Protest – United Yam

California grandmother aims for 10,000 signatures on petition against second-trimester abortions #Catholic Mary Waldorf didn’t know anything about organizing petitions, but when a hospital worker and fellow parishioner told her that staff were forced to participate in second-trimester abortions, she felt called to do something.Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California, about 80 miles north of Sacramento, is the primary hospital in the area.“It’s the only hospital in a huge county. We all have to use it,” Waldorf told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.”Waldorf still remembers how she felt the day she found out about the abortions being performed there.“I spent the rest of the day just bawling because I know what a second-trimester abortion is,” she said.“Everybody was shocked,” she added.Waldorf went with a small group to peacefully protest in front of the hospital, holding signs. Hospital staff approached, asking why they were there.“They didn’t even know” about the later-term abortions being performed at the facility, Waldorf said.Waldorf claimed that local media will not cover the controversy. She said she has sent several letters to the editor of local papers but described the situation as a “media blackout.”A pediatrician at the hospital told her the hospital administration might reconsider if there was enough concern. “Why she told me, God only knows,” Waldorf said. “But I thought, well, if that’s the case, then what if we do a petition?”“I’m just somebody who goes to church, has grandkids, goes to work — I don’t know how to do [a petition],” she told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.” “I am not a media [figure]. But when God gives you an opportunity, you got to go for it.”The petition had about 800 signatures as of March 27. Waldorf is aiming for 10,000 — 10% of the size of the town.Waldorf said staff members have told her that the hospital allegedly has refused to allow some medical workers to opt out of assisting with abortion procedures.“They were told that the pre-op and the post-op nurses and personnel could not opt out,” Waldorf said.Waldorf runs a local chapter of 40 Days for Life, a nationwide effort aimed at praying for women seeking abortions and for their children, usually in front of abortion clinics during Lent. She says she wants women to have “true choice.”“If the mindset of people is about death, they don’t consider the child — and you have to consider both,” Waldorf said. “They’re not counseling these women. What about giving them true choice?”“The dignity of the human person is so paramount,” Waldorf added. “And I think that that is what’s being lost here completely.”

‘They want to evict us’: Why Indigenous Catholics fight forest project in Bangladesh #Catholic MADHUPUR, Bangladesh — Indigenous Catholic and tribal leaders in central Bangladesh are warning the government that a stronger protest movement will follow if it does not withdraw a contested forest development project before the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan this week.The Garo and Koch Indigenous peoples say a government plan to dig an artificial lake and build an eco-park in the Madhupur forest — about 94 miles north of the capital, Dhaka — is a pretext for evicting them from ancestral lands they have occupied for generations.“What the government is doing in the name of development is not development. It is a clear plan to evict the Garo and Koch Indigenous from this forest area,” said Toni Chiran, a Catholic from Corpus Christi Church in Jalchatra and president of the Bangladesh Indigenous Youth Forum. A speaker addresses Indigenous Garo people at a protest rally in Madhupur, Bangladesh, on March 6, 2026. | Credit: Stephan Uttom Rozario Chiran spoke at a protest rally on March 6 in Madhupur’s Tangail district, where hundreds of Indigenous students and community members gathered to oppose the project. He said that if the artificial lake and eco-park are built, Indigenous people will lose their agricultural land and the natural forest will be destroyed, leaving the Garo and other Indigenous peoples with no means to sustain their way of life.Bangladesh is home to approximately 400,000 Catholics in a population of nearly 178 million, and more than half of the country’s Catholics come from Indigenous communities.Church voices supportFather Simon Hacha, the vicar general of the Diocese of Mymensingh, which covers the area, said the Church cannot support the government’s plans.“If this project is implemented, the Indigenous people’s cropland will be destroyed and they will face eviction. We think that is what the government wants,” Hacha told EWTN News.“We want to tell the government to back off from such shameful steps. The Catholic Church has always been for justice and has been giving moral support to the Indigenous movement,” he added.Decades-long disputeThe Bangladesh government first proposed an artificial lake and eco-park in the Madhupur forest in 2000. In 2004, at least one Garo man was killed by police gunfire during a protest, and many others were injured. The government subsequently halted the project.In 2026, authorities revived the plan and have already begun excavating the designated area. Indigenous leaders say the project amounts to a long-term strategy to force tribal communities from the region.Janoki Chisim, secretary of the Garo Indigenous Student Union, told EWTN News that the project would be an injustice not only to the forest but also to the people who depend on it.“Let the forest survive in its original form and glory. The Garo and Koch Indigenous people have lived in this forest since time immemorial,” Chisim said. An excavator digs inside the Madhupur forest in Bangladesh on March 6, 2026, as part of a government project to expand an artificial lake that Indigenous communities say threatens their ancestral land. | Credit: Stephan Uttom Rozario According to tribal elders, tigers, bears, deer, wild boars, and wild cats once roamed freely in the forest, and hundreds of bird species thrived alongside them. Forest dwellers traditionally collected wild potatoes and medicinal plants from the forest vines. That way of life, residents say, is slowly disappearing.After the Tenancy Act of 1950, the Forest Department encroached on tribal forestland. Successive government projects have steadily eroded the forest’s biodiversity. Remaining forest is being cleared for lakes, entertainment centers, hotels, and resorts, and the local Garo and Koch Indigenous people are being displaced, community leaders say.“If the customary land rights of the tribals are not ensured, a strong movement will be launched in the coming days,” Chisim told EWTN News.Forest officials respondForest officials say the lake is being expanded to 1,165 feet. An existing 665-foot-long lake, dug five decades ago, has silted up, causing a severe water shortage in the forest during the dry season.When rivers and canals dry up, monkeys, hanuman langurs, deer, and other wildlife venture into populated areas in search of water and are sometimes attacked, officials said.“Deer, peacocks, and tortoises in the breeding center also face water shortage. The expansion of this lake is necessary to protect the life of wildlife,” Mosharraf Hossain, a forest official, told EWTN News.Hossain added that no one has customary land rights in the reserved forest and that lakes are not being dug on Garo land. Forest department officials say some youths are spreading unnecessary confusion at the behest of a vested interest group.

Students pray for Notre Dame’s Catholic identity after dispute over pro-abortion professor #Catholic Students at the University of Notre Dame gathered on Feb. 27 for a candlelit prayer service to offer thanksgiving for the university’s Catholic identity.The event was originally planned as a protest in response to the university’s appointment of abortion advocate Professor Susan Ostermann as the head of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. After Ostermann withdrew from the position earlier this week, the student organizers turned the event into a prayer vigil offered “in thanksgiving and support for Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.”A group of about 150 students, community members, faculty and priests from the Congregation of Holy Cross met on the south quad of campus, where they were greeted by students Luke Woodyard and Gabe Ortner, the event’s organizers. After a blessing of candles, those present processed to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, where they prayed the Rosary.

Students gather to pray the Rosary at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at the University of Notre Dame, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026 | Credit: Notre Dame Right to Life

The event was co-sponsored by the major Catholic clubs on campus: Right to Life, Militia Immaculata, Children of Mary, the Knights of Columbus, and Students for Child-Oriented Policy.According to Woodyard, while a protest would have drawn a greater number of attendees, organizers agreed that changing the event to a prayer vigil would be a more appropriate response to the news of Ostermann’s withdrawal.“The big reason we changed the protest to a prayer vigil was because we won, we got Ostermann to not be appointed. And even though this was a victory in a battle, not the [larger] war, we can celebrate this victory now," Woodyard said.“If we came here with a bunch of protests, it would make us seem like we weren't grateful for the university listening to us," he added. "And we really are. We praise [President] Father [Robert] Dowd for any impact that he had on Ostermann withdrawing, and we pray for the future of Notre Dame.”Ostermann, whose appointment was announced in January, has publicly supported abortion on multiple occasions, calling it “freedom-enhancing” and “consistent with integral human development that emphasizes social justice and human dignity."She has also argued that the pro-life movement has its roots in “white supremacy and racism” and has described pregnancy resource centers “anti-abortion propaganda sites."Since the appointment was announced in January, the university has faced backlash from Catholics across the country, including students, alumni, faculty, and more than a dozen bishops. The university continued to defend Ostermann’s promotion amid the criticism, citing her expertise in Asian studies and her past research. When Ostermann withdrew from the position on Feb. 26, students were surprised at the unexpected reversal but grateful for the desired outcome.Maria Madigan, a sophomore who serves as the head of service for Notre Dame Right to Life, told EWTN News that the grateful and loving spirit of the prayer service was the same spirit in which the protest had been planned.“[The planned protest] was never filled with hate or any [kind of] malicious intent. …We love Notre Dame because of her Catholic mission and her identity," she said. "We wanted to protest the Ostermann appointment because we felt it that went against our mission. And then when Ostermann withdrew, the focus shifted, because… we want to think about having a positive vision going forward for Notre Dame.”Regarding Ostermann’s withdrawal, Woodyard said: “We don't know what happened behind the scenes — hopefully that will come out in the coming weeks — but what we do know is that she did withdraw, and so we're thankful for that, and that's why we're here, but at some point, we have to make sure this doesn't happen again.”Organizer Gabe Ortner emphasized that although the planned protest was turned into a prayer vigil, the defense of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission is far from over.“We have to recognize the work that Father Dowd has done in leading this university. He's clearly been working tirelessly on this with Bishop Rhoades, and I admire the direction that he seems to be taking Notre Dame in, and that gives me a lot of hope," Ortner said. "However, at the same time, there also seem to be particular members of the administration who do not entirely share the Catholic vision of Notre Dame," he said.“Ultimately, Notre Dame should be united in its Catholic identity among all of the members of administration, with no exception.”If the protest had gone forward, speakers would have included Anna Kelley, president of the school's Right to Life group; Lucy Spence, editor-in-chief of the Irish Rover student newspaper; and Theo Austin, vice president of Students for Child-Oriented Policy.Students have expressed concern that the appointment shows a willingness of university administration — particularly on the part of Provost John McGreevy, who approved the appointment — to deviate from the university’s Catholic mission.Max McNiff, a student who attended the prayer vigil, shared his hopes that the controversy that precipitated Ostermann’s withdrawal would send a clear signal to the university.“I think this sets a sets a good precedent for stuff like this in the future. I think that the administration is going to be very cautious, and hopefully nothing like this will happen again.”“I think this also sets a precedent that researchers who are considered maybe ‘elite’ by secular academic standards, but who very manifestly publicly contradict Catholic doctrine [on matters] such as abortion, should not expect to come into leadership positions at Notre Dame," he said. Ultimately, however, students expressed their gratitude at the reversal of Ostermann’s appointment, calling it a “victory” in the battle for Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.“Having the opportunity to gather together and to thank God for his faithfulness, and the faithfulness of the university, is really beautiful, and I think you can see it in the passion of the students," Madigan said. "Everyone here knew it wasn’t a protest anymore, but they were still coming.”“We're all here because we care and we love this university and we want to uphold its Catholic mission and its pro-life mission as much as possible," she said. "And at the end of the day, whether one person showed up, or whether 200 people showed up, this was a prayer service, and it was to God, and the words that were said here were to him." "And that's what I really want the focus of this whole event to be on, praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for his faithfulness and to Our Lady for protecting her university.”

