By Shauntel Lowe
Times-herald
November 13, 2008
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_10972251
A Fairfield priest forced a woman to leave church Sunday because she had messages supporting President-elect Barack Obama written on her car's windows, parishioners said.
Elizabeth Caster, a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Fairfield for six years, said Father Sebastian Meyer announced just before Sunday's noon mass that a car in the parking lot's loading zone bearing pro-Obama messages would be towed in 10 minutes if it were not moved.
Caster said Meyer followed her out of the church, and then "chased" her and her 10-year-old son to her car, saying "Go! Go!"
"He came out and said he doesn't want to see that car on the premises," Caster said.
 |
| Elizabeth Caster and her son, Ben, 10, of Fairfield describe the embarrassment of being removed from church services last Sunday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Fairfield. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald) |
Meyer said Wednesday he would not comment on the incident despite numerous requests from the Times-Herald since Monday morning.
Caster there were two other cars parked in the loading zone, as was common at the church, and Meyer did not mention them at the time.
In the announcement about the car, Meyer said "I don't care who Obama is. He won. Get over it," said Peggy Sherrod, a church member since 1989.
"It was what he said and how he said it," Sherrod said. "It was very mean and confrontational."
Caster's gray Toyota Sequoia has messages like "Go Obama" scrawled on the windows. She said she put the messages up election night because Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declared a national holiday when Obama, whose father was Kenyan, won.
"Since I wasn't there to celebrate with them that's why I decided to write on the car," said Caster, who moved to the United States from Kenya in 2000. She is now a U.S. citizen.
Caster and Sherrod said other cars at the church bore stickers and signs supporting Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain throughout the election campaign.
"There was never any commentary about that," Sherrod said, adding that parishioners also passed out stickers and lawn signs supporting the same-sex marriage measure, Proposition 8, each week. Caster said Meyer passed them out himself, but Sherrod said she had not seen him do that.
Sunday's mass was led by a visiting priest, but Meyer came out and made the announcement about Caster's car. He returned briefly but did not stay for mass, Sherrod said.
"The spirit and the intensity of mass was just not there. We were just going through the motions," Sherrod said.
In front of her home Wednesday afternoon, Caster said because of Sunday's incident, she would not return to Our Lady of Carmel to worship.
"I thought everybody was going to be happy and we were going to celebrate together," she said.
Email Shauntel Lowe at slowe@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6835.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.