Abortion Advocacy ‘Incompatible’ with Public Office

COX NEWS SERVICE, Sept. 26 — Supporting abortion is a stand that should exclude a person from public office, said Father Frank Pavone, reported Cox News Service. Father Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and president of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, spoke at a Christian Coalition workshop in Washington, D.C., “Road to Victory 2004.”

The conference, held Sept. 23-25, brought together more than 50 representatives from various religious denominations — and even atheists — and pro-life groups. Father Pavone compared politicians who support abortion rights to individuals that support terrorism.

“By gathering a group of people that is very diverse politically, philosophically, ethnically and religiously, we are aiming to destroy the stereotypes under which many labor, namely, that opposition to abortion must come only from one's religious or political affiliation,” Father Pavone said, according to LifeSite News.

“Because abortion is an act of violence that destroys an entire segment of the public,” Father Pavone said,” no one who ignores the victims of abortion is worthy to hold public office.”

Father Pavone also announced a pro-life voter education campaign that Priests for Life was set to launch a month before Election Day. The campaign will target Christians who attend church and favor pro-life candidates, the story said.

Globe Columnist Defends Kerry's Catholicism

THE BOSTON GLOBE, Sept. 28 — In an essay about Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Catholicism, Globe columnist James Carroll accused the Republican National Committee of “lying about the meaning of Catholic faith, insulting Kerry and moving the political exploitation of religion to a new low.” The former priest was referring to an alleged effort by Republicans to target the pro-abortion Kerry's unworthiness as a Catholic.

Carroll worships at the Boston church where Kerry is a parishioner and believes Kerry to be a devoted Catholic whose “faith is informed by the spirit of the great renewal that occurred with Vatican II.”

In the essay, Carroll charges that Catholics, “including many bishops,” who repudiate the theology of the Second Vatican Council are “the ones most determined to stop Kerry from being elected.”

Carroll wrote that Kerry should be viewed as one of a growing number of devout Catholics who view moral theology as “an ongoing quest for truths that remain elusive.”

Father Appeals Conviction in His Daughter's Death

POTOMAC NEWS ONLINE, Sept. 16 — A man convicted of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the death of his 21-month-old daughter is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, Potomac News Online reported. Kevin Kelly, 46, a Catholic who has been active in the pro-life movement, believes his conviction was unjust.

Frances Kelly, the youngest of 13 children, died after she was left in the family van for seven hours on a warm day in May 2002. Kelly was sentenced to seven years of probation and one day in jail yearly. He was also ordered to accept random Social Services investigations of the family home.

Kelly's attorney argues that prosecutors “failed to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by Virginia law, that Kelly was aware…his conduct could result in injury to Frances, and nevertheless proceeded consciously with reckless indifference to the consequences of his behavior.”

In a press release, Kelly asked for donations for the Kevin Kelly Family Legal Defense Fund (Account #5134131200, BB&T Bank, 9201 Church St., Manassas, Va., 20110).