Inside Archbishop Buechlein . 4, 5 Editorial . 4 Question Corner . 13 The Sunday and Daily Readings . 13 Serving the CChurchCriterion in Centralr andi Southert n Indianae Since 1960rion www.archindy.org March 7, 2003 Vol. XXXXII, No. 21 $1.00 Pope sends Cardinal Laghi to confer with Bush on Iraq VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope John ambassador to the United States and a long- White House spokesman Ari Fleischer Italian Cardinal Pio Paul II sent a personal envoy, Italian time friend of Bush’s father, former said no meeting with Cardinal Laghi was CNS photo Laghi is pictured in an Cardinal Pio Laghi, to Washington to confer President George H.W. Bush, was expected scheduled that day and he would keep undated file photo. with President George W. Bush and press to arrive in Washington on March 3 bearing reporters informed “as events warrant and Pope John Paul II for a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis. a papal message for the current president. as events come closer.” dispatched the cardinal The move, which had been under dis- In Washington, a spokeswoman for the Cardinal Laghi told the Italian newspa- to Washington to cussion at the Vatican for weeks, was the current papal nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel per Corriere della Sera, “I will insist, in confer with President pope’s latest effort to head off a war he Montalvo, said only the Vatican could the pope’s name, that all peaceful means George W. Bush and fears could cause a humanitarian crisis confirm Cardinal Laghi’s schedule in be fully explored. Certainly there must be press for a peaceful and provoke new global tensions. Washington. the disarmament of Saddam Hussein and solution to the Iraqi Cardinal Laghi, a former Vatican When questioned by reporters March 3, See CARDINAL, page 2 crisis. Archbishop Buechlein Pro-Life Victory asks President Bush to spare life of inmate By Mary Ann Wyand CNS file photo by Martin Lueders Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein has asked President George W. Bush to grant clemency to federal death row inmate Louis Jones, a decorated Gulf War veteran and convicted murderer who is scheduled to be executed at 7 a.m. on March 18 at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute. Jones, who is black, will be the third fed- eral death row inmate to be executed by chemical injection at the prison since the U.S. government ended a 38-year morato- rium on the death penalty in June 2001. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh was executed there on June 11, 2001, and convicted drug smuggler and murderer Juan Raul Garza of Brownsville, Texas, was put to death at the prison on June 19, 2001. The 52-year-old Jones, who was a mas- Anti-abortion activist Joseph Scheidler talks with the media outside the U.S. Supreme Court building last Dec. 4 after the court heard arguments in ter sergeant in the Airborne Rangers, retired the cases Joseph Scheidler and the Pro-Life Action League vs. the National Organization for Women and Operation Rescue vs. NOW. The court ruled from the Army in 1993. During 22 years in 8-1 that that a federal racketeering law did not apply to abortion clinic protesters. Scheidler has been involved in this legal battle for 17 years. the military, he earned a meritorious service medal, a Southwest Asia service medal with three bronze service stars, a Kuwait libera- U.S. Supreme Court sides with pro-life groups tion medal, badges for marksmanship and parachuting, and a good conduct medal. By Jennifer Lindberg in a nationwide conspiracy and using returned from praying and counseling Jones was working as a bus driver at extortion to put them out of business. women outside an abortion clinic. Goodfellow Air Force Base in San The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Under RICO, pro-abortion groups “America has come to life.” Angelo, Texas, in 1995 when he abducted, last week to overturn a federal racke- would have been entitled to triple dam- The Supreme Court ruling that abor- raped and killed Tracie Joy McBride, a teering judgment against a coalition of ages from any legal victories—a financial tion rights supporters can’t use RICO to 19-year-old Army private stationed there. pro-life groups took away a major liability that no pro-life group would sue the Pro-life Action League, He admitted murdering McBride and legal strategy by abortion advocates to have the ability to pay. Operation Rescue or their leaders was sentenced to death later that year. keep protesters away from abortion To celebrate the Supreme Court’s 8-1 reverses a lower court ruling in which During the trial in Lubbock, Texas, clinics. decision on Feb. 26, Scheidler, who lives the plaintiffs won total damages