No Sympathy from the Devil
Two Different Worlds at Two
Mommies Protest |
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Separated by a long police barrier,
two groups representing two different worlds assembled at
Davis Square on the frigid afternoon of Saturday, December
7, in Somerville, Mass. What was about to take place?
The Somerville Theater was about
to present a lesbian version of the Christmas story. We
had come to peacefully protest against what we considered
to be a most blatant mockery of the Holy Family. To our
knowledge, not even Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia had
gone so far.
The offending theater performance
was called Jesus Has Two Mommies, a portrayal that shows
the Child Jesus born to two lesbians, and thus mocks the
idea of the Virgin Birth, the virginity of Holy Mary, and
the traditional conception of the Holy Family. The “rock
opera” casts Mary and “Josephine” who carry
on a supposed affair at a lesbian bar.
The American Society for the Defense
of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its América
Needs Fatima campaign responded to the play with a nationwide
campaign of prayer and peaceful protest. The American TFP
asked 200,000 Catholics from across America to send protest
postcards to the Somerville Theater. Many also sent email
messages, letters, telephone calls, and faxes to express
their complete rejection of Jesus Has Two Mommies.
The TFP also organized our protest
in front of the theater. For those who could not make it
to Boston, the TFP website promoted an “e-rally”
where protesters from around the world sent emails to the
theater expressing their desire to be with the protesters
in spirit. Nearly 1,000 protesters sent in their protest
over the weekend.
Our Saturday afternoon prayer vigil
and rally of reparation in front of Somerville Theater marked
the conclusion of the campaign.
Protesters were pleased to know that
the campaign’s impact had influenced the producers’
decision to cancel the two showings on Friday night, December
6. Reduced ticket sales from the negative publicity prompted
promoters to ask the play’s fans to attend the Saturday
performances.
Anyone crossing Davis Square in
Somerville at 3 pm would have witnessed an intriguing sight.
Two very different groups were gathering at the same time.
They were separated by more than a stretch of asphalt. They
were separated by what seemed to be an infinite distance
that extends into eternity.
On one side of the square, under
the serene protection of Our Lady’s Pilgrim Virgin
Fatima Statue, there was 18-foot tall red and golden crusader
standard of the American TFP, with its heraldic lion. A
huge banner also displayed our rejection for the show. Around
the Blessed Mother, more than 120 devoted Catholics braved
the cold, praying the Rosary and singing hymns and carols
to honor the Infant Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St.
Joseph. Faithful America Needs Fatima members came from
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, New York,
Pennsylvania, and even Michigan.
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Across the street, about thirty people
gathered under a “rainbow flag,” and the flag
of equality (a flag with an equal sign). Besides obviously
pro-homosexual protesters, there were the normal smattering
of liberals and arts patrons that frequent such upscale
neighborhoods. Someone in favor of Jesus Has Two Mommies
inexplicably gathered signatures for a petiton against “hate.”
It was not clear what he meant by “hate” since
those praying and singing across the street were expressing
their love of God and His Mother and their desire that sinners
convert.
If anything was hateful, it was the
man who led the fans of Jesus Has Two Mommies. This
agitator was no novice in the art of propaganda. He knew
enough about the Catholic Church to know what would offend
the protesters.
In an attempt to highlight the impact
of his blasphemies and to discourage the protesters, this
agitator put on a hideous devil’s
mask. This tragic-comic gesture, however, did not diminish
the fervor of Our Lady’s children, nor did it do much
to inspire his own crestfallen followers.
While protesters prayed the rosary,
he shouted blapshemies against God, Our Lady and the Catholic
Church between Hail Mary’s with his bullhorn. In times
past, he would have immediately been arrested for public
obscenity and for breaking all boundaries of decency and
morality. He also screamed provokingly: “Give up, give
up! Your God is dead!” and “Jesus lost. Jesus
lost!”
However, some participants noticed
that he lost concentration when the Ave Maria was sung through
the TFP loudspeaker. In truth, his insults only increased
the fervor and devotion of those praying and singing hymns
of reparation. A six-year-old boy who attended the prayer
vigil with his family, later told his father “I think
the devil man is going to Hell. He has to stop. He has to
go away.”
Exhausting all his mockeries, this
imprudent man uttered the supreme challenge to God: “If
God is so powerful, may He strike me down right now!”
He acted as if he had the power to oblige Almighty God to
do his will, even if it be to destroy him! We know that
rarely does God intervene on earth in spectacular ways since
this would render our Faith meritless. That is why Our Lady’s
defenders, nourished by true Faith, ignored him. God has
an eternity to reward those who love Him and to punish those
who offend Him on this earth.
Frustrated by his ineffectiveness,
the agitator and his pro-homosexual followers disappeared.
The prayer vigil continued –
calmly and peacefully. It was dark and extremely cold at
the close of the TFP-led rally. After Catholics had finished
the fifteen decades of the Holy Rosary and sung many Christmas
carols, they lit candles and gathered to venerate the Infant
Jesus enthroned on a small bed of pine branches and decorated
with dozens of poinsettias. There in the silence of the
hostile public square the Christ Child was adored by fervant
souls. It was a beautiful moment.
The prayer vigil ended at the feet
of the Infant Jesus and Our Lady’s Pilgrim Virgin Statue.
It was one more victorious spiritual battle in the ongoing
struggle between the followers of Lucifer and the children
of Mary.
With ever greater fervor, the TFP
and America Needs Fatima members present vowed to renew
the spiritual crusade against blasphemy. The contrast between
the two opposing groups gave special meaning to the Bible
passage: "I will put enmities between thee and the
woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:13-15).
