The abortion protesters are back.
Kurt Linneman and Walter Hunt first interacted with the school when they represented the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) of Maryland by displaying graphic images of aborted fetuses on East Churchville Road, at the entrance to JC, on Sept. 2.
The original article may be read here.
According to Linneman, the pro-life picketing was a part of CBR Maryland’s 2011-2012 School Project (SP). According to Defend Life, “the purpose of SP is education.” After enduring what Linneman viewed as “the wrath and condemnation of Mrs. Ball [sic] and seven other administrators,” he published a story on his experience in Defend Life’s Sept.-Oct. newsletter.
Both O’Hara and Ball were skeptical of Linneman’s article. “I don’t trust him,” Ball said.
According to Linneman, he was “berated and challenged both theologically and philosophically by the cadre of staff members.”
Ball thinks otherwise. “They really threw us under the bus. We simply tried to reason with the men. There was no violence. We simply were trying to talk them into moving to another location,” Ball said.
O’Hara explains his distrust is because of Linneman’s use of “very extremist, hyperbolic language to vilify JC.”
O’Hara sent a letter to Linneman in response to the article. O’Hara was “writing to defend the good name of The John Carroll School, its administration, faculty and staff, parents, and students.” In this letter, O’Hara explains, “it was neither you nor your message to which we objected; it was your methods…Your method obviously served to stir up primarily negative reactions, to polarize, and in some cases, to frighten.”
Member of the Respect Life Club sophomore Jessica Clingerman agrees. “If you’re going to show something graphic, you should get permission first. For some people, the blood is just too much,” Clingerman said.
Clingerman further states that “I was in disbelief that they were so surprised by our reaction. Even someone that has seen an aborted fetus before is shocked to see that.”
O’Hara also views some of the article as baseless. O’Hara wrote to Linneman: “On what basis, for instance, do you assert that ‘CBR Maryland knows that once a person sees the images of an aborted baby, they will never think of abortion in the same way again’? Is there research that supports your conclusion?”
“I just felt the school’s good name was being impugned, starting with the fact that they incorrectly referred to us as ‘Carroll High.’ I thought [the article] was rather self-serving, slanted, limited in its perspective,” O’Hara said.
“The strength of the sentiments of the staff also made us feel like Steven, the first martyr in the early Christian Church; they hated our presence and our message,” Linneman said.
In contrast, in his letter, O’Hara states, “We are Catholic and we are pro-life as an institution. We teach our young people the Church’s position on abortion, war, capital punishment, social justice, and other significant issues of this and any time.”
Ball agrees. “There is no report in terms of the good that we do in teaching about abortion…I did not feel the protesters knew very much about Catholic school education on this,” she said.
O’Hara made many things clear in his letter. “I share your belief in protecting and loving the unborn and all those in our world who are helpless, vulnerable, shunned, and disenfranchised, regardless of their age. That is what the Lord asked us to do. As an educator and as the head of my school, I am also committed to protecting the students of John Carroll,” O’Hara said.
Adam Kuester is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.