CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously, and today it is under attack,” Caroline Kennedy — daughter of America’s first Catholic president — stated during her prime-time speech endorsing President Barack Obama last night, Sept. 6, at the Democratic National Convention.
Kennedy’s astonishing invocation of her Catholic faith in support of abortion — which the Church teaches is always intrinsically evil — capped off what is being described as the most pro-abortion convention of a national party in U.S. history.
Another poke in the eye to social conservatives: The new Democratic platform features a plank endorsing homosexual “marriage.” The unprecedented deletion of any reference to God in this year’s Democratic platform — put back only after three roll-call votes — was also a turnoff for traditional Christian viewers. Boos from the floor upon the reintroduction of God into the platform probably didn’t help.
Convention speakers included such luminaries of the abortion movement as Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund; Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America; and Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student who rose to national prominence with her demand that even employers who object to the federal contraception mandate on moral or religious grounds should be forced to pay for it anyway.
“It’s like we woke up in a bad episode of Mad Men,” said Richards, in a reference to the furor provoked by the controversial federal mandate and GOP attempts to end federal funding of organizations that provide abortion services.
“When Mitt Romney says he’ll ‘get rid of’ Planned Parenthood and turn the clock back on a century of progress, it has real consequences for the 3 million patients who depended on Planned Parenthood last year,” Richards told the convention.
The “get rid of” quote was a reference to Romney’s publicly stated vow to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood if he is elected. According to FactCheck.org, Planned Parenthood received $363.2 million, about a third of its budget, from the federal government in 2008-09.
As for contraception, the Republican Party has no position on the “issue,” other than opposition to forcing employers who regard it as morally repugnant to pay for contraception coverage, including access to abortifacents, without even a co-pay.
Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood made the most of its high-profile role at the Charlotte convention. It joined in the “war on women” drumbeat and handed out condom souvenirs — presented in bright-pink sleeves that looked like matchbooks, bearing the slogan: “Protect yourself from Romney and Ryan in this election.” A spokesman for the group told the Daily Caller that they were “literally mobbed on the sidewalks” by condom seekers.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, widely viewed as the architect of the contraception mandate, also addressed the convention.
While giving top billing to abortion-rights leaders, the Democratic Party also adopted a platform that supports abortion under virtually all circumstances. The language does not rule out even partial-birth or late-term abortions and seems to endorse public funding of abortion. The formula that abortions should be “safe, legal and rare,” at least an acknowledgement of the gravity of the issue, was dropped in 2008.
The current abortion plank reads, in part: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
Steve Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at Catholic University of America and a co-chair of Catholics for Obama, admitted that he is not pleased by the language in the platform.
“It’s well-known that Democrats for Life pushed hard but had little success in advocating for changes to the 2012 Democratic Party platform that made more room in the party for pro-life concerns,” said Schneck, a member of Democrats for Life, who debated budget issues with vice-presidential hopeful Paul Ryan in the pages of Our Sunday Visitor. He added that about 30% of Democrats nationally identify themselves as pro-life.
Instead of influencing the platform, however, Democrats for Life were relegated to a hotel, where the group held a panel discussion entitled “Can You Be Pro-Life in a Pro-Choice Party?” It drew about 40 people.
The abortion activism spilled out of the convention and into the streets, where activists from around the U.S. gathered. Pro-lifer Brice Griffin and her 11-year-old daughter Zoe attended a prayer vigil to end abortion last Friday in Charlotte. Griffin said that Zoe was reduced to tears after a pro-abortion demonstrator called her “stupid.”
Griffin added that the pro-life group spread out several thousand red carnations to remember the children who die each day through abortion. One pro-abortion activist brazenly picked up two carnations, according to Griffin, and, placing one behind each ear, announced that she was commemorating her two abortions.
The incident made it into the Charlotte Observer. “I had two abortions, no regrets,” Lucia Liberta of the “End Pornography and Patriarchy” group was quoted as saying. “Without this basic right, women cannot be free.”
“The Democrats are definitely drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘We support abortion with no apology,’” said Bryan Kemper of Stand True, an anti-abortion group.
The emphasis on abortion and contraception is an element of a broader campaign to present Republicans as opposed to the interests of women, an important group of voters in the tight 2012 presidential race.
The “war on women” rhetoric surfaced as soon as religious leaders, backed by some of their allies in the GOP, began to strongly oppose the contraception mandate. Media coverage of that dispute picked up the theme, but Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life organization, doesn’t think it is working.
“They are true believers, and it’s hard for them to get outside of that mindset. But they are doing worse [than they were] among women,” said Dannenfelser.
Indeed, an ABC News poll released earlier this month found that the president’s popularity with women was “under water.”
The poll found that, among women registered voters, the president’s favorables had fallen from 57-39 favorable-unfavorable in April to a current 46-50.
“I think they overreached with Sandra Fluke because she is not a sympathetic character for most women,” Dannenfelser said.
