It was a sacrilege of ignorance that produced the invasion of Holy Name cathedral during Easter Sunday Mass when six members of the aptly named “Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War” interrupted Cardinal Francis George’s sermon and tossed vials of phony blood on people. Aptly named because it was indeed a immature insult to civility, more evocative of a bad baby tossing over a bowl of porridge than a legitimate protest.

It was also a sacrilege because as all Catholics should know, the celebrant at the altar is offering Mass in the name of all of Christ’s members, since he represents Christ, the Savior, head of the Church, the Mass offered in the fullness of Christ’s mystical membership which includes all who belong to the Mystical Body. By standing up, raising a ruckus, terrifying children and tossing vials of “blood,” the latter day hippies who carry the name Catholic failed to recognize that the Mass they intruded upon represented the most sublime example of peace. The disreputable ones failed to understand that they were defiling worship of the Prince of Peace whose principles, were they to be applied to the world, would rule out all war as being at variance with the Sermon on the Mount.

The stark inappropriateness of choosing Easter Sunday for the demonstration is so gross as can hardly be contemplated. By His death on the cross, Christ won human salvation, making it possible for those before and since to receive the grace they need to merit heaven. Just as the crucifixion means the end of our estrangement from God, the resurrection means the beginning of justification, a mystery which takes on startling implications when we realize it is the risen Christ, the symbol of peace, One who will die no more by whom the faithful are continually taught, governed and sanctified. Thus to demonstrate for “peace” at that time is as inappropriate as jeering at a funeral or disrobing in public.

Thus the six were unknowing, uneducated ignoramuses not to understand the high inappropriateness of the location of their demonstration. Nor do they appreciate that senseless demonstrations like theirs, when conducted in the scandalous way they performed, reinforce the contention in average citizens’ minds that war has some higher purpose than it has. None other than Richard Nixon whose cynicism has still been unplumbed understood that rioters, unkempt demonstrators work a contrary effect which is why he gloried in raising his two arms aloft and making the “V” for victory sign to goad them on. This does not mean one should avoid protesting war…but like anything else in life, the protest should be done with maximum regard for the need to win converts. Cardinal George, we need not emphasize, is not a symbol of war—he has spoken out against it and in his meetings with political leaders has undoubtedly expressed his opposition in meaningful and respectful terms. The fact that he met with the president is no cause to evoke a demonstration. Rather such meetings should be encouraged.

And Cardinal George as the most revered of all the nation’s Catholic hierarchy for his sympathies for peace and resolution of conflict the least deserving of barbarity such as the “Schoolgirls” displayed.

If the “schoolgirls” had any knowledge of history, they would realize that the last time protests of this type were waged against a war, in 1968, they sparked a counter-attack that led to the election of Richard Nixon and the growth of the George Wallace pro-war third party movement. Four years later with the memory of riots still vivid, George McGovern, a purported candidate of peace who called for Vietnam troops to be withdrawn, suffered the greatest electoral loss in the history of the country, carrying only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Were we cynical we would suspect the “Schoolgirls” were recruited by pro-war forces and duped by them so as to increase the public outrage against such despicable forays as had happened on Easter Sunday. The proper way to oppose the war is to become informed, participate in acceptable public forums and vote. Invading Mass with vials of ersatz blood is the scenario for postponing any favorable resolution of conflict. Why didn’t the “Schoolgirls” know this? Because they were, by their own admission, producing a polarization that can immeasurably lengthen the conflict caused by their hoping to cause attention and gain 15 seconds of celebrity.

Thus they have performed an incredibly tasteless and selfish act which is repeated will make the job of winning peace enormously difficult.

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Thomas F. Roeser is chairman of the editorial board for The Chicago Daily Observer.