By John Connolly, LifeSiteNews.com, November 28, 2007

SAN MATEO, California - A pro-life activist long-time parishioner was arrested at the request of a pro-homosexuality Catholic priest on Tuesday, November 13 for trespassing on church grounds at St. Matthew's parish in San Mateo after the activist allegedly defied a ban on attendance at the church.

Ross Foti, 72, has attended St. Matthew's for eighteen years, and became a well-known and controversial figure in the parish over his staunch pro-life views and active voice against homosexuality.

Catholic San Francisco, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, reported that the dispute between Foti and the parish began over the truck he drives to protest at a local abortion clinic. Parents complained that the truck's graphic images of aborted babies were traumatic for children on their way to school.

Fr. Anthony McGuire, pastor of St. Matthew's, banned Foti from attending the 8:15AM children's Mass on Fridays, a ban that Foti asserts was not permanent. He also insists that Fr. McGuire has no right to ban him from Mass. Despite Foti's willingness to cover the graphic images on his truck, Fr. McGuire requested that Foti also cover signs that read, "Abortion is murder."

"I'm not doing anything wrong," said Foti, who has been ordered to appear in San Mateo County Superior Court on Dec. 27. "I don't feel that [McGuire] had any valid grounds to ban me from the church."

Fr. McGuire, however, disagrees. He said that Foti was unwilling to be flexible in response to the parents' concerns.

"Mr. Foti denied their experience and told them that these pictures did not have any bad effect on their children," he said. "That is the main issue."

Katie Short, a lawyer for the Life Defense Legal Foundation said Foti did not do anything illegal and confirmed that he has never been a threat to children.

"Where do you draw the line with parishioners drumming other parishioners out of the parish?" she asked. "Who can pressure the pastor the most?"

Fr. McGuire has served in many notable parishes in the San Francisco Archdiocese, and is credited for the transformation of Most Holy Redeemer parish, now a notoriously pro-homosexual parish that became increasingly gay- and lesbian-oriented during Fr. McGuire's tenure. While pastor of Most Holy Redeemer, Fr. McGuire saw to it that gay couples could be included at the parish as Eucharistic ministers, and approved a gay and lesbian outreach program for the parish.

In 2006, following in the legacy of Fr. McGuire, Most Holy Redeemer parish sent a delegation to the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

San Francisco Archbishop Responds After Caught on Video Giving Communion to Gay Men Dressed as Nuns
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/oct/07101004.html

San Francisco Archdiocese on BBC "Gay Mass": It was not a Mass and We Didn't Endorse it
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07042705.html

Scandalous San Francisco 'Gay Pride' Pastor and Chancellor Back in Saddle after "Leave"
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/nov/06111709.html