Joe Scheidler (right) holds a Jesus sign, while Agnes Cassiere (left) passes out Project Rachel cards, Sept. 21 [Photo by EJS]
Since 2003, the Pro-Life Action League has extended our Face the Truth Tour into the Fall with monthly Truth Days. This year we utilized the Fall Tour dates for several distinct missions, starting with a Wednesday, August 17 Truth Day in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, an area that has not seen a Tour for several years.
Our sweltering two-site August Truth Day began in Joliet at an intersection originally scouted by Tour veteran Monica Miller for the League’s first Face the Truth Tour in 2000, West Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue. The intersection was so wide and heavily-trafficked that Tour coordinator John Jansen and I elected to concentrate our efforts on Larkin, the busier street, with signs displayed on both sides of the street. Forty volunteers joined us in Joliet, including several locals participating in a Truth Tour for the first time.
Joliet Policeman Gets a Civics Lesson
Joliet police arrived shortly after we began setting up signs and were cooperative, until an officer arrived on the scene who wanted to ban certain signs that he considered too “gruesome,” and insisted that we needed a permit. When he called City Hall he discovered that we already had the only permit we needed—the First Amendment. He drove away, better informed than he had been when the day began.
Next we brought the Tour to 159th Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park, where again we concentrated on the busier street, LaGrange. The heat at this midday site was intense, but Tour coordinators sweated it out, bringing ample water out to our volunteers, again numbering forty.
Tour Offers Hope after Abortion
Our Wednesday, September 21 Truth Day spread a message of forgiveness to downtown Chicago commuters during the evening rush hour. Volunteers at Wacker Drive and Madison Street held Jesus signs, depicting Christ holding a tiny aborted baby in his hand with the caption, Jesus Forgives and Heals, while others passed out our new Project Rachel cards, which debuted during the summer Truth Tour, with information on getting post-abortion healing.
Despite a reception our leafleters described as rather cool, we distributed over 1200 of the Project Rachel cards to downtown commuters. We pray that these cards will wind up in the hands of men and women who need them and that they will begin their journeys of recovery.
League Shows the Truth about LIFE
Our Face the Truth squad was back on the streets of downtown Chicago Wednesday, October 19 for our third annual Life Day, featuring beautiful signs depicting babies, born and unborn, and leaflets on fetal development. We began with an “early bird” site at Madison Street and Wacker Drive, with coffee and donuts for the volunteers who greeted morning commuters with images of life.
Volunteer Mike Busse passes out a “How You Began” flyer at Daley Plaza during the Oct. 19 LIFE Day [Photo by EJS]
During the mid-morning we lined up along the heavily trafficked stretch of Lake Shore Drive between Jackson Boulevard and Buckingham Fountain, and concluded with a lunch-time site at Daley Plaza. Response from the public was mostly postive, and hundreds of “How You Began” flyers were distributed. Yet despite the lack of graphic abortion signs, we still received some negative comments, including a passerby who told Joe Scheidler, “I couldn’t disagree with you more.”
“I don’t know how you can ‘disagree’ with a photo of a developing baby,” Joe later remarked.
Our November Truth Day was canceled in favor of our picket at American Girl Place on Nov. 25 (see story). Monthly Truth Days will resume in the spring.
Related Articles and Pages
- Spring Tour Saves a Baby—Article in Spring/Summer 2005 issue
- Previous Face the Truth Tours—List of all Action News articles on Face the Truth Tours
