Catholic AIDS Policy Protested in N.Y.; 111 Held

NEW YORK —  About 4,500 demonstrators protested the Roman Catholic Church’s policy on AIDS and abortion Sunday in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and protesters inside chanted and lay down in the aisles, forcing Cardinal John J. O’Connor to interrupt his sermon while police carried them out on stretchers. At least 111 people were arrested.

Church officials, anticipating the well-publicized demonstration, took the unusual step of clearing the church after the 9 a.m. Mass, then searching the bags of everyone entering for the 10:15 a.m. Mass.

The cathedral doors were locked a few minutes after Mass started, said Joe Zwilling, archdiocese spokesman. Police were stationed all around the massive cathedral, including at the rail in front of the altar.

Police said at least 43 people were arrested inside the packed cathedral when they jumped from their seats near the start of O’Connor’s homily and stretched out in the center aisle, some chaining themselves to pews.

O’Connor was forced to distribute copies of his sermon rather than read it, and he asked the congregation to stand and join him in reciting prayers to drown out protesters’ chants.

He continued the Mass while dozens of uniformed and plainclothes police walked up and down the aisle, ferrying the protesters out on bright orange stretchers.

Police Sgt. Peter Sweeney said 68 were arrested outside, where protesters chanted “Teach safe sex” and “Just say no is not enough.” They also carried signs saying “Curb Your Dogma” and “Pope John Paul for Ayatollah.”

The demonstrators characterized the protest as a “die-in,” in which they fell down on the ground outside the church and lay motionless to honor those who have died of AIDS.

Bearded men dressed in nun’s habits, scores of men wearing paper copies of bishop’s miters and men and women with red helmets topped by lights and sirens burst through police lines and danced in the street at one point during the four-hour protest.

One man was wearing inflated condoms fashioned on a wire frame to form angel’s wings, and another suspended a condom from a rosary.

One group stopped traffic on 5th Avenue by lying down in the street, police said.

Nearly 100 abortion opponents staged a counterdemonstration a block away.

Gay activists have staged a variety of actions at St. Patrick’s since 1987, when O’Connor barred a gay Roman Catholic group, Dignity, from using church facilities for meetings.

In 1988, two months after 11 silent protesters were arrested inside the cathedral, a state judge issued an injunction barring demonstrations inside.

Those arrested Sunday were charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, Sweeney said. Some also may be charged with resisting arrest.

The protest was organized by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP, and Women’s Health Action and Mobilization, or WHAM!

They criticized O’Connor for his opposition to abortion and his vocal support of Operation Rescue, a group that stages blockades and sit-ins at abortion clinics nationwide; for lobbying against education about safe sex and condoms, especially in schools, and for his opposition to gay rights legislation.

At the end of the Mass, O’Connor praised the congregants for showing restraint and said the protest left him anguished.

“The archbishop of New York must of course always preach what the church preaches, teach what the church teaches,” O’Connor said. “I cannot believe that anyone, even those who hate what the church teaches, would respect me for a moment if I taught anything else.”

DEMONSTRATIONS IN L.A.; AIDS activists protested at Sunday Masses at four Los Angeles area churches. B1