Dannenfelser added that the removal of the word “rare” from the Democratic plank is significant, because doing so “reflects [their] desire to be purists and reveals that they are extremists.” However, Dannenfelser thinks that this gives her group an opening. “We are exploiting that,” she said.
She noted that the Susan B. Anthony List made a $42,000 ad buy for a spot featuring abortion survivor Melissa Ohden that ran on major networks during the president’s acceptance speech. SBA has plans to purchase additional TV time to highlight what the organization terms the president’s “extreme record on abortion.”
Dannenfelser said that the Ohden ad is particularly relevant because President Obama voted four times against legislation that would have provided medical attention to children such as Ohden who are born alive despite an attempted abortion.
“On balance,” Michael Barone, a columnist and the American Enterprise Institute’s noted expert on electoral politics, called the Democratic convention’s emphasis on abortion “a mistake” because “it’s being emphasized at a time when swing voters think the economy is the most important issue.”
The Democrats themselves may realize that a steady diet of abortion may turn away more moderate voters. Indeed, asked if the emphasis will convince some voters that the Democrats are radical on the social issues, Barone replied, “They are putting their radicals on at 5 or 6pm [when fewer people are watching]. They are going heavy on this stuff before 10pm.” Still, Democrats may be “sending a message that they are not concentrating on the right causes.”
“What is so interesting is that this is not one of the issues you could have imagined the Democrats seizing upon four years ago — or this year,” said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
Ornstein is a Democrat who teamed with the Brookings Institution’s Thomas Mann to write It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, which is critical of Republicans.
Ornstein said that the abortion pitch is “not an unalloyed plus” for the Democrats but that it has the possibility of attracting pro-choice Republican women and those who believe that withdrawing federal funding from Planned Parenthood would be bad for women who seek the organization’s contraceptive services.
Meanwhile, Democrats for Life soldiered on in Charlotte. Bart Stupak, the former Michigan congressman who did not seek re-election after casting a vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, despite strong pro-life concerns, was one of the speakers.
During the final bruising weeks that culminated in the passage of the health bill, it was Stupak who negotiated the executive order that ostensibly banned federal funding of abortion and led several pro-life Democrats to provide the crucial votes necessary to secure the passage of Obamacare.
Now, two years later, during the Democrats for Life gathering in Charlotte, he expressed misgivings about the contraception mandate authorized under the health bill. In response to a question, Stupak reportedly said of the Health and Human Services rule, “I think it’s illegal. I believe it has contraceptive services; it also has drugs that induce [abortion] ... abortifacient drugs.”
Stupak nevertheless expressed his hope that the issue could be resolved in the future.
Another speaker was Kathy Dahlkemper, the former Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania’s third district, who joined Stupak in voting for Obamacare. She was defeated for re-election in the 2010 midterm election.
Dahlkemper said she knew that when she cast her vote for the health bill it could cost her the seat, but said that “health care for all is something priests and bishops have supported for many years.”
“The Democratic Party aligns with most of my beliefs and values more than the Republican Party that only claims to be pro-life,” she told the Register. “Some of the extremists in the pro-life movement are only pro-birth.”
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, told the Register that her party’s uncompromisingly pro-abortion stance is costing them votes.
“[The evolution of the stance] was gradual,” she said, “and it’s not really a winning strategy. Only if we have the pro-life Democrats will we get back into the majority.”
Asked if the Democrats for Life are fighting a lost battle Michael Barone, the political analyst, replied, “Yes,” adding that it is not likely that the Democratic Party will alter its staunchly pro-abortion stand any time soon.
The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, delivered a prayer at the convention. He said he is a registered independent and is pro-life.
“Last night at the convention, we had a pro-life nun speak,” he noted, in a reference to Sister Simone Campbell of Network, a Catholic social-justice lobby. “It’s very clear that … a growing group of evangelicals and Catholics are pro-life and trying to have that conversation with the Democratic National Convention.”
Yet, in the Vatican's recent "Instruction" outlining its concerns with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and related organizations, Network, the organization Sister Simone has led as executive director since 2004, was criticized for its silence "on the right to life from conception to natural death, a question that is part of the lively public debate about abortion and euthanasia in the United States."
Recently, Sister Simone led a “Nuns on the Bus” tour that traveled across the country protesting vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s proposed budget cuts. During her convention speech, she described her advocacy of government programs for the needy as “pro-life.”
Sister Simone was quoted this week in The Weekly Standard. When asked if doctors who perform abortions should be penalized, she said, “That’s beyond my pay grade.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gave the final benediction at the Democratic convention, as he had done earlier at the Republican convention. Cardinal Dolan’s two prayers were strikingly similar, with just a bit of tinkering.
He did not fail to pray for unborn children. "We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected," Cardinal Dolan prayed at the Democratic convention.
In Charlotte, Dolan also prayed about not refashioning the "institutions [God] has given us," which is hard not to construe as an allusion to same-sex “marriage.”
