Capuchin Brother, President of Messmer Catholic Schools, speaks on Walker protests

A great article. Fascinating. Kudos to Brother Bob for standing his ground and not being intimidated. Imagine if pro-lifers tried to pull this stunt [photo, left, of police officers preventing protesters from crossing onto Messmer property, which is private property].

Milwaukee Catholic Herald:

Messmer Preparatory Catholic School at 3027 N. Fratney St. was vandalized Thursday, Aug. 25, and parents were threatened by protesters surrounding the school Friday morning, Aug. 26, before Gov. Scott Walker’s scheduled visit, according to a press release from the school.

The release said school officials were informed Thursday night that the building alarms were set off, and discovered Friday morning that nine locks on exterior doors, including a parking gate, doors to the building and a church building door, were sealed with glue. Capuchin Br. Bob Smith, president and CEO of Messmer Catholic Schools, which include Messmer High School and the K4-8 St. Rose and St. Leo School, told your Catholic Herald Monday that opening the doors, whose locks that were filled with superglue, wood glue and wood, required staff from all three campuses.

People that surrounded the entire block of the school Friday held signs in protest and grew angrier as the police presence grew, said Br. Bob, who walked up and down Fratney Street asking protesters to stay off the school property and to remove signs and blankets they were hanging on the school’s fences.

“It was a certain segment of Milwaukee at its worst,” he said. “There were people telling me that they didn’t want to see me in the neighborhood again, and I said to them, ‘I didn’t ask you when I came here, and I’m not asking you for permission to come back. This neighborhood doesn’t belong to you.”

“I said to people that I spoke with then and I said earlier today that I’ve lived in Detroit, I’ve lived in Chicago, Atlanta, here, and I don’t run from bullies and thugs or threats,” said Br. Bob, who hopes someone will turn in the person or people responsible for the vandalism so that he, she or they can pay to replace the school’s key and fob systems that were destroyed. “And you’re going to have to go through me to get to the kids and the faculty and staff, and you better bet that if you cross that line, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Read the rest here.

A number of unions participated in the Messmer protest, including the SEIU.

Also in this week's Milwaukee Catholic Herald was a tribute to the value of unions in society by John Huebscher of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (the Milwaukee Catholic Herald's title on the article was, "Credit unions for much of what you enjoy," but it's only online at the GB Compass). A tad ironic, no?