CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — The music director for the Archdiocese of Chicago’s cathedral allegedly attacked a leader of a monthly Rosary Rally this Saturday.
David Jonies, the organist and music director at Holy Name Cathedral, demanded that Danniel Pribble and others with the Rosary Rally stop praying on the public sidewalk outside because there was a Mass going on inside. The attendees have met every month since February to pray for an end to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) restrictions in the archdiocese.
“Before I could respond, [Jonies] violently tried to grab the megaphone I was using, shoving the microphone into my face as he did so. I was shocked — this was the first and only time anyone had physically assaulted any of us since we started doing these rallies,” Pribble wrote in a statement provided to LifeSiteNews.
“I immediately stopped the Rosary and told the man that what he did was assault, and that I was going to call the police,” Pribble stated. “He continued to argue that we should stop the rally, to which I responded that he should ask Cardinal Cupich to stop what he is doing to the Latin Mass. Before going back inside the Cathedral, the man said ‘I apologize’ to me.”
The organist and music director for Holy Name Cathedral, David Jonies, after reportedly pushing a Catholic leading a Rosary. pic.twitter.com/WopS4Ru6qF
— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) November 7, 2022
Pribble’s wife called the police and a Cathedral security guard can be seen on the video immediately after the incident on the scene, encouraging Jonies to leave the situation. A priest inside the church identified Jonies from a photo he was shown.
“Later in the day, the music director / assaulter sent me an email where he used the word ‘apologize’ again,” Pribble told LifeSiteNews. “But, tellingly, he didn’t apologize for assaulting me, instead saying he was ‘deeply sorry for our interaction’ outside the Cathedral.”
While not sure of his next step, Pribble told LifeSiteNews that the incident will not sway him from fighting for what is good and true.
“The path forward with this case is unclear to me at this point,” he said.
“But what I do know is that this will not discourage us from continuing our monthly Rosary Rallies. We will never stop fighting for the Holy Catholic Faith as it has always been practiced,” Pribble said. “Up to now, the Cardinal has ignored our rallies, but we will continue, confident that Our Lady will take our poor efforts and use them for the greater glory of Her Son, and the removal of the restrictions on the Latin Mass in the Archdiocese.”
Neither Jonies nor the archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Thomas responded to a request for comment on the incident. LifeSiteNews asked Thomas if the archdiocese planned to fire, suspend, investigate or take any other actions against the music director.
READ: Leading synod cardinal defends promotion of LGBT images as part of being a ‘listening Church’
UPDATE (3/30/23): Fr. Fidelis is jailed along with another pro-life hero
Father Fidelis has been sentenced to 270 days in jail by a Michigan court, while fellow Red Rose rescuer Matthew Connolly was sentenced to 90 days in jail and told to pay fines.
The CFR priest will serve his sentence (90 days per 3 charges) concurrently, so he will be behind bars for 3 months.
Like their companions Elizabeth Wagi and Jacob Gregor, who received lighter penalties, Moscinski and Connolly were pronounced guilty of “trespassing, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace/interfering with a business” on February 24, 2023 at the 46th District Courthouse in Southfield, Michigan.
Wagi received 18 months’ probation with fines and was ordered not to go anywhere near an abortion facility or her co-defendants. Gregor got 12 months’ probation with fines and 10 days community service. He was told not to speak to convicted church members.
LifeSiteNews is still awaiting news of Dr. Monica Miller and Laura Gies, who were found guilty of trespassing and resisting arrest.
The Southfield trial stemmed from a Red Rose Rescue at the Northland Family Planning abortion center, one of three abortion centers owned and operated by Renee Chelian, on April 23, 2021.
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UPDATE (1/24/23):
Pro-life priest and Red Rose Rescuer Fr. Fidelis Moscinski has been found guilty of violating the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Yesterday Fr. Fidelis was convicted of the federal crime for a July 2022 “lock and block” rescue he conducted at a Planned Parenthood in Hempstead, New York. The priest is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24 and faces up to six months in federal prison.
Sign the petition to let Fr. Fidelis know you support him and are praying for him.