Catholic intellectual George Weigel praised Cardinal Dolan’s prayer at the Democratic convention, noting that he doubted "that any American bishop in history has delivered a more courageous benediction at a public event, under more difficult circumstances."
Not everybody was quite pleased. Washington’s Examiner newspaper reported that “liberals on Twitter” lost no time in expressing “displeasure with a pro-life benediction,” many using profane or vulgar language in their tweets.
Cardinal Dolan’s New York Archdiocese is one of the Catholic institutions suing the federal government in an effort to overturn the HHS contraception mandate.
Register correspondent Charlotte Hays is based in Washington.
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It’s sad that the Democratic Party has pulled the rug out from under pro-life Democrats, but their logic is finally becoming visible, and maybe this will lead pro-life Dems to leave the party.
The logic of the left begins with three fallacies: 1. Human activity cannot produce value. This means that the poverty some parts of the world suffered around 150 years ago resulted from two things: too many people, and too much wealth in some people’s hands. It’s the fixed pie, zero-sum assumption. By that reasoning, since the rich are even richer now, and the world is several times more populated, left-wing theory holds that disaster is coming. 2. They believe that sex is a necessity. Therefore, abstinence is cruel and asking anyone to be abstinent, even just during some parts of the month, is hateful, like telling people to harm themselves. 3. Everything is subjective. Therefore, a child exists only if someone more visible, more audible, more vocal says so. Otherwise there is no child.
Anyone who accepts the three left-wing assumptions of the fixed pie, the harmfulness of abstinence and the subjectivity of all existence will eventually see “unwanted” children as unreal, as unfair punishments for unavoidable activity, and as dangers to humanity, making others poorer.
Why do Republican shills keep pretending that a pro-life stance from a Republican candidate is anything more than lip service? I can promise you that Romney, when in office, will do as much to end abortion as every Republican president before him - that is to say, diddly squat. A vote for Romney isn’t a vote against the intrinsic evil of abortion any more than a vote for Obama was a vote against unjust wars of aggression.
Both parties are severely lacking in many ways. However, it’s pretty clear NOW that the Democratic party is CLEARLY showing that their type of thinking has finally led them to the precipice of death. They directly advocate for a culture of death with their position on abortion, same-sex marriage, etc… Any pro-life Democrat not willing to the see the forest from the trees is only kidding themselves thinking that they’re voting in line with a party that believes in life when it’s DEATH that clearly emanates from their platform. If the pro-life Democrats can’t get a hearing to voice their views in a party that supposedly values diversity, it will take an act of God to straighten the crooked and immoral path this party has taken. A vote for Romney may not bring an end to abortion as a previous comment states, but it is a clearly better path towards life than what the Democrats are unashamedly embracing.
Can you support abortion and be in an anti-abortion Party? Romney is.
Delusional. They’re delusional. Just like this guy^
So, John Henry, what is your suggestion people do? Take the cynical route and not vote for anyone altogether, since all politicians are the same?
.
@Serena Rainey: Amen!
I want to pinch myself to know that all this vile and ‘culture of death’ Democrat rhetoric is real… I cannot believe that the party I belonged to for decades has stooped this low.
.
Allowing a harridan like Sandra Fluke to speak at the convention reveals reams about the moral degradation of the Democrat party, and our culture. I cringe when I see her flaunt her ‘sexual freedom’. It is gross and revolting. She is child of God, but her parents must be so ashamed. I would be embarrassed and dejected if she were my daughter. It is all so sad.
The “War on ....” phrases should be countered with a “War on children”, referring to the rush to ensure that women won’t be bothered by the little dears as women plunge into what life can give them - for free if they can arrainge it.
Could we have become any more decadent any faster?
I objected to the Cardinal appearing at a convention, but, I was proud to see him standing alone speaking Catholic truth.
Positive action on the part of two US senators impacted Obamacare to help pregnant teens. The Affordable Care Act has a section called the Pregnancy Assistance Fund which has already approved grants to 17 states. It has been funded for $250 for the next 10 years. Pro-life senator Bob Casey and pro-choice senator Amy Klobuchar worked together to introduced this legislation.
“PAF provides funding to States and Tribes to provide pregnant and parenting teens and women with a seamless network of supportive services to help them complete high school or postsecondary degrees and gain access to health care, child care, family housing, and other critical supports. The funds are also used to improve services for pregnant women who are victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual assault, and stalking.” Cooperation and communication can reduce the negative impact of the fight between pro-life and pro-choice forces.
Where is her Bishop and why hasn’t he officially excommunicate her? The reason is very simple: $MONEY$, plus the fact that many of the American catholic Church leaders are cowards when it comes to doing what they are suppose to do: Lead us into Heaven, not hell. The Roman Catholic Church is only one (except in the U.S.A.) that speaks against birth-control, which is why none of the Republican presidents, which have been fed false theology, accept this horrible lie. Let us pray that Romney will see the truth and act upon it and also that he will be led into the one True Church and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and may all of our Priests, Bishops, Cardinals and sisters allow the Holy Spirit into their lives and say YES to Jesus. +JMJ+
Well said, John Henry. When will we hold our elected officials accountable for their election promises?
