[HeartStrongList] When It Rains, It Pours

[heartstrong at heartstrong.org]

Hi everyone...

We have some very important news to share with everyone.  At this point,
we are unable to be too specific about some aspects of this news however,
I will give you all of the details I can.  We are hoping that by the
middle of or late this week, we will be able to bring forth the specifics.
With that vague introduction...  :)

Very recently on this outreach trip, we were scheduled to do a
presentation at a Unitarian Universalist church.  Pretty standard.  We've
done nearly 150 of those in the past eight years.

This particular UU Church happens to lease it's meeting space from a
Newman Catholic Student Center at a secular university.  A priest who used
to run the center was very kind and helped the UU church get a lease for
the space for their Sunday services until they could build their own
building.

About four days before the scheduled service, articles began to appear
about me and HeartStrong in the local newspapers.  The
(catholic)archdiocese of the state (who runs the student center) was
notified by the local Knight of Columbus who were complaining about my
presentation.

The new priest running the center asked the UU church to cancel my
appearance at their Sunday service because he felt he would get fired if I
spoke on Catholic property.  Especially in a space that was used to give
catholic sacraments.

The UU church did not cancel their Sunday service.  They received a letter
from the lawyers from the Catholic Diocese of their state.  The letter
simply stated that their lease was being dissolved.  This was a direct
attempt to intimidate the church.

Aside from the illegal destruction of a lease, we feel that we must come
forward publicly about what has happened.  The Catholic Diocese of this
state has made verbal attacks against myself and HeartStrong.  Their
attempt to silence us by blackmailing the church into submission is nto
acceptable at any level.

We are currently working with the leaders of the UU church to make a joint
public statement, hold a public rally and make sure  there isn't anyone
who doesn't know about what happened.

We will not be silenced in our work.  We will not be intimidated by anyone
and we certainly will not tolerate the Catholic Diocese of this particular
state bully anyone or do anything illegal.

About 1/3 of the people who come to HeartStrong for assistance are from
Catholic schools.

I look forward to sharing more about this with you very soon.  I will keep
you updated as to exactly what/where the protest/rally will occur.

I apologize for the vagueness.

Thanks!
Marc Adams