Former abortion clinic now a house for pro-life causes
Ceremonies were held to rededicate 827 Webster St.
   K.E. Casey, kcasey@news-sentinel.com
Published: May 21, 2007
Outside a former abortion clinic at 827 Webster St. on Saturday morning, about 30 people waited for ceremonies to rededicate the building for pro-life causes. Pastor Wendell Brane of Trinity Evangelical Church stepped onto the sidewalk and motioned his arm at the ground. “There’s an injunction here,” he announced. “You guys are going to have to move.” He smiled, and the crowd laughed. “It’s my injunction now,” responded Bryan Brown, walking up to greet him. In 1990, U.S. District Judge William Lee issued an injunction that kept pro-life demonstrators from moving closer than 25 feet to the clinic, according to News-Sentinel archives. The address had been a battleground for pro-life and pro-choice causes in the late 1980s into the 1990s. Brane and Brown led demonstrations and civil disobedience there. The News-Sentinel reported last week that Brown and his group, the Donegal Corridor, purchased the building and plan to convert it for pro-life causes. Brown coordinated the Saturday morning inter-faith ceremonies, which included an Orthodox exorcism, a Catholic blessing and an evangelical dedication of the site where about 700 abortions were performed each year between 1978 and 2006. Saturday’s group was different from a May morning on Webster Street in 1992, when more than 50 city and county police officers separated a crowd of more than 250 pro-life demonstrators on one side of the street from pro-choice advocates on the other, according to News-Sentinel archives. During ceremony preparations, Father David Meinzen of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church of Crescent Avenue said the rite of exorcism has been exaggerated in popular culture. In the Orthodox Church, exorcisms don’t always assume demonic possession. He said the rite can be performed as protection against further attacks from evil and “wherever we believe evil has been working.” Four Knights of Columbus members stood behind Meinzen and Deacon Mike Myers also of St. Nicholas, as they intoned the Orthodox rite. Incense filled the cool morning air, and when Meinzen began to recite the Lord’s Prayer, it spread to the crowd, and the voices competed with the drone of cars on Washington and Jefferson boulevards. Meinzen made a crossing motion with a scepter of holy water before leading the procession through the building. Inside the house, the voices of Meinzen and Myers continued the ritual. Outside, a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace.” Pro-life activist Frank Avilla and Brane spoke to the crowd. Brane lauded the day’s success, but said the “horrid stench” of abortion “still rises” in the city. Outside, a few people stopped to watch the ceremonies. “Instead of going forward in life, we’re going backward,” said Brenda Wilson, who disapproved of the ceremonies. “They’re not offering jobs or financial support” for women considering whether to continue a pregnancy, she said. After the ceremonies, organizers opened the building to the public as a second bagpiper played outside. Inside the building, a long table pushed against the wall was covered in newspaper clippings describing protests at the site.
Illustration: PHOTO (2)
Caption:Pastor Wendell Brane of Trinity Evangelical Church speaks to the assembled crowd during a ceremony at the former abortion clinic at 827 Webster St. He is flanked by the Knights of Columbus. During the ceremonies, two bagpipers played “Amazing Grace.” Photo By K.E. Casey of The News-Sentinel Longtime pro-life activist and former Fort Wayne resident Father George Gabet of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter speaks to the assembled crowd after blessing the former abortion clinic at 827 Webster St.

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