John Henry:
The Democratic Party has thrown the pro-lifers in their party under the bus.
This administration hasn’t seen an abortion that they didn’t like. The Democratic Party has shown its true colors in their party’s platform in that the Democratic Party platform is militantly pro-abortion.
The GOP has been able to enact laws in some 40 states that have reduced abortions. For one thing, women are now provided informed consent,something the abortion industry sees as cutting into its profits. (When women learn the facts, see that there are options to aborting, and actually see their babies via sonograms, they overhwelmingly reject abortion).
As far as GOP presidents go, George W. Bush saved unborn lives with the Mexico City policy, abortion restrictions on military bases, and did not push abortion as a condition of foreign aid as the Dems do. He also appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both pro life Justices to the Supreme Court.
If Obama gets re-elected, he will continue to push for more tax-payer funding for abortion, both here in the U.S. and abroad. He will appoint at least two pro abort justices. He will fight any restrictions on abortion, and undo the informed consent laws. He’s the most pro-abortion president ever.
You are wrong if you think over-turning Roe v Wade is the only goal in the fight for life.
Bravo, Serena!
Who knows what Romney really thinks of abortion. He does not seem ideologically committed to ending it. However, he would sign off on any bill limiting it. Congressional Republicans vote as a bloc on Life issues. It’s the best we have.
Thank you John Henry! I couldn’t have said it better.
Particularly disappointing is the following paragraph:
Another poke in the eye to social conservatives: The new Democratic platform features a plank endorsing homosexual “marriage.” The unprecedented deletion of any reference to God in this year’s Democratic platform — put back only after three roll-call votes — was also a turnoff for traditional Christian viewers. Boos from the floor upon the reintroduction of God into the platform probably didn’t help.
Why is a Catholic newspaper reporting so high in the story the concerns of the “social conservatives? Why does the unattributed assertion make a difference? Is it because the NCR supports the causes of the “social conservatives”? I pray not. I read the NCR online daily for information and opinion to bolster my faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If reporting the concerns of the “social conservatives” take priority over God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then the NCR should stop advertising itself as a Roman Catholic newpaper.
And why use word choices that focus on the undesirable and deride a political party’s change of heart? The word “God” was left out of the
Party’s originally-adopted platform, an agrecious mistake by the platform’s decision-maker(s). But Christians are a charitable people. Should not we, as Roman Catholic Christians, rejoice in the change of heart that led the majority of convention-goers to vote to amend the platform to include the word “God”? And while doing that, pray for a conversion of heart for those attention-goers who booed the platform?
GOD help us if the Democrats win!!
Okay, you keep saying I did not enter the image as it is shown. let’s see if it works this time….or does the Catholic register not want to print anything against abortion.
‘Pro-Lfe Democrat’ This is a con game that has finally come to an end. The Party of Death and Deceit has beat that dead horse into the ground. Sadly, there are many Catholics who ‘Buy the Lie’, “I am for abortion and a fat welfare check but against war, therefore, I am Pro-Life” or “I am against abortion BUT I would NOT prevent any woman from killing her baby in the womb”. The Kennedy’s have always been unapologetically Pro-Abortion. Ted Kennedy spent his whole evil political life pushing abortion, euthanasia, sodomy, and immorality. The Kennedy’s are as Catholic as I am Buddhist.
I just received an e-mail from a Protestant friend and she stated: “after seeing the CATHOLIC NUN on T.V. speaking at the DNC, I think I have changed my mind abt. Obama, he is not as bad as I thought. Then we hear Carolyn Kennedy proclaim she is a Catholic and starts her Pro-choice, rah, rah, Obama speech.
I also have a Practicing Catholic Friend who is Democrat and she states she will vote for Obama. When I spoke of the abortion issue and that Bishops are suing the Healthcare bit, she said “Oh I don’t listen to those things..I just vote democrat. I understand that our parish priests do not like to tell their parishioners “how to vote”, but there is no reason why they could not give a sermon about abortion, etc., just to remind them how the Catholic church really feels about these things. But the Church failed again. This should have been done just before the DNC.
@John Henry: I believe Romney is for abortion if it is a choice between mother or child dying, but at least he is a strong believer in God and has a much better background than Obama.
Pro-life Democrat is obviously an oxymoron. There is no common ground between good and evil. You must be one or the other – a member of the Party of Death or the Party of life. For those who have watched the progressive inroads of socialism from FDR’s fascination for uncle Joe to the culmination with the election of Obama. It took only 72 years for Norman Thomas to be a prophet when he predicted in 1936 that socialists would take over our nation without firing a shot. Now it will be up to the voters to rid us of this failed atheistic malady that has been a bane to humanity throughout all of history. If they do not, the greatest experiment in representative government will be gone. Freedom and religious liberty in our nation will be totally destroyed and relegated to the scrap heaps of history.
