Catholic Priest and 86 Pro-Lifers Still Face Criminal Charges for Praying at Notre Dame

Thomas Brejcha, Esq.

Interview with ND88 defense attorney Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society

Nineteen months after pro-abortion president Obama was honored at the University of Notre Dame, criminal charges are still being leveled against dozens of dedicated pro-lifers who peacefully prayed on campus.

Why is the case still unresolved?  Why would a Catholic university apparently so fond of “dialogue” allow good pro-lifers, including Fr. Norman Weslin, Alan Keyes and Norma McCorvey, to be legally harassed month after month?  Does Fr. John Jenkins even care?

Pro-life attorney Tom Brejcha, president of the Thomas More Society, kindly explains how the case is moving forward.  

TFP: Why are the pro-lifers, known as the ND88, still facing charges?

Tom Brejcha: There are now 87 defendants, as one of them has died from cancer since the arrests that occurred in May 2009.  While some few among the 87 have opted to accept the prosecution's offer for "pretrial diversion," requiring payment of court costs of several hundred dollars and a commitment to perform so many hours of "community service," the greater number of the defendants believe that they are innocent of any wrongdoing and, indeed, that accepting anything short of vindication -- either by dismissal of the charges or by acquittal after a full-blown jury trial -- would amount to an implicit confession of wrongdoing and a betrayal of the cause which drove them to go to Notre Dame to bear peaceable, prayerful witness to the sanctity of all innocent human life, from conception until natural death.

Since 2009, the proceedings have continued apace in St. Joseph County Criminal Court.  We have undertaken "discovery" proceedings, taking depositions from Notre Dame security personnel and its recently fired vice president of residence life who had general oversight over security matters.  The latter deposition has been continued until a future date, as we are asking the Court to direct that questions be answered which the former executive declined to answer, expressing concern that Notre Dame would insist on confidentiality.

Fr. Norman Weslin was arrested at Notre Dame in 2009 while praying.

TFP:  Apparently, homosexual activists recently demonstrated on campus without a permit.  However, pro-lifers were arrested as they prayed on campus in 2009.  Is there a double standard at play?

Tom Brejcha: We are pursuing the issue whether the University security police, who wield statutory arrest powers under Indiana law, may well have been guilty of "viewpoint discrimination" in enforcing trespass laws against the ND88, when those of other and differing political viewpoints were not arrested but left free to parade about the campus although they, too, lacked a "permit" as supposedly required.  There are indeed signs of an apparent double standard at work.

Fr. Jenkins: Will he ever help the ND88?

TFP: Has Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, made any effort to resolve the case and help the 88 pro-lifers?

Tom Brejcha: As for Fr. Jenkins' endeavoring to resolve the case, he now seems adamant that he can do no more than insist that all the defendants submit to the conditions on which the prosecutor insists for "pretrial diversion" -- paying several hundred dollars and committing to perform "community service," etc.  In other words, some implicit recognition of wrongdoing seems to be required before the ND88 will be allowed to "go free."  Many, indeed most, of them bristle at this insistence that they admit wrong when what they did was to take a stand for what is right and just, indeed on the paramount issue of our time -- the sanctity of human life.

TFP: Would it help to continue urging the University of Notre Dame to drop the charges against the ND88?

Tom Brejcha: People of good will may well feel impelled to urge Fr. Jenkins and other Notre Dame administrators to recognize how strongly and deeply the cause of life is esteemed and valued as a transcending value of paramount importance in today's world.  Too many folks at Notre Dame apparently believe that the cause of life is but one among a host of issues that deserve support and that it suffices merely to proclaim that one is "pro-life" while heaping high honors of those who would trivialize and destroy life with impunity.  Notre Dame and Fr. Jenkins need to see the life issue as a central tenet and core value at the very heart of our professed Catholic faith, as more than a creed to recite but rather as a way of life, something we must honor in what we do and not just in what we say.

TFP: Thank you, Mr. Brejcha, for answering these questions.  We will be praying for the successful outcome of this case, and all the fine pro-life work you do at the Thomas More Society.

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Related:

Notre Dame Student's Plea for Help

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