The cold sensation of blueberry smoothie slipping down my face and into my right ear was not something I had experienced while praying in front of Planned Parenthood before. And the large blue stains on my white sweater would be a permanent reminder to pray for the unborn.
Just a few minutes before, as we drove over to the abortion clinic, my 17-year old son and I had been talking about what it meant to suffer for one’s faith, how it would involve interior pain and sadness — the suffering of Christ. I had a fleeting sense that the words might be prophetic, but quickly squelched the thought.
There were seven of us on the sidewalk this Monday of Holy Week — six students and myself, praying and offering resources to Planned Parenthood clients. We were finishing our second Rosary when two teenage girls approached us and asked “Why do you do this?”
It was clear that they had a lot of anger, and something else — something I couldn’t pinpoint that felt more frightening than post-abortive rage. Snarky questions were unexpectedly followed by the hurling of two large smoothies at point blank range and my filing a police report.
What stood out was the serene and joyful attitude of our students. They stayed polite, refused to take the bait when faced with accusations and insults, and in typical teenage fashion posed for a goofy group photo – decorated with green and blue smoothie and holding “Pray to End Abortion” signs.
But as Holy Week wore on, flashes of the hate we had encountered kept coming back to me, along with a profound sadness — the suffering of Christ, shared.
“We are little flames poorly sheltered by frail walls against the storm of dissolution and madness, in which we flicker and sometimes almost go out.”
– All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
– Story by Monica Seeley
Yes keep praying for the unborn. End Abortion Now! Adoption is the option.
God bless these heroic Pro Life heroines. Hope the police catch the violent juvenile delinquents who threw the smoothies at them– they need to be punished.
When people are unwilling or unable to use words, they childishly resort to physical outbursts or force.
This shows the effectiveness of prayer and a peaceful pro-life witness, otherwise they would simply be ignored.
Wow she filed a police report over smoothies. Just looking for any excuse and wasting the police’s time. As if anything is going to come of filing that report. A man would not have filed a report over a smoothie. That’s such a female thing to do. A gay man prob would have filed a report because gay men are effeminate.
I don’t believe in throwing things at people but I would agree with you.
“Smoothie Battery” seems a bit silly.
Plus, let’s face it, a smoothie couldn’t have hurt that shirt too much.
A despicable comment. There are many forms of assault and violence–harming innocent people. What if these good Church ladies had been your beloved Wife, or your dear Mother– or your sister or your aunt? How would you feel? Those juvenile delinquents committed a senseless, aggressive, violent, disrespectful act to innocent victims! They must be punished! They should pay for all the clothes and other things that their smoothies ruined, and apologize– and be sentenced to hours of Community Service. You sound extremely hateful towards Church women working for a tremendously important cause– to save the lives of poor, helpless unborn children.
You give straight people a very bad name.
Battery is a crime in California; it includes throwing something on someone or spitting on someone. When do you think it should be reported?
When would you report something thrown on you?
If you were egg’d? If someone threw vomit on you? What if it were three large smoothies rather than two? Or a bowl of Wendy’s chili?
What crimes should not be reported?
And, I suspect her filing a police report was something she did, likely online. I doubt officers responded (unless they had reason to believe physical violence might escalate).
Certainly, this isn’t the crime of the century. Yet, it seems reasonable that law enforcement know about such, especially in light of the fact that it could escalate into something more serious.
I really do wonder how you would respond if two large smoothies, of any flavor, were thrown on you.
In the 1950s, I once saw a poor little girl get hurt badly, by a group of nasty older little boys, who ganged up on her suddenly, and threw mud at her on the playground– for no reason. The little girl cried and cried. She had on a nice dress and she wore glasses. She was little and shy. The teacher caught the nasty little boys and sent them to the Principal’s Office. They got a stern talk and a good spanking. Their parents were called and were told by the Principal about this terrible behavior. The nasty little boys got another spanking by their angry parents, and were made to apologize to the poor little girl. They all had to pay for the little girl’s ruined clothing, shoes and glasses. The Principal gave a good talk to all the children, about the Golden Rule, good behavior, and love and respect for others. Violence in any form is totally unacceptable in our society– especially to the vulnerable, and to women and little children.