I am Catholic and a Republican woman. We invite Pro-life Democrat women to join us. We would welcome you and we have the same beliefs.
@TeresaL: My suggestion is not to stop voting. But they way we have been voting for the past 40 years has gotten us what we’ve been getting for the past 40 years. Why not revise our strategy? In the 1850s, abolitionists got sick of lip service from the Whig party, so they abandoned it and backed the idea of a third party. The GOP should be reminded of this - it’s how the Republican party was born, after all.
If enough people like me decide to hold their noses and vote Republican, we’ll get Romney. But if enough reluctant Republicans can look at the choices on the ballot in November, decide neither is acceptable, and vote third party, we might actually have a shot at something other than Business As Usual. At the very least we might scare GOP leaders into taking our concerns more seriously. The message to the Republicans (or the Democrats, although perhaps they don’t stand to lose as much) is this: Represent us and take our issues seriously, or we’ll find someone who will.
Corrections: my comment should have read:
Positive action on the part of two US senators impacted Obamacare to help pregnant teens. The Affordable Care Act has a section called the Pregnancy Assistance Fund which has already approved grants to 17 states. It has been funded for 250 MILLION DOLLARS for the next 10 years. Pro-life senator Bob Casey and pro-choice senator Amy Klobuchar worked together to introduced this legislation.
I agree with Kathleen Kennedy and so do many, many Catholics. I do not personally advocate abortion and I think it should be available to those who decide, for whatever reason, to have one. I do not believe that we as Catholics have the right or should we impose our view on this on everyone in the population. There are other issues than this one that are of concern.
Why is anyone even remotely surprised by any of this? Just about every official loon and fruit loop of the Democrat Party was in Charlotte during the week. All they did was formalize what they believe should be their official motto..to wit… “We kill babies and destroy life”. There’s No God, No Israel. No Nada! Except love of Self!
I was always taught to believe and understand that it was against Church teaching, and a serious sin, to belong to, support, associate with and propagate, whether directly,indirectly or otherwise,any organization that stood for evil or was Anti-Catholic. If this has/was changed then I missed it and would appreciate it if someone please point me to chapter, rhyme & verse where it was done. The Democrat Party surely qualifies as being evil and anti-Catholic. If there are any doubts what the Democrats stood for before their convention they have surely been erased completely. The Democrats officially denied God 3 times (That has a familiar ring from somewhere)in full throat-ed living color (Unless you were both sight and hearing impaired) regardless of their “official” pronouncement of…“The ayes have it” after 3 tries when the “No’s” clearly had won”. Their official 26,000 word platform promotes and supports government funded unrestricted abortion, contraception and same sex marriage.
How any “Catholic” can remain in the Democrat party is beyond me. To do so means one is either a useful idiot, in denial, a CINO…or a combination of all three. Bottom line is that you can’t be a Democrat and a Catholic. To do so means you are a hypocrite and giving scandal.
The USCCB and individual Diocesan Bishops MUST not now state in clear, precise, single syllable English language that:
(1)no Catholic, in good conscience, can vote for ANY politician and/or support ANY political party that supports or espouses any intrinsic evil(s) such as:
(a) abortion, (b) same sex marriage, (c)euthanasia, (c) fetal stem cell research, (e) or any other culture of death issues. PERIOD.
(2)To do so constitutes a grave sin and can be grounds for excommunication.
Their 28 page mumbo jumbo is fine as long as it starts with the above statement in some clear unequivocal fashion. Since no one reads the Bishops statement (including the Bishops themselves it seems)this will save a lot of wasted time and money to say nothing. Very easy and direct. If your politician or political party meets the above description…you can’t vote for them. PERIOD.
If the Bishop(s) do not clearly teach and lead on this matter, they will have abrogated their sworn oath and duty. To do anything less is to give willful scandal on their part.
If the fact that the credibility of the Church, the souls of the faithful, and the survival of the country does not jolt them into action, nothing will.
A Good beginning would be for Dolan to dis-invite Obama to the Smith dinner. If he can’t do that, then at the very,very least, close it to the media and make everyone check their smartphones at the door. If PB16 is smart enough to give Pelosi an audience but not allow any media or pictures, the good Cardinal Dolan should be able to do no less.
Someone, please get Theology of the Body into Ms. Caroline’s hands. so she can teach it to the rest of the group from her platform.
Jesus, , have MERCY on us, and on the whole world.
Utter mendacity! “Catholics” at the DNC claiming that the pro-death, anti-religious-freedom extremism of the Democratic party is supported by Catholic teaching. Bold, brazen mendacity. If the bishops do not speak up loud and clear in their parishes to contradict this, they may well not have the freedom to speak after November.
If 30% of Democrats are pro-life they are being totally ignored and
under-represented within the party of death! They should be woo’ed and
encouraged to cross over and become moderate Repubs where their voices and position will be appreciated and will count. What are they waiting for?