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UPDATE (10/26/22):
A Pennsylvania court issued a split ruling against a pro-life Franciscan priest and activist arrested after he entered an abortion clinic to help women choose life.
Father Christopher “Fidelis” Moscinski was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges and not guilty of a felony trespass and a misdemeanor resist, for participating in a Red Rose Rescue at a Planned Parenthood.
Fr. Moscinski entered the clinic on August 27, 2021 with red roses and pro-life literature ready to hand out to women and persuading them to choose life for their children.
Fr. Fidelis has participated in many Red Rose Rescues at abortion centers, and for this has been imprisoned multiple times.
He was also previously arrested for trying to save babies in Ohio in June 2021 and in New Jersey in January 2020.
After the court decision, Fr. Fidelis urged people to “continue keeping all pro-lifers anywhere who are facing charges, especially federal charges, in your prayers, and that God can bring some good out of this unjust persecution.”
Sign this petition today to let Fr. Fidelis know you stand with him and his heroic fight to save unborn lives from abortion.
Fellow pro-life activist and Red Rose Rescuer Will Goodman told LifeSite’s Jim Hale that the court’s ruling to drop one felony and reject another was a “big victory.”But the crackdown on pro-lifers continues!
Just recently the Biden administration targeted Fr. Fidelis and other pro-life activists for Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) violation charges.
This same law was also used by the FBI to raid the home of pro-life Catholic dad Mark Houck last month.
It’s really a disgrace that in America pro-lifers are increasingly being attacked and persecuted simply because they stand for life.
Fr. Fidelis Moscinski needs your prayers and support now more than ever as he continues to fearlessly battle for the unborn.
SIGN THIS PETITION TODAY to tell Fr. Fidelis you stand with him and his courageous fight!
MORE INFORMATION:
‘Big victory’: Felonies tossed in split verdict for priest attempting rescue of unborn
BREAKING NEWS: Father Fidelis Legal Verdict reaction LIVE by Legal team
FBI charges pro-life priest with violating abortion access law one week after Mark Houck raid
Cupich’s archdiocese continues to be in disarray
The incident is the latest example of the disarray under Cardinal Cupich, who has continued to close churches and crack down on the traditional Latin Mass, while allowing liturgical abuses to flourish.
He has instituted a crackdown on the TLM, removing the faculties of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest for not agreeing to a variety of statements which would have gone against their charism. The document reportedly included an affirmation that the Novus Ordo Mass is the only true expression of the Roman rite.
Cupich also ordered that the Canons of Regular of St. John Cantius not say the TLM on the first Sunday of each month. His January decree banned celebration of the TLM on Christmas, the Triduum, Easter Sunday, and Pentecost Sunday, and prohibited saying Mass ad orientem without permission. No such requirement is included in Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.
The attendees at the monthly Rosary Rally have begun praying every month since February 2022 outside the cathedral, when Cupich’s anti-TLM crackdown against Cantius went into effect.
The incident is the latest black eye for the Archdiocese of Chicago and Cupich, whom Pope Francis appointed in June 2022 to the Vatican’s Congregation of Divine Worship.
Prior to his appointment, a priest under Cupich’s purview performed the final blessing at Mass using a guitar. This same pastor and church later ended Mass, just days after the Vatican appointment, by having parishioners dance around the altar to Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration.” He also invited a lay person, in direct violation of canon law, to give not one, but two homilies.
Two weeks later, two homosexuals gave their own “Gospel reflection” during Mass at Old St. Pat’s in Chicago as part of the Father’s Day Mass.
At Old St. Pat’s in the @archchicago, two homosexual men on Sunday delivered a “Gospel reflection” comparing their “marriage” and children to the miracle of the multiplication of fish and bread. pic.twitter.com/pZIX9yteRK
— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) June 21, 2022
The archdiocese, with more than 2 million Catholics, has struggled to ordain enough priests to serve the needs of the faithful. In May 2022, for example, only two priests were ordained, one of whom was with St. John Cantius.
Meanwhile, 30 priests retired, as announced by the archdiocese in April 2022.
