In a time and culture when athletes are called "courageous" for playing games and movie stars are considered heroes for denouncing traditional morality, Rev. Walter Hoye, executive elder of the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in south Berkeley, has exhibited real courage, heroism, and sacrifice. Gerald Korson of The Catholic Voice reports on Hoye's peaceful work against abortion:
After having served 18 days in prison, the Rev. Walter Hoye is a free man and will remain so — as long as he doesn’t come within eight feet of anyone who is about to enter an Oakland abortion clinic.
That hasn’t stopped the 52-year-old minister from returning to the public sidewalk outside the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group building near Jack London Square, the site of his arrest last May that resulted in his incarceration at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin earlier this year.
Hoye, executive elder of the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in south Berkeley, is on a mission not only to save unborn children and offer abortion alternatives to women, but also to inspire religious leaders — particularly African-American pastors like himself — to take up the pro-life mantle within their congregations and local communities.
“The women going into this clinic are not fully informed on this issue because our pastors have been horribly silent on abortion,” he told The Catholic Voice. “They’ll preach about the cost of discipleship, but in America today you’ve got to be willing to pay the cost of discipleship.”
<snip>
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.
“Getting a visit from him did my heart so much good,” Hoye said. “I am in love with the Catholic Church, I’m in love with this bishop. We had a tremendous visit.”
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.”
That hasn’t stopped the 52-year-old minister from returning to the public sidewalk outside the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group building near Jack London Square, the site of his arrest last May that resulted in his incarceration at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin earlier this year.
Hoye, executive elder of the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in south Berkeley, is on a mission not only to save unborn children and offer abortion alternatives to women, but also to inspire religious leaders — particularly African-American pastors like himself — to take up the pro-life mantle within their congregations and local communities.
“The women going into this clinic are not fully informed on this issue because our pastors have been horribly silent on abortion,” he told The Catholic Voice. “They’ll preach about the cost of discipleship, but in America today you’ve got to be willing to pay the cost of discipleship.”
<snip>
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.
“Getting a visit from him did my heart so much good,” Hoye said. “I am in love with the Catholic Church, I’m in love with this bishop. We had a tremendous visit.”
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.”
Bp. Sal totally rocks.
Posted by: Ed Peters | Wednesday, June 03, 2009 at 10:36 AM
What an inspiration Rev. Hoye is. Perhaps he can come home to Rome and be an effective pro-life voice to the confused and divided Catholic population here in the US!
Posted by: Cecilia | Wednesday, June 03, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Excellent, excellent article. Thanks for posting it. I am very glad to see Bishop Cordileone and Pastor Hoye working together on this. It is just this kind of "holy alliance" that will strengthen the Church's prophetic voice in the world.
To Ed: You may be interested to know that "Cordileone" means "lion heart" (but maybe you knew that already).
Posted by: Steve Cianca | Thursday, June 04, 2009 at 06:41 AM