of defense experts testified that Jones suf- For the past 17 years, Joseph in Chicago, said he’s going to have a vic- $257,780. fered from brain damage caused by child- Scheidler, a former monk at Saint tory party. Writing for the majority, Chief hood abuse and post-traumatic stress Meinrad Archabbey, has battled the “I’m going to find a great big hall and Justice William H. Rehnquist said the related to combat service in the Persian National Organization for Women and have a party with some action,” said RICO law was not used correctly Gulf and in Grenada. two abortion clinics over whether they Scheidler, the director of the Pro-Life against the protesters. Jones claims that exposure to nerve gas could use the federal Racketeer Action League. “Even when their acts of interfer- See EXECUTION, page 2 Influenced and Corrupt Organizations “I want to let the abortion industry ence and disruption achieved their ulti- Act, known as RICO, to show that the know they are on their last leg,” he said mate goal of shutting down an abortion pro-life demonstrators were involved from his Chicago office, having just See COURT, page 8 Catholic faith helped Scheidler battle on By Jennifer Lindberg eventually we will win the whole battle facing the pro-life movement. In the [on abortion].” 1950s, Scheidler was a monk at Saint Despite the threat of losing his A former newspaper reporter who Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad. home and being compared to a gang- taught journalism, Scheidler was working Discerning that it wasn’t God’s will ster for fighting the abortion industry, for Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley as a for him to stay at the monastery, Joseph Scheidler never lost hope. public information officer when he quit to Scheidler, who still has family in the In fact, he never thought that he work for anti-abortion groups. Later, he Archdiocese of Indianapolis, left. He would lose his 17-year court battle that formed his own group, the Pro-Life later married Ann and together they began when the National Organization Action League in Chicago. have seven children. of Women sued him and Operation Soon he became one of the most active Scheidler began fighting for pro-life Rescue for their protests outside abor- members in the pro-life movement and causes soon after the U.S. Supreme tion clinics. one of the most feared by abortion sup- Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 “Christ has said so many times, porters. made abortion legal. ‘seek and you will find, ask and you Scheidler often mentions that his train- In the early days of the pro-life shall receive,’” Scheidler said. “That’s ing as a monk helped him rely on God movement, Scheidler would go into God talking to us. He’s truth itself, and through one of the toughest court battles See SCHEIDLER, page 8 Page 2 The Criterion Friday, March 7, 2003 said simply that the cardinal would “have CARDINAL the opportunity to illustrate the position continued from page 1 and the initiatives undertaken by the Holy See to contribute to disarmament and his regime, but as far as possible this peace in the Middle East.” CNS photo by Michael Dinneen should be done without the use of arms.” The Vatican’s statements about the The cardinal said that in his talks with Iraqi situation have been increasingly crit- Bush he would underline the suffering that ical of a possible military strike, espe- war would bring to innocent people and cially if undertaken without specific U.N. the possible global repercussions. approval. “A conflict would move the world In turning to Cardinal Laghi, the pope toward a very dark future. What would chose a man who came to know and happen to dialogue with Islam in such a appreciate the United States while serving future? Is it right to create a new gulf as the Vatican’s representative in between people?” he said. Washington from 1980 to 1990. During Cardinal Laghi said he also would those years, he became friends and a fre- underscore the Vatican’s position that quent tennis partner with Vice President— decisions on Iraq be made by the United and later President—George H.W. Bush. Nations. Cardinal Laghi, 80, who retired in 1999 In announcing the move, the Vatican as head of the Vatican’s education congre- gation, is known in the Roman Curia as someone who understands the U.S. point of view on global terrorism and other international issues. Lisa Hippely and Brad Deeren pose on Feb. 19 for wedding photographer Marie-Louise Wolfe outside CNS photo from Reuters He was one of the first Vatican officials St. Patrick Church in Anchorage, Alaska. Their ceremony, originally set for June, had to be moved up to pray at ground zero in New York after because of his deployment with the U.S.