When my mother was in high school, one Halliween, a group of bad kids (boys and girls) went and desecrated a local Catholic cemetery–vandalizing it severely– a very serious mortal sin. The next day, Nov. 1st, was All Saints’ Day. And Nov. 2nd, was All Souls’ Day. The cemetery was ruined for loved ones to go and pray for their beloved dead, with traditional Masses also said for Catholics’ deceased loved ones, on All Souls’ Day. The teenage vandals got in terrible trouble, and got kicked out of the two separate Catholic high schools for boys and girls. Their parents also disciplined the bad kids– and had to pay for the damages to the Catholic cemetery.
If I were the police chief I would file a thrown smoothie report in the circular file. That woman was out there just hoping something like that would happen so that she could feel righteous. Renee Good found out, so did this woman Monica Seeley. There is a type of woman who hopes to provoke a reaction because she gets a rush out of it. It’s thrill seeking. And attention seeking. Look how she is proud to post this story about how she “suffered for the faith”. I’m sure she’ll be telling this story for years at the prolife club and will probably keep the pictures on her phone to show people. Like someone said above, a man would have just brushed it off and probably kept quiet about it. Just whatev and laugh it off and then move on instead of dwell on it and talk about it.
Why was this evil comment accepted to be printed– on a Catholic site?’ Despicable! Real Catholic men love, appreciate and RESPECT good Church women, bravely enduring Satanic persecution and evil– while out doing GOD’S work to save the lives of helpless unborn children! A fine Catholic husband would file a police report ASAP and jump into action, to protect hiis beloved wife. A fine policeman would arrest the thugs ASAP and punish them for their disrespectful, Satanic act of evil. Policemen work with the community, and catch disrespectful evils of juvenile delinquents all the time– and try to set them straight. I have seen good policemen catch and scare the “you-know-what” out of juveniles doing nasty things in a neighborhood– and end the bad behavior. That is part of their job.
Read Monica Seeley’s perfectly explained reasoning (below).
These people throwing smoothies at people is complete lack of disrespect and definitely an assault to prevent them from peacefully praying for an end to the scourge of abortion. It’s a fundamental right that being attacked in this case. End Abortion Now! Adoption is an option.
To Daniel Gallup: there’s nothing wrong with people who have normal sexual inclinations from observing and stating the fact that homosexual males are effeminate. It’s not a stereotype. It’s a marker. And like was implied in the earlier comment that you seem to have taken offense at (for whatever reason), part of being effeminate is being easily slighted and making big deals out of small things. Every homosexual male I have had the displeasure to work or study with has been narcissistic to the point that people around them had to walk on eggshells not to commit a perceived slight or “microaggression” (LOL) lest the homosexual snap at them and go to HR to file a grievance for discrimination or harassment.
There is a difference between being effeminate and being feminine. Feminine is good, effeminate is not.
Nobody wants to hear your garbage, stupidity
and hatred of those who seem–to you– “effeminate.” Mind your own business.
Men who hate women are immature, medically abnormal and Satanically evil. Some of them end up committing horrific crimes on women.
To clarify— the smoothie was thrown directly at my head from close range, this wasn’t like having something tossed out of a car at me. And no, I didn’t have any intention of filing a police report or even calling the police at first. It was only when the two young women circled back and refused to stop harrassing us that I called the police because it seemed like they might become violent.
And even then, I filed the report only after being assured that the assailants would be ticketed at most. I didn’t want to overreact; but I also needed to send a message that their behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
Regarding your comment that we were provoking them– not sure where that came from, nor your reference to Renee Good. We were praying the Rosary. If you consider that to be provoking violence, sorry.
Attention seeking? I’m sorry you think that– it’s certainly not my intention. We pray on that sidewalk every single week and this kind of incident is very rare. I’m a writer; I report here on the experiences of pro-lifers doing sidewalk witness, prayer and counseling.
If you’re the kind of person who can cheerfully take smoothies being lobbed at your head without calling the police– awesome! Come join us on the sidewalk; sounds like you have a calling. But don’t fault me for protecting the students in my charge.
I look forward to the Blueberry Smoothie tossers to be “freshly squeezed” by the impartial jaws of Ventura County justice.
Thank you for standing for babies and their mothers.
And, don’t take anonymous critics too seriously.
Everyone must urge their CA State Assembly Member to vote “Yes” on AB 1628 and AB 2073, which expands the Safely Surrendered Baby Box Law, from 72 hours to 30 days after birth. The Baby Boxes are located at hospitals and fire stations.