Activities

Battle Report from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

By Kenneth Murphy
11th grade

Friday, May 19, 2006

The Academy staff and students held a Prayer Vigil/Protest in Lewisburg PA for three days: May 19-21. On the first day besides the eight of us from the Academy, there were about ten locals who joined us. The atmosphere had an active yet holy tone as prayers of reparation were said: the most Holy Rosary, litanies to the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Heart and St. Michael, as well as other pious prayers. Many who drove by gave us thumbs up or a friendly toot on the horn.

Reactions, however, were not as positive as they had been during the pre-protests in which we had participated. About half an hour into the vigil, counter-protesters appeared across the street. A few hooligans set up a speaker system and began reading the blasphemous DVC. Fortunately, the system did not work satisfactorily, so our prayers were not seriously disturbed. They also attempted to provide visual aides: they taped signs to the front of their building. One read, "Religion is the opiate of the masses," a famous line said by Marx and repeated by such notables as Lenin.

Unperturbed, the Academy held the TFP standard, the protest banner and ANF signs while praying resolutely. Occasionally brief debates took place, but for the most part the counter-demonstrators were ineffective. They kept their distance, like hyenas out of the reach of the lions.

As evening became night, and the vigil came to a close, there were some vain attempts to disturb us with even lewdness, but by the grace of Our Lady, we finished with dignity and verve.

Saturday, May 20

Foreseeing perhaps greater opposition, on the next evening we brought a reinforcement of Academy staff and students, bringing our total to 24. This number includes the brave souls from local parishes. Our increased numbers enabled us to unfurl a second standard of the TFP, one on either side of the theater’s marquee.

Again the counter-demonstrators across the street contented themselves with mocking the protest from a distance. The oafs added another speaker, but with little gain.
In between prayers of reparation, we would shout slogans such as, “If you love God, keep His commandments.” Once, after this slogan was proclaimed, a counter-demonstrator hollered back, “We don’t [love God]!”

Many youth were on the street that night. Carloads of them drove by, some shouting things such as “666” and “Satan” as they drove past. Nevertheless, the positive support was comparable to the previous night. One notable example was a van that passed by with a lady in the passenger seat. When she realized what we were doing, she put her head out the window and cried, “Thank you so much for doing this!” while visibly moved.
Lewisburg is a tourist trap, and directly across the street from us was a restaurant called “Elizabeth's” for somewhat wealthy people, apparently without a care in the world. They had to wait on the sidewalk until the restaurant had openings and unwittingly were caught in the middle of the fray. It would seem their night was ruined because their thoughts inevitably approached a topic far from their minds: religion. Perhaps it disgusted them to think of something other than themselves and their “comfort zone.” Some of them hated what we were doing so much that they actually cheered the counter-protesters reading the DVC.

Thus ended another glorious act of Faith and reparation to console the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Sunday, May 21

The protest began as usual at 6:00 PM with about 24 brave hearts once more. To add a more solemn note, we sang the Creed at the beginning of the Rosary.

As expected the opposition began their usual tactic of trying to disrupt the protest by reading the Da Vinci Code over the speaker system. However, it worked better than the previous two nights and was much more disturbing. Unflinchingly, we began to pray/shout the rosary with more conviction, until once again the speakers were relegated merely to background noise.

They taped more signs to the front of the house and held some facing the traffic. One read: Why don’t you protest a real issue? We wondered why they were counter-protesting if it were such a “non-issue.” At a certain point, a university student walked up to them. He looked familiar, but as they spoke we could not hear the dialogue. After talking with the opposition for a little while, he walked over to where they had provided material for signs. He read, “Make your signs here,” so he picked up a marker and a sheet of paper and quickly made one: “What is a bigger issue than God Who is on high.” He then crossed the street and held it up for the opposition to see. This was the first of a series of humiliations for them. When they saw his sign they took their own down, defeated by their own “clever trick”.

While we were praying a rosary they sent over a “man” to engage in debate. What do you know, he singled out the youngest person there to confront – how manly! However, a twelve-year-old son of Our Lady has all the strength of his Queen behind him and was giving the rotten son of the devil a serious run for his money. Of course, others immediately stepped in to help, and the “man” retreated across the street.

Our Lady then intervened in a manner that was totally amazing, leaving her enemies humiliated and dumbfounded. We had just finished praying a litany to St. Michael and had started the St. Michael prayer when a police officer pulled up to the curb where we were standing. As he opened his car door, we thought, “We’re going to have trouble.” But then he closed it again and drove over to the other side of the street. Without a bit of hesitation, he jumped out of the car and went straight to where they were reading the DVC and said emphatically, “That’s it! Wrap it up!” He ended their show in an instant. Just like that. The man who was reading the DVC instantly stopped speaking and tried to reply, but the officer didn’t waste time. Everybody who was counter-demonstrating just watched in astonishment and shock. In their pride they continued reading the book without the speaker, but nothing could be heard over the prayers coming from our side. They continued briefly and then retreated back into the house, with their “tails between their legs.” Slowly they disappeared from the street until the TFP standard flew unopposed on Market Street. Our Lady had smashed the serpent and the silence that filled the street was like an exorcism in itself. All that could be heard voices raised in prayer.

Of course the devil soon retaliated and “somebody” complained to the police that we were too loud. The officer returned and asked us to tone it down a notch or two. Unwittingly, we had continued praying as though the speakers were still blaring, so at his orders we immediately quieted down. In a low voice he told us that he really liked what we were doing and that he would join us when he got off duty, if he did not have to go to a prayer service elsewhere.

The third “Ipsa Conteret” (She shall crush) of the day came as the devil, sore and confused, tried to disrupt the protest again. Again Our Lady defeated him and sent him, totally humiliated, fleeing back to hell. An middle-aged man had previously mocked the Hail Mary as he entered the theater. In a certain silent moment he figured the time was ripe to strike. In the middle of the movie, he came out of the theater saying that he had been educated by the Jesuits and on and on. After his “credentials” were clear, that he explained how he was convinced that we were “the incarnation of the modern Inquisition.” Of course, we did not shrink back in horror as he wished, but instead ensued in a debate where he noisily challenged us to pray the Hail Mary in Latin – big mistake. The gentleman who had been leading the rosary turned to the students of the academy and said in a loud voice, “If anybody here knows the Hail Mary in Latin please recite it.” At that, 18 eager voices responded simultaneously: “Ave Maria gratia plena…” The elderly man was defeated and had nothing to say except to hurl insults. As he attempted to jeer more after the Ave, the Salve Regina was intoned. The humiliation was too much, so he retreated back into the theater. Our Lady had again smashed the head of the serpent. Thankful to her intercession, the protestors prayed another rosary and then ended the protest with the usual three Hail Marys and the proclamation of our ideals: Tradition Family, Property