Ye Shall Judge Angels

According to 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 we are to settle lawsuits among believers.

1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to be judged before the unjust, and not before the saints ? 2 Know you not that the saints shall judge this world ? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters ? 3 Know you not that we shall judge angels ? how much more things of this world ? 4 If therefore you have judgments of things pertaining to this world, set them to judge, who are the most despised in the church. 5 I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not among you any one wise man, that is able to judge between his brethren ? 6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers.

7 Already indeed there is plainly a fault among you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 8 But you do wrong and defraud, and that to your brethren.

9 Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 10 Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God. 11 And such some of you were; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6: 1-11

Douay-Rheims Bible

Last September, I was assaulted and knocked to the ground outside St. Patrick’s Church before Mass.

I had hoped that the Archbishop of St. John’s, The Rgt. Rev. Martin Currie, would mediate between my assailant, a fellow Catholic, and myself in order to resolve the matter in Christian fashion and avoid further scandal and regular court action but there was no interest shown in such an approach. I had also called upon Fr. Wayne Dohey, my assailant’s pastor, to take action as well but again, no interest was shown for such a proposal.

Having noted that, the charges that I laid against a fellow Catholic for a vicious assault upon my person were settled today in the court of the unbeliever, i.e. a local Provincial Court in St. John’s.

My assailant, Anthony Kearsey, from the beginning pleaded Not Guilty, but today at the last possible moment before trial, pleaded Guilty to the charges of common assault—by way of his lawyer—and the presiding judge had the Guilty verdict entered into the record as well as imposing a $300 fine. Mr. Kearsey himself did not show up in court and in the end offered no personal apology. I requested of the Crown prosecutor that she read out loud my Victim Impact Statement before sentencing, which she did. It appears immediately below.

Of course I hoped that the media might show some interest in the fact that my assailant had pleaded Guilty to the charges so I tweeted out a message earlier this morning before heading out to court:

Local man Anthony Kearsey to plead guilty this morning to assaulting pro lifer outside Church @CBCNL @NTVNewsNL @VOCMNEWS @StJohnsTelegram
— Contra|Diction (@Contra1diction) April 3, 2014

As expected, I saw no sign of reporters anywhere near my courtroom, although they seemed to be  scurrying about all the other courtrooms. From the very beginning, the media, including pro-life reporters, have shown no interest whatever in this incident, although when another incident better suited their purposes they were all over it.

This is the current pro-life reality.