Priest puts bite into argument

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 10

Priest puts bite into argument

NZPA Seattle A Catholic priest let his feelings be known after President Ronald Reagan’s address to the American Legion, and even put some teeth into it — his own. Father Charlie Thorpe, of Montreal, a former United States Marine who served in World War II and Korea, b(t a demonstrator’s hand when

their discussion of Central American policy heated up yesterday. Outside the hall where Mr Reagan had just addressed the American Legion convention, the demonstrator called the priest a fascist and put his hand in front of Father Thorpe’s face when the priest tried to reply. Father Thorpe, in a Catholic collar and Legion-

naire cap, glowered at the young man, then chomped down on the fleshy part of his hand. The demonstrator’s eyes bugged like saucers. After a couple of seconds, Father Thorpe loosened his clamp and the demonstrator melted into the crowd. “I was all right until he shoved his hand in my face,” said Father Thorpe,

an American citizen who has been a priest for eight years. He is past commander of the Canadian branch of the American Legion. “He stuck his hand in my face and that constitutes assault,” said the priest, who walks with a cane because shrapnel broke his back during the Korean conflict. The police separated the

two and said that no charges would be laid. In the hall Mr Reagan accused the world’s pacifist movements of seeking to “weaken the free,” and suggested that their attitude could be the catalyst to a new world war. He compared peace groups today with the work of pacifists of the 1920 s and 19305.