Their days in the DNC are done and over ..and someone should lead them
in the right direction.
RJ..You are sadly misguided in your understanding of the teachings of your faith, Catholicism ?? There cannot be two absolute truths..To say that you, as many other Catholics , do not support abortion, yet do not believe we have the right or authority to impose our values on others…you have to be kidding me…murder is murder..“Thou shalt not kill”..are we imposing our morals on others when we arrest and prosecute murderers of those that are born already? It is the “right ” of no one in society, to kill another, unless they are in imminent mortal danger. I humbly ask you to please read the Catechism of the Catholic Faith and The Bible..both Old and New Testaments. It is our duty to do all we can to protect against intrinsic evil and killing the most vulnerable of us all because they are an inconvenience is absolute evil.May God Have Mercy On Us All!
Why don’t we try a word subsitution here:
“I agree with Kathleen Kennedy and so do many, many Catholics. I do not personally advocate murder and I think it should be available to those who decide, for whatever reason, to murder. I do not believe that we as Catholics have the right or should we impose our view on this on everyone in the population. There are other issues than this one that are of concern.”
There are no other issues more important than to protect innocent life from murder.
The saddest thing about all this is the number of young women and girls who go ahead and have an abortion because so many people are ambivalent about it (I wouldn’t do it but I can’t stop anyone else from doing it) and because of the “it’s ok, it doesn’t cost anything” mentality. Only after the fact do they find that there are costs associated with abortion, but you can’t count them on a calculator.
I too have associates who call themselves Catholic but who fully intend to vote for Democratic candidates because they believe in the social justice aspects they think they see. True social justice does not make dependents out of people, but rather enables people to be self-sufficient and productive members of society.
For anyone who is considering voting for a third party candidate, I can only say to them “Ross Perot.” If you’re not old enough to remember who he is, look it up and learn about dividing the challengers - it’s a sure way for a candidate from one of the two main parties to win the election. I wouldn’t be surprised if Clinton’s campaign had supported Perot’s candidacy.
My family has been associated with the Democrats dating back for more than 100 years. This week, as we watched parts of the Democratic National Convention, it became evident that the party has changed dramatically over the last several years. It saddened all of us to read that the Democrats are now advocating for women to have the ‘right’ to limitless abortions-on-demand. We also watched, in horror, as fellow Democrats booed as God was added back into the party’s platform. We also find it extremely troubling that the individual whom we had so much hope for back in 2008, removed our Church’s right to determine what health insurance coverage it offers its employees. We are now beginning to see our family’s history with the Democratic Party coming to an end; this morning, I was the first in my family to decide to change my party affiliation and join the Republican party. It is my belief that the Democrats can no longer be supported by Catholics without those individuals causing scandal on the Church and its faithful. No longer can anyone who claims to be pro-life vote for this President and his party because doing so would only send a message of hypocrisy. I urge all Catholic Democrats to take a strong look at your faith and determine whether you want to be associated with a party like this; I know I don’t!
There is no such thing as a pro-life democrat. My father, who was a democrat until he died in 1968 would not recognize this anti-God party of today. It was right that God was excluded from their platform. They meant to leave God out and they did. No party that believes in abortion on demand and sodomite marriage is a Godly political party. The democrats are a disgrace to political discourse in this country and if the marxists rig the election for Obummer and he goes back in the White House, this country is done as a nation. Stick a fork in this once great country. I pray that does not happen, but I am scared to death after watching the braindead dolts that comprise the democratic party. Cardinal Dolan’s benediction had smoke coming out of their ears as their heads spun around on their shoulders.
TP…..I thank GOD for your post. I have been praying that people who have been blindly following the Democratic Party come to see what has happened. The Democratic Party has turned radical left. I will continue to pray others see the light. GOD bless you!
I’m amazed at the Catholics who seem to think abortion is “no big deal.” I wonder if RJ would walk by a woman being strangled on a street corner with the logic that she isn’t doing the murdering. As Catholics we are responsible for sins of omission as well as sins of commission.
I have seen the body parts of unborn babies after an abortionist has torn them apart limb from limb. I’ve hard the testimonies of women who not only regret their abortion, but ask important questions: “Why didn’t someone tell me the truth? Why was I lied to? Why wasn’t even one person there to support me when I was pressured by (you name it: boyfriend, family member, friend)to have an abortion I really didn’t want? Some women grieve the rest of their lives after an abortion, suffer physical, mental and emotional trauma—not to mention spiritual—as a result.
Maybe we can’t end abortion tomorrow, but we can still make a difference. Thank God for the wonderful people in so many pro-life orgs who help pregnant women both before and after their babies’ birth (yes, we do care about women after birth too!!!)with financial, material, emotional help. Thank God for legislators like Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) and others who work tirelessly to enact laws that give women informed consent an dlimit the damage of abortion both in the U.S. and abroad. Thank God where are still people who speak out at the voting booth, in their churches and in th e public forum to change hearts and minds.
