For our coverage of the Southfield Red Rose Rescue trial, please click here for Day 1, here for Day 2, and here for Day 3.
(LifeSiteNews) – Four Red Rose Rescuers have been sentenced to prison for counseling women at a Michigan abortion business. Two more have been sentenced to probation.
Father Fidelis Moscinski, CFR, Matthew Connolly, Dr. Monica Miller, and Laura Gies have all received custodial sentences from Judge Cynthia Meagher Arvant. They were taken immediately to Oakland County Jail, according to the Red Rose Rescue Facebook page.
Fr. Fidelis was given 270 days – 90 days for each of the three charges leveled against him, which he will be serving concurrently. He will thus be in prison for three months. His heroic pro-life witness was recently profiled by LifeSiteNews’ Senior Correspondent Jim Hale.
A witness to the sentencing hearing reported that the judge had pressed Fr. Fidelis, a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who has dedicated his life to the unborn, about how he presents himself. The observer said the judge asked rhetorically whether he was committing “fraud” by entering abortion facilities in street clothes rather than his Franciscan habit. The witness relayed that the judge had insinuated that by then coming to the courtroom in his habit, Fr. Fidelis was being “theatrical” and “disingenuous.”
Matthew Connolly also received three 90-day sentences, which he will serve concurrently. Laura Gies received two 60-day sentences, which she will serve concurrently. Dr. Monica Miller received two 45-day sentences, which she too will serve concurrently. When Miller asked to defer the date of her incarceration, so she could attend a cancer treatment follow-up appointment, the judge refused, saying, “You knew what you were doing when you broke the law.”
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.
Miller and Gies were pronounced guilty of “trespassing and resisting arrest.”
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.
A witness to the sentencing hearing reported that the judge had called Fr. Fidelis, a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who has dedicated his life to the unborn, “a fraud in habit.”
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
Wagi received 18 months’ probation with fines and 10 days of community service. She was ordered not to go anywhere near an abortion facility or her co-defendants. Gregor got 12 months’ probation with fines. He too was told to say away from abortion businesses and his co-defendants.
The Red Rose Rescue Facebook page reported:
In his statement to [Judge] Arvant, Fr. Fidels stated [frankly] that, “the rights of the preborn were trampled upon in this case… And the court failed to respect the law of God over the laws of man… The 5th Commandment ‘thou shall not kill,’ applies to the preborn.”
As he said this, members of the court gallery began to applaud, but the judge ordered silence.
Before he was led away the Franciscan Priest boldly said aloud: “Jesus Christ is King.” Then he turned and offered his priestly blessing to the packed courtroom of pro-life supporters.
Dr. Monica Miller in her statement held up a large color image of the mutilated remains of a preborn baby killed by dismemberment abortion, and showed it to the judge, prosecutor, court personnel, and the entire crowd in the courtroom.
The judge ordered her to stop.
She did not.
Miller exclaimed, “The whole problem with this trial and today’s hearing is that the preborn being exterminated are treated as invisible to the court, they don’t exist, and are deemed unworthy of justice. These are lies.”
…
Laura Gies quoted Solzhenitsyn to the judge, comparing how communist totalitarian governments of his day pushed lies just as abortion supporters in the US government do today.
“A lie may come into the world, it may run through the world… But it will not run through me.”
Being taken away by the bailiff she cried out, “Viva Cristo Rey!” which were the last words of all the rescuers’ statements as Laura, the final witness, was then led away in handcuffs.
Her resounding praises were the culmination of the sentencing hearing for the rescuers.
Defense attorney Robert Muise said those given prison sentences have been taken to Oakland County Jail. According to the Red Rose Rescue Facebook page, Muise “plans to appeal this ruling on numerous legal and technical procedural grounds, especially the clear violation of due process rights.”
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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