Bush’s Church Services Jolted by Protester

KENNEBUNKPORT, Me. â€”  Competing sounds of protest and patriotic song punctuated President Bush’s Sunday morning church service here, as a longtime peace activist staged a demonstration that momentarily breached the distance that has separated the President and the public since he launched the war against Iraq.

“This is a time for repentance,� the anti-war protester, John Schuchardt, called out. “This is a time to admit mistakes. We are called to be peacemakers. This is a vicious, immoral attack.�

The congregation here in the Congregational Church responded by rising, spontaneously, and singing “God Bless America.�

Later, Schuchardt stood up again and was dragged out of the church by police as he shouted “Stop the bombing!�

The incident was the first public confrontation with protest for Bush since the war began.

The President, whose first two years in office were marked by nearly constant travel and contact with people outside Washington, sharply changed his style as the war neared. He since has left the secure but restrictive confines of the White House only for carefully controlled public appearances.

Even here, on a brief vacation, he has been surrounded by unusually tight security, including roadblocks that prevent pedestrians from walking along the road that provides a view of Bush’s Walker Point home.

Although Bush sat, stony-faced, through Schuchardt’s protest on Sunday, later, speaking to reporters, he offered an indirect reply.

“I am concerned about the suffering of innocents,� he said as part of a response to a question about prospects for a diplomatic end to the war. “I hope we can get an end to that suffering very, very soon. I think we will.�

But, Bush said, “the American people are strongly in support not only of the troops, but of the objectives� he has set for the war. “And, of course, that is a very important point because it is my hope that when this is over, we will have kicked, for once and for all, the so-called Vietnam syndrome� of America being reluctant to use military power to achieve foreign-policy goals.

Sunday morning’s events unfolded in a setting Norman Rockwell could have painted: a simple white, clapboard church on a quiet New England street dotted with small piles of snow. Rockwell, however, probably would not have included Secret Service agents with magnetometers checking all who entered.

Inside the crowded chapel, the President and Barbara Bush took a seat in a front pew, while Schuchardt and his wife, who had driven here early in the morning from their home near Boston, sat on the other side of the aisle.

But about 10 minutes into the service, the scene changed dramatically as the Rev. Patricia Adam asked, as is common in Congregational churches, for people to rise and offer their prayers. After a few routine statements--a prayer for an ill child, another for a sick friend--Schuchardt rose.

“I have a concern,� said the tall, white-haired, 51-year-old former lawyer and Marine, dressed in a pin-stripe suit, white shirt and tie as he rose. “Think of the 18 million people of Iraq, half are children under the age of 15. We must think of what it means to be bombed by more than 2,000 planes every day. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. I will speak for the poor and those who are suffering.�

As he continued, and Bush turned to look, several members of the congregation shouted “Enough!� Then first one, then another, rose and began to sing. As the sounds of “God Bless America� filled the church, Schuchardt briefly stopped but quickly started again, prompting shouts of “This is not a political forum!� and “Get him out of here!�

Eventually, after a sermon by Adam on the importance of listening--�We have to listen to those with whom we disagree . . . they too may be right�--Schuchardt began to speak again and was dragged away.

He was later booked on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct for “disrupting the continuity of a church service,� said Kennebunkport police Sgt. Gary Ronan. After refusing to post $1,000 bail, Schuchardt began a hunger strike and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday, his wife said.

The arrest was one of many in the career of a veteran activist whose protests have ranged from a 1977 demonstration against nuclear weapons near the home of then-President Jimmy Carter in Plains, Ga., to a 1988 protest in Guatemala aimed at U.S. policies in Central America.