Being Catholic is not being self-centered. Hopefully, RJ, if you ever have your life threatened, there will be people who are there for you and really care. Who won’t say, “Heck, RJ, you’re just one person. There are other issues an d other people.”
I am very tired of hearing the “Catholic” politician spout this nonsense and not see a direct action taken by the bishop of their community to correct the nonCatholic beliefs they tout. Bishops: Protect our faith! Call out the heretics! Correct these people and save them from this mortal sin and the consequences.
The Catholic Church says ALL ABORTION is a grave moral sin and can never be condoned. There is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat.
All Catholics must put their Faith before their politics.
Catholics may not VOTE for any politician like Obama who promotes abortion, same-sex marriage, violates freedom of religion, etc.
There is are excellent links on the web site: ” What Catholics REALLY Believe Source ” in the answer to the question on ‘voting.’ See question #13.
It includes but is not limited to:
1) A statement by Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict);
2) A Voting Guide for Serious Catholics;
3) Where do Candidates stand on key issues (2012 Presidential);
4) A Comparison of the 2012 Republican and Democratic Party Platforms;
5) A link to the short video “Test of Fire”.
Who will decide what is right ? The term “right” has been stretched to dangerous end. That is why abortion is considered as a right of the women by some political parties. If a mother and son argue that they know what is right for them and decide to enter into marriage, the existing law may forbid. A number of people argue for recognizing this “right” and they may even go to court. The judge belonging to the modern culture too accepts this “right” . When people do not attach any value for the traditional natural law, they would like to say and do anything which they will argue ” do not hurt another individual” . Yes, if Mr XYZ is marrying his mother, they are not hurting you or any person or not going against the Country. The haphazard way the abortion and gay marriage questions are dealt with in America and Western countries will open pandora’s box. There is no doubt in the minds of all balanced people of the world.
Caroline Kennedy’s Diocese Bishop needs to talk to her and if she does not repudiate her public statements about abortion in public (due to the mortal sin of SCANDAL), she should be excommunicated.
For her to use the title “Catholic” and “being pro-abortion” in public is scandalous.
This has nothing to do with liberal or conservative politics. I has to do with HERESY and SCHISM within the Catholic Church.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to repeal Obamacare. It’s important for Catholics everywhere to vote for pro-life and pro-religious liberty candidates like these. There are hardly any pro-life Democrats. If we can elect a Republican Senate and Romney/Ryan, there is hope to stop Obamacare.
If Obamacare is not repealed, many Catholic organizations will have to close because of the required payments for abortifacients and contraceptives. Now is the time for religious believers to stand up and vote Republican (or conservative) in most cases.
Pro-Life Democrats - oxymoron to the max! To see the “catholic” Stephen Schneck, representing the view of pro-life democrats’ true colors, log on to http://www.worldover@ewtn.com and see Ramond Arroyo’s interview with him. After trying to clarify Schneck’s position at least 3 times, Schneck kept saying he would still vote for Obama over Paul Ryan’s proposed budget (a straw man) because it would cut Medicaid and therefore since so many women get help thru Medicaid, that now abortions would rise because these same woman wouldn’t get help who couldn’t afford a child! These people will keep distorting the truth so Obama will be re-elected!
One of my major concerns is that - the Bishops’ University - Catholic University of America, does not use the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” as a REQUIRED student text for all freshman and/or sophomores, so students will know the Faith in entirety.
That is why heretics like Stephen Schneck who teaches political science at CUA and is a member of - “Catholics for Obama” and “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” and
Mark Tuohey who is affiliated with the same groups and is on the BOARD of Trustees for CUA can gain a foothold with impressionable young minds.
Students and their parents automatically assume that they are paying tuition for a good ‘Catholic’ education. Parent’s don’t assume anything.
These are heretical groups that support Obama for President - whom as we know - - - actively promotes the INTRINSIC EVILS of - ABORTION even with our tax dollars, SODOMY (gay-marriage), and is trying to deny us Freedom of Religion.
@Patti: I am in agreement with you….. I saw The World Over last night and Arroyo asked us to e-mail our opinions: this was what I sent to him: Dear Mr. Aroyo: My opinion is that Dr. Schneck seemed very nervous and unsure about his opinion and all he could say was “if they cut Medicaid, it will cause more abortions, because it is cheaper than raising a child. No matter what you proposed to him, he would agree with you, then he’d give the same answer.
As to Bishop Morlino: He was very concise and stated blankly, that abortion, euthanasia, etc. is intrinsically evil and one cannot vote for it for any reason {meaning the cut in Medicaid} Pure and simple to me. Unfortunately I know too many democrats who think as Dr. Schneck does.
Good interview: signed, Sue W.
“As a Catholic woman, I take my reproductive rights seriously…” Thus
spake Caroline Kennedy. Apparently what she meant to say is that she
takes her *rights* of reproduction more seriously than she does her
Catholicism. No surprise there…after all, she is a Kennedy. Her father
in Dallas said more or less the same thing. His Catholicism was not going to interfere with his Presidency. Come to think, it never did!
Patti, I also watched that episode of The World Over. For that character to call himself Catholic and be so one-sided in his support of abortion on demand and sodomite “marriage” Obama, really shows now much he is out of touch with Catholic teachings. He sounded like a broken record saying the world Medicaid so many times. Raymond was getting flustered talking to this guy. Forget about the evil of abortion and how it can be be condoned, he could have cared less what the teachings of the Church are. It is scary to know that we have Catholics that will vote for Obama, even if he was seen in broad daylight shooting someone in the head with a 357 magnum. When he said Obama was the better man to stop abortion than Romney and Ryan, I knew only divine intervention would ever get him to change his mind and see the errors of his ways.
Pro-life Democrat ............oxymoron for sure! I wish Raymond would not have had him on The World Over! That makes some Catholics think that it is OK to support the party of death. Sin blinds!! God will not permit abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, go on indefinitely. There will be a wake up call. Please PRAY for our country to repent.
Charles P. I totally agree with you!!! And I am scared to death that they will find a way to steal the election! The Dems win and we are TOAST! I am praying at least one rosary a day. We need GOD’s help now! Satan is on a rampage!
I watched Cardinal Dolan’s benediction on youtube after the fact and thought it was weak and had more lines of what I would call a reproach of Romney/Ryan than anything approaching a reproach of the democratic party platform or their deadly position on abortion.
-
I really did not think he came out strongly on the side of life and I doubt he caused any democratic Catholics to reexamine their position. So I expect Catholics will again split their vote and continue the steady movement of our country away from God’s favor.
My opinion.
As to Raymond Arroyo: He also had Bishop M. on afterwards who stated many times point-blank: Abortion is sinful and against God’s Laws under any circumstances.
Also I went to church tonight with a friend…I spoke of the hard time I had with the pedophelia problem until I came to terms about it after talking with someone. She stated “oh I don’t bother with that stuff, it is their sin and they will have to face God for it”. I could not believe that abusing children did not bother her. She is the same person who is going to vote for Obama “because she doesn’t get into those things”. It sounded like she was throwing it back at me and I was a dim-wit for allowing it to bother me. How many more Catholics like her do we have…..it is they who will give Obama a second term.
To hear many conservatives, one would think that President Obama is responsible for all abortions since 1973. Despite rhetoric, do you really think that any of the numerous Republican administrations had any intention of attempting to overturn Roe v. Wade? Millions of Americans support a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, & that laws to the contrary would constitute an unconstitutional invasion of ones private life.Abortion is legal; not compulsory. I’d suspect that to the vast majority of Americans, there are far more important issues to be dealt with that impact their daily lives, & issues like homelessness, poverty, hunger, disease, & terrorism to face.
As one who grew up Catholic & served as an altar boy for years during the days of ‘Dominus vobiscum’, it is truly sad to see such tremendous numbers of people who have assumed the authority of judge & jury for the world & people around them, including clergy. When the last North Korean leader died, people were monitored for how sincerely they expressed their grief.One senses exactly the same thing when a priest or bishop is thought not to have come out strongly enough against an issue (never FOR an issue.)
People are falling away from the church not only because of the mishandling of the sex scandals but because the church has become such an unpleasant, unkind, attack dog.
@ H(Bart)Vincelette…“people are falling away from the church not only
because of the mis-handling of the sex scandals but because the church has become such an unpleasant, unkind, attack dog.”
HOGWASH!!! The church has always taught what it teaches today. Vatican II came along and the dissendent clergy within Church ranks began to “play around” with Truth and capitulate to the laity for their own nefarioius reasons. Catholicism is hard! It is a way of life that is always counter culture. People are falling away from the church for the same reasons given throughout its history. SIN!!! and because they are weak
and selfish and are without humility. PERIOD! The church has not moved
its position since its beginning. If you think otherwise you are being misled by revisionist history of its enemies. Jesus Christ told us to expect that the world would hate us because they hated him. We are followers of Christ and the servant is not better than the Master.
People are discomfited by the Truth and those who have bolted find that
the narrow path is not for them.
Bart,
To say that the plight of the “homeless” is as important as not murdering a child is a remarkable statement. It’s Catholics like you that gave the anti-Christian Obama the nerve to spit all over the Catholic Church. The child in a woman’s womb is not part of “her body”. It is another human being being exactly like she is. Hopefully most Catholics try and live their life by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. With God’s help, that will be enough to send this anti-Christian marxist back to Chicago, or where ever he came from in November.
Abortion is MURDER!
Patti and Sue, I emailed EWTN and Raymond Arroyo and told them I don’t think Mother Angelica would have approved of that character - you know the so called pro-lifer from Catholic University. I can’t believe someone with his views teaches at a Catholic university. I told them so what if they are seen as partisan as Padre Pio was very partisan. He influenced an election in Italy that defeated the Communists taking over back in the his lifetime. (Just read his lifestory.)
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