|
Financial Assistance requested
John Paul issues
strong rebuke
of ‘false morality’
Pontiff calls on U.S. Catholics
to shun birth control,
battle abortion
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press Writer Mobile Register, Sunday - 15 August 1993
DENVER — Pope John Paul II issued an uncompromising declaration of church principles Saturday, summoning Catholics to shun artificial birth control, battle abortion and euthanasia and reject “widespread false morality.”
The Roman Catholic Church leader also raised the issue of sexual abuse by U.S. priests. He acknowledged victims’ suffering while saying the primary response is prayer.
“America needs much prayer — lest it lose its soul,” he said in an afternoon speech at McNichols Sports Arena during the third day of his four-day visit to the United States.
As he waded into issues such as birth control and abortion that have caused strains between U.S. Catholics and the Vatican, the pope said that “polarization and destructive criticism have no place” within the church.
Saturday night, in remarks to be delivered to more than 170,000 youths who converged on a state park for a prayer vigil, the pontiff lashed out at the “slaughter of the innocents,” destruction of the environment, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, pornography, sexual disorder and violence.
After the prayer vigil, tens of thousands of youths were to spend the night at Cherry Creek State Park to wait for a papal Mass marking World Youth Day. Up to half a million people were expected at the Mass.
At least 20,000 people walked a 14-mile pilgrimage from downtown Denver to the park on Saturday, and at least 500 fell ill, mostly from dehydration. Two suffered heart attacks, and about 50 were hospitalized, authorities said.
At the sports arena, the pope acknowledged that the U.S. church has been tainted by sex scandals and said he shared the concerns of U.S. bishops for the “pain and suffering” caused by some priests’ sins.
His reference to victims drew loud applause from the crowd of 18,000 Denver Catholics and representatives of other churches.
The pontiff stopped short of endorsing specific punishment for offenders, however.
Critics have attacked the church for failing to expel offenders from the priesthood. The pope has appointed a panel of Vatican and U.S. church officials to study the problem amid reports of at least 400 cases of sexual abuse by U.S. priests.
The below article followed the first couple of paragraphs of
the above article at the top of the right hand column
of page one of the Mobile Register on Sunday,
August 15, 1993, the feast of the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.
Priest says killing
abortion doctors
‘justifiable homicide’
By PARKER HOLMES
Religion Editor
©1993, the Mobile Press Register Sunday - 15 August 1993
A Catholic priest sat behind his desk in Magnolia Springs and pulled out a drawing on a sheet of paper.
It’s an advertisement that shows a doctor about to perform an abortion, and a man with a gun about to shoot the doctor. Two words accompany the drawing: “Justifiable Homicide.”
The ad was designed by the Rev. David Trosch, head of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Magnolia Springs, about 45 minutes south of Mobile.
“If 100 doctors need to die to save over 1 million babies a year, I see it as a fair trade,” Trosch said in an interview Friday at the church rectory. This is a view he has never shared with his Diocese.
Trosch attempted to run the ad in the Mobile Press Register last week, but the newspaper refused.
Trosch’s feelings about abortion already were strong, and were intensified by the shooting last March of Dr. David Gunn outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola.
Michael Griffin, who was accused of killing the doctor, has said he acted in the name of God.
The shooting outraged much of the country, with most anti-abortion and religious groups condemning the killing.
But Trosch didn’t share that sentiment.
“Michael Griffin has used a method which is unfortunate, to say the least, but I can’t go against him for doing it.”
Trosch is an intense man with a serious, unchanging expression on his face, and a man with an unchanging issue on his mind — abortion.
For the moment, Trosch says, he has no plans to kill a doctor himself. He has “only remotely” thought about it, he said.
“It’s not part of a role of a priest normally to do such a thing,” he said. “It’s not my calling, you might say. My profession is a teaching profession, essentially.”
Still, Trosch wouldn’t say with absolute certainty he’d never kill a doctor.
While Trosch said he has never told anyone else to kill a doctor, he casually acknowledged that the advertisement could have incited people to kill.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said.
Killing a doctor is justifiable, Trosch claims, if the killer is trying to save the life of babies. That is a defensible position, he contends. It’s like killing a criminal before he kills you or your friend. Or it’s like killing people in wartime to serve a greater good.
However, if the motive is pure vengeance, he said, that’s wrong.
Trosch, 57, moved to Mobile after he was ordained in 1983 and always has been known for his hard-core, anti-abortion position.
A Chicago native, he lived in California where he was in private business before deciding to enter Holy Apostles Seminary in Connecticut.
Those who know Trosch have described him as opinionated, unyielding and ultra-conservative. But even his colleagues were unaware of his current mind set and the advertisement.
