The signs are everywhere; on front lawns, in coffee-shop windows, on the doors of campus ministry offices.
“All Are Welcome.”
“Hate Has No Home Here.”
“Love is love.”
These are catchy phrases that often prove false. These slogans don’t apply the moment a young man in a red sash unfurls a banner for the unborn or supports traditional marriage. Then, claws come out, and the warm and fuzzy welcome disappears. Hate surfaces and love disappears.
The Guest List
The examples below document this behavior.
Young Catholics with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property Student Action (TFP-Student Action) held a prayerful pro-life event outside Johns Hopkins University. A woman approached with a can of black spray paint and ruined their signs, banner and clothing. Her message was not “all are welcome.” It was “Get off my campus!”
The campus welcome-all committee, it turns out, had a guest list and TFP Student Action was not on it.
Volunteers from TFP-Student Action stood on the public sidewalk outside Georgetown University’s Healy Gates to defend the institution of the family. Students tried to drive them away. A member of the theology department ordered them to leave. A man spat at a volunteer. A woman with a bullhorn screamed obscenities inches from one young man’s face. Another protester shouted, “I hate all of you for doing this!”
That was at a Catholic Jesuit university, which prides itself for its inclusivity.
Outside of Saint Ignatius of Loyola church in Manhattan, where Father James Martin celebrated Mass as part of a pro-LGBT “pilgrimage.” A liberal catholic yelled “all are welcome” suggesting that the Catholic Faith welcomes unnatural vice.
As young Catholics, obedient to Church teaching, prayed on the sidewalk the parish called the police. “All are welcome” did not apply to them.
The Welcome Committee
At Gettysburg College a student tried to snatch a sign that read “Smile! You survived abortion!” A TFP video documented counter-protesters shouting “You should all have been aborted!” and “I am pro-murder.”
A student quoted in the campus paper called the counter-protest “very peaceful” and said it “brought the campus together.” Together apparently meant being in opposition to the TFP who opposed their warped view of abortion.
At Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, a man shoved a 16-year-old volunteer, and mocked those praying the rosary with a Nazi salute. Another abortion supporter struck a volunteer in the chest. The reasoning offered was “Men shouldn’t speak on abortion.”
The Original “Welcome”
This violent behavior against those who defend moral principles is not new but very old.
Pontius Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Barabbas and the God-Man. The first one was a man thrown into prison for insurrection and murder (Luke 23:19). On the other side, stood Our Lord Jesus Christ, who had healed the sick, fed the hungry and taught sound moral doctrine by word and example.
The crowd was very welcoming.
It welcomed Barabbas.
For the one Who had only done good, they had two words: “Crucify Him.”
These modern slogans work the same way. The mob welcomes every lifestyle, grievance, redefinition of marriage, “gender” identification. Barabbas has always been welcome.
Who is not welcome is the one who says a child in the womb is a person with rights. Also rejected are those who claim marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Still others face rejection for saying sin is sin or that Christ is King.
Read the Fine Print
That is why “everyone is welcome” is not an invitation but a lie.
If the slogan were true, a group of polite young Catholic men defending the traditional doctrines of the Catholic Church with a banner and a rosary would be the easiest guests in the world to welcome. Instead, they are met with violence, spit, shoves, nails and spray paint.
So, the next time you see the sign, read it carefully.
“All Are Welcome.”
Barabbas certainly was.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, and those who carry His banner, must wait outside the gate.
See it for yourself: Watch these footnoted attacks on young pro-life Catholics from TFP Student Action, then decide who really believes that everyone is welcome.
