Catholic Church Facilitates Pro-Abortion Candidate for Governor

Democratic Committee | 9.29.01 | Me

[exit82]

Well done, Coleus, well done. Thanks for being a voice for those who have none, the unborn.

[Coleus]

You're Welcome! :)

[Coleus]

Bump

[Coleus]

McGreevey just recieved the endorsement of Planned Parenthood!!!!!!!! The 5 Bishops in NJ have said nothing!!

Oct 5, 2001 From NJ-RTL

Dear Friends:

This has been a long time coming but McGreevey finally admits he lied when he said he has always supported abortion. The startling part is that he has gone from being pro-life to voting to keep partial birth abortion legal. Talk about extremes.

Don't be fooled by his claim that he supports parental notification laws either. These abortion groups would have never endorsed him if they didn't have a commitment from him that he would veto any meaningful bill. He used his influence to make sure no Democrat Senator voted for the Parental Notification constitutional amendment when it was voted on in the Senate last June.

The Parental Notification Constitution Amendment got a simple majority of votes instead of the 3/5 majority it would've received had McGreevey not weighed in. The Parental Notif Const. Amendment is still very much alive by the way but will not be if McGreevey is elected Governor.

McGreevey also came out with a proposal for funding school based clinics yesterday for the special needs districts. I think this needs to be scrutinized very carefully. Will Planned Parenthood be involved? Was this the quid pro quo for their endorsement of McGreevey? With four weeks to go, we need to get the word out. Letters to the editor would be helpful.

It is also noteworthy that this is the second time McGreevey was forced to admit he lied about his past.

Abortion activists endorse McGreevey

10/05/01

BY JEFF WHELAN

STAR-LEDGER STAFF

Democrat Jim McGreevey won the endorsement of several abortion rights groups yesterday, including the National Organization for Women, which 12 years ago labeled him "anti-abortion" and refused to support him as a legislative candidate.

The endorsements by Planned Parenthood and NOW were widely expected in a race in which abortion has become a defining issue.

But for McGreevey, like many Catholic politicians, the journey to yesterday's announcement was an uneasy one. He acknowledged, for the first time, in an interview last night that he opposed abortion rights as an Assembly candidate in 1989, and that it was not until he was in the Legislature that he changed his mind.

That is a departure from what he has said in the past. As a gubernatorial candidate four years ago, McGreevey insisted in a televised debate: "I have always been consistently pro-choice."

At the time, Rep. Robert Andrews, his rival for the Democratic nomination, was hammering at what he said was McGreevey's equivocation on the abortion issue. Polls show a large majority of New Jerseyans believe the procedure should be legal.

McGreevey, a former altar boy who was active in the Metuchen Diocese and was a lector at his parish, said last night he grappled with the issue in his first campaign in 1989. "At an earlier point, I was pro-life," he said.

Asked when he switched his position, he said, "I believe it was when I confronted these choices when I was taking office, and it became particularly clarified when I was in the state Legislature. . . . During my freshman year, I sought counseling, I sought direction, as I continue to do, from a wide variety of individuals, including clergy and physicians."

In the end, he said, he concluded that although he personally opposed abortion, he would work to protect the constitutional right to have one.

"As a public official, I believe it isn't my role, or the state's role, to impose its position or its judgment," McGreevey said. "Abortion is perhaps one of the most difficult moral and policy questions before American society. And as a Catholic, I reflect my values and traditions. Yet, in American society, we are a nation of laws, and ultimately the need for the next governor is to ensure adherence to the constitutional law, and that is abortion is a personal decision, a personal matter of conscience for every woman."

At the time of his 1989 Assembly campaign, McGreevey was endorsed by the New Jersey Pro-Life PAC, which lobbies to make abortion illegal. And NOW labeled him anti-abortion and refused to endorse him.

During the 1997 gubernatorial campaign, McGreevey said the Pro-Life PAC had confused his personal opinion with his political position. His campaign issued a statement saying he had supported legal abortion "during his entire career as a public official."

The abortion issue has taken on a particular significance in the current race for governor because the two major candidates have opposite views. McGreevey's opponent, Republican Bret Schundler, opposes abortion in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger.

For Schundler, too, it was a difficult journey to arrive at his position.

He supported abortion rights when he was first elected Jersey City mayor in 1992. But he changed his position in 1994 after what he said was a heart-felt conversation with one of his aides.

Schundler, who is a devout Christian, said he had always considered it a "question of faith" that a fetus was a