They were stunned.
“I’m shocked. I’m angry. I’m ashamed that a priest would have something to do with this,” said the Rev. Alex Sherlock, pastor of St. Pius X Catholic Church.
Sherlock himself is opposed to abortion, as Catholic doctrine teaches, but he would never advocate killing a doctor.
Trosch’s thinking in no way represents Catholic teaching, Sherlock said.
“It’s an extreme response on his part,” said the Rev. John Aherne, vicar general and pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Semmes. “It’s not at all in the spirit of Catholicism.”
The Rev. David Trosch, a Catholic priest in Magnolia Springs, has produced an advertisement showing a man about to shoot an abortion doctor.
Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb was in Denver for the pope’s World Youth Day and was unavailable for comment.
There’s no doubt Trosch represents a minority opinion.
The question now is whether this viewpoint will become more popular. After all, anti-abortion forces are facing a presidential administration devoted to protecting abortion rights.
Many feared Gunn’s death would trigger others to support killing doctors. Indeed, it was Gunn’s death that caused Trosch to first consider killing as a justifiable position.
Trosch has became active in the anti-abortion movement when he formed Life Enterprises Unlimited, an anti-abortion clinic in the Downtowner Loop area.
Life Enterprises Unlimited operated an office in Mobile until 1990, Trosch said. The organization did everything from picket abortion clinics to counsel pregnant women. Dwindling finances forced it to close.
He’s the only member of the organization now, though he says several people still contribute financially to help mail anti-abortion literature and such. He wouldn’t identify other people involved. Also, Trosch says he’s not a member of any other anti-abortion organization.
Trosch is on a one-man mission.
Even when he was in Mobile as the associate pastor of several churches, he was described as a loner.
The bishop moved him to four different churches between 1983 and 1990. He served at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1990, just before moving to Magnolia Springs.
Trosch said he wanted to run the ad to grab people’s attention and to “create awareness of what exactly is going on, and to help people anticipate ... what could happen in the future.”
Currently, he’s attempting to find other publications that will run the ad. He also has drafted an anti-abortion letter he plans to sent to President Clinton, Congress, newspapers nationwide and government officials.
The letter states, “The killing of Dr. Gunn can only be termed a ‘Justifiable Homocide’ which is a legal defense throughout the United States.”
Indeed, Trosch has even written a letter offering to help in Griffin’s defense during the upcoming trial. He has compiled a list of Bible passages he thinks supports Griffin’s position. But he hasn’t received a response.
The congregation at St. John’s knows Trosch is vehemently opposed to abortion. Yet he hasn’t told it about the ad, nor has he preached about killing doctors. Trosch has, however, broached the subject in a Bible study class.
Some of his congregation support Trosch and his ad.
“In a case like Griffin’s, it seems (the killing) was necessary,” said Jeannie Collins, a church member.
“I feel in my mind that this man (Griffin) was trying to save babies. This is one time when you have a right to kill someone,” said Terri Russell, another church member. Other church members feel differently.
“I completely disagree with him (Trosch),” said Bette Dowsey, “and I have told him so.” She thinks most of the congregation would oppose killing a doctor.
Trosch knows his position may get him into trouble. He knows his ad and letters will be opposed by the bishop and his fellow priests. But he’s willing to suffer the consequences.
He has no doubt that he’s right, he said.
“I would not call myself an extremist at all,” Trosch said. “I’d say that I’m someone who has a clear understanding of a positive relationship with God and what it takes to get into heaven.”
It’s not enough for people to simply say they’re opposed to abortion, Trosch said. They must actively do something, such as picketing and writing letters.
Ideally, Trosch believes that abortion doctors should be rounded up, tried in court and executed.
But the way the country is headed, that’s unlikely to happen — which is the very reason the country is going to see more violence, he said.
Anti-abortion activists, he said, are “fed up with getting no place.”
“In a relatively short period of time, there will be a sufficient number of people who will have picked up on what Michael Griffin has done and start a national — perhaps an international — holocaust. Everything is in position for it to happen,” he said.
“Even if only 1 percent of the population takes the position I do, you’re talking about 2.5 million people. And with 2.5 million people, you’re going to have many who are like Michael Griffin.
“It’s just a question of time before they become activated.”
Life Graphics Birth Control and NFP Index
Copyright © 1993-99 by Fr. David C. Trosch - All Rights Reserved
HOME
E-MAIL:  Editor
Document provided as a service of:
LIFE ENTERPRISES UNLIMITED
(A 501-c-3 Non-Profit Organization)
P. O. Box 850307
Mobile, AL 36685
U. S. A.
|