Almost two years ago, Mark Crosby’s life changed in minutes.
While on a mission to pray, hold pro-life signs and offer materials outside a Planned Parenthood in Baltimore with his friend Dick Schaefer, the two were assaulted by a stranger May 23, 2023. Schaefer, then 84, was knocked out and injured, while Crosby, then 73, suffered severe facial injuries, including a fractured eye plate, leading to a three-day hospital stay and follow-up visits.
Now, Crosby looks back on the attack as “the most glorious day of my life.” He believes Jesus allowed the assault as part of his spiritual journey.
“If you look at what Jesus went through and his Passion, this was nothing,” Crosby said. “Shedding blood and suffering pain for Jesus was the most powerful spiritual thing that has ever happened. It was a gift.”
During one of his two visits to University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson after spending three days at the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Crosby received what he called a “loving and caring” call from Donald J. Trump, then the former president. He was later Trump’s guest at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“We’re talking and praying together,” Crosby said, noting he also received a call from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I’m praying with a president. This is like, ‘What?’ ”
He said Trump’s prayers, along with those of others, helped him heal. He lost part of his retina, but his vision returned, and his bruising cleared without surgery.
A native of Baltimore, Crosby was born and raised Catholic. Crosby became more involved with his Catholic faith after joining Christ the King in Towson about five years ago, where he met Schaefer and became active in the pro-life movement.
Christ the King is a parish of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, an ecclesial structure similar to a diocese that is dedicated to former Anglican faith communities that have been received into the Catholic Church.
“Dick is so good at what he does,” Crosby said. “He has saved hundreds of babies.”
Crosby wishes more Catholics would stand with him and Schaefer outside Planned Parenthood, which shares a wall with Options@328, a pro-life pregnancy resource center supported by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
“I’m a baptized Catholic and I feel as though I have a moral obligation to save as many babies as possible,” Crosby said.
Before the assault, Crosby and Schaefer had been spat on, shoved and verbally assaulted over the years.
Despite the assault, Crosby and Schaefer remain outside Planned Parenthood five days a week. They talk to people, pray, hold controversial posters with images of aborted fetuses and hand out bags filled with a rosary, prayer cards and more.
“When we leave there, it’s a spiritual high,” Crosby said.
A jury in Baltimore Circuit Court found Patrick Brice guilty Feb. 6 on two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment for attacking Mark Crosby and Dick Schaefer.
Brice was found not guilty on the first-degree assault charge on Schaefer and the jury was undecided for the same first-degree assault charge on Crosby. Sentencing is set for March 20, when it will be decided if a second trial will take place for Crosby’s assault charge.
Sister Deirdre Byrne of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts in Washington, D.C., is a good friend of Crosby’s who admires his public witness.
“It is really a calling – not everyone has it,” Sister Deirdre said. “Not everyone could be able to do what he does at abortion clinics. He is inspired.”
Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org
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