blog and learned from previous postings that we were serious about picketing this event.

Below is a clip that I took while at the Monstery.  In it I misspoke when I said that the dinner was "to honor Chris Matthews".  In fact, he was not the honoree; rather, volunteers and the BB&T were the main honorees.  However, to have invited Matthews to speak was to confer on him a status that, in our opinion, he did not merit from a Catholic organization.  Now the video: (Click here if you can't see embedded videos)



We were pleased that the Monastery wasn't befouled after all (and hope that they didn't repair to another Catholic venue).  I did prepare a flyer that obviously didn't get distributed.  I'll now present the text of the message below.


First, we commend all who are here because they volunteer their services in Catholic and/or other humanitarian charitable outreaches. Those of us who are Catholic understand that the authentic charitable endeavor is one that is rooted in the various Works of Mercy: both Corporal and Spiritual. We also know that while one or few of these works may be emphasized in a particular endeavor, in no case can these works be held in contradiction to each other.


Catholic volunteer efforts are usually directed to service of those who are marginalized and with no voice of their own. Perhaps your particular outreach is for the benefit of unborn children, who are obviously the smallest and most defenseless of people. Such is the case with those of us who protest the appearance of Chris Matthews at this function this evening.


We have, in the past few weeks, protested the appearance of Chris Matthews at this event. Mr. Matthews, through his advocacy of the so-called “pro-choice” position, has in fact undermined the efforts of so many Catholic volunteers who seek to save babies from being butchered vis-à-vis the legalized murder known as “abortion”. From the Catholic Network of Volunteer Services we received no reply, although they have read our blog postings on this matter. From the Franciscan Monastery, the responses we received ranged from claims of ignorance to disavowal of responsibility for the usage of St Francis Hall.


On the back of this sheet (note: I've posted them on this blog) is a sampling of some of the pro-abortion comments that Matthews has made over the years. Moreover, to see the disgraceful way in which he treated Bishop Tobin when the latter was simply doing his duty as a bishop, google “Chris Matthews Bishop Tobin” and watch any of the “youtubes” that come up.


While Mr. Matthews does have the right to speak his mind (as do any of us), he should not be given a Catholic forum in where to vindicate his dissident beliefs.