{"id":41,"date":"2023-10-07T23:39:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T23:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/?p=41"},"modified":"2025-09-29T23:41:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T23:41:47","slug":"paterson-nj-bishops-column-on-joan-andrews-and-the-incarcerated-eight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"Paterson NJ Bishop’s column on Joan Andrews and the incarcerated eight."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bishop<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bishop is Kevin J Sweeney and he is relatively young – 53 – and originally from Queens, NY. He  was ordained a priest in 1997 and installed as Bishop of Paterson NJ on April 15, 2020.<\/p>\n

It's a beautiful column, al.  We have excerpted the first part; hit the link for the entire column.<\/p>\n

I<\/span>t was not my intention or plan to write on a similar topic or theme for two consecutive weeks, but as I was writing my column last week, I learned some news that caused me to change my plans. I decided that I should write about Joan (Andrews) Bell, her inspiring life and dedication to the pro-life cause, and her current \u201cstatus\u201d (in prison).<\/a><\/p>\n

As I was writing my column last week, looking towards \u201cRespect Life Month\u201d and sharing my decision to celebrate a monthly \u201cPro-Life\u201d Mass, followed by a peaceful, prayerful procession to a facility that promotes and\/or performs abortion, I was in contact with Chris Bell (Joan\u2019s husband). Just before contacting Chris, I \u201cgoogled\u201d Joan, remembering that she had been facing a trial in Washington, D.C. I quickly learned that, on Sept. 15, Joan and two others had been convicted on \u201cfederal charges for blockade at an abortion clinic.\u201d An article in Catholic Review<\/em><\/a><\/strong> shares some details about Joan and the two others who were convicted. It says the following about Joan:<\/p>\n

Joan Andrews Bell, 74, of Montague, N.J. \u2014 Bell gained fame decades ago for her participation in Operation Rescue and her willingness to endure long terms of incarceration, including solitary confinement, after clinic blockade and trespassing convictions.<\/p>\n

Bell has been a Catholic activist since the Supreme Court\u2019s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that declared abortion a constitutional right until the high court reversed its precedent in the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision. Bell is a veteran of the clinic \u201crescues,\u201d serving jail terms in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh, as well as state prison in Pensacola, Fla.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Christopher Bell, is president and executive director of the New Jersey-based Good Counsel Homes. Joan Andrews Bell declined a lawyer and represented herself in court.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Joan-Andrews-Bell-a\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bishop is Kevin J Sweeney and he is relatively young – 53 – and originally from Queens, NY. He  was ordained a priest in 1997 and installed as Bishop of Paterson NJ on April 15, 2020. It's a beautiful column, al.  We have excerpted the first part; hit the link for the entire column. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}