Best Diocesan Paper Story of the Year
Walter Hoye Talks to Catholics
Diocese newspapers, at least in California, are not known for lengthy stories. But Oakland’s Catholic Voice on May 25 devoted over 1750 words to an interview with Rev. Walter Hoye, who was arrested for his pro-life counseling outside an Oakland abortion clinic.
Among the tidbits in the Voice story:
“That ‘cost of discipleship’ — a term borrowed from theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose open criticisms of Adolf Hitler led to his execution in a Nazi concentration camp — is a real risk for pastors in many Protestant churches where ‘you can get voted out of your pulpit on the same day you preach,’ Hoye said. ‘So when I talk to these pastors, I know what I’m asking them to do. I’m asking them to risk their jobs….
“African Americans, he pointed out, are the ‘number one customers’ of abortion clinics today. Although blacks account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, 37 percent of all abortions in this country are performed on black women. With a live-birth rate lower than the mortality rate, Hoye said, there will be no black Americans left by the year 2100….
“Unlike most black Americans, Hoye said he was ‘horribly disappointed’ and ‘heartbroken’ about the election last November of Barack Obama, who openly supports pro-choice positions and legislation, as the nation’s first African-American president. Most blacks ‘put their Bible down when it came to that election and voted on the basis of the color of his skin, Hoye said….
“In the final days of his prison stay, Hoye had a ‘special visitor’ in Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, who at the time had been appointed but not yet installed as bishop of Oakland.
“They enjoyed a long visit together, shouting to each other through the thick glass of the visitation booths because the phones didn’t work….
“I am in love with the Catholic Church, I’m in love with this bishop.’
“Bishop Cordileone told The Catholic Voice afterward that Hoye told him about ‘his high respect for the Catholic Church because we have been defending the sanctity of life all these years, and he even apologized for Protestants being late in the game.’”
“After a month of recovery from his prison ailment, Hoye was back in front of the abortion clinic on May 7, this time with what he called his ‘potted plant stance’ — standing in one place with his sign and his literature, offering help to the women who approach the clinic….”