unitedyam February 28, 2026

The event was originally planned as a protest in response to the university’s appointment of abortion advocate Professor Susan Ostermann as the head of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist who urged Vatican to address humanitarian crises, dies at 84 #Catholic Jesse Jackson, whose decades of activism included work in the Civil Rights Movement, two runs for the White House, and multiple meetings with Pope John Paul II, died on Feb. 17. He was 84 years old.His family announced his passing in a statement on social media. They described him as a “servant leader” with an “unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love.” Jackson had suffered health issues for several years, including a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in 2017.Born Jesse Burns in Greenville, South Carolina, on Oct. 8, 1941, Jackson was adopted by his mother Helen’s subsequent husband Charles Jackson, though he maintained a close relationship with his birth father, Noah Robinson.Taunts from local children about his out-of-wedlock birth reportedly instilled in Jackson a motive to succeed; he further cited his biological father’s example of a “strong healthy ego” and “sense of dignity” that led him to push for civil rights in what was then the heavily segregated Southern U.S.He was a member of the “Greenville Eight” who protested the city’s segregated library system in 1960. A protege of Martin Luther King Jr., he participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery marches and played early roles in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Jackson was present at King’s assassination at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.He founded the social justice organization Operation PUSH — now Rainbow/PUSH — in 1971. He would eventually mount two campaigns for U.S. president, one in 1984 and one in 1988, both of which he lost.Earlier in his career Jackson had been an outspoken pro-life advocate, at one point even endorsing amending the U.S. Constitution to ban abortion, though in later decades he would pivot to aggressive support of abortion.He met with Pope John Paul II on three separate occasions in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1982 he urged the pontiff to advocate on behalf of Haitian refugees in the U.S., describing John Paul II as “the dominant force and moral authority in the world” at the time.He met with the pope again in 1985 and reportedly asked him to visit South Africa to protest apartheid, and again a third time in 1999 to urge the pontiff to advocate on behalf of three imprisoned CARE humanitarian workers in a Belgrade prison.Jackson is survived by his wife of 64 years, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, and their five children. He is also survived by a daughter, Ashley, born to one of his former staffers in 1999.In a famed speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Jackson reflected on his political career and acknowledged that he was “not a perfect servant” but “a public servant doing my best against the odds.” He told the crowd: “As I develop and serve, be patient: God is not finished with me yet.”“For leaders, the pain is often intense,” he said at the time. “But you must smile through your tears and keep moving with the faith that there is a brighter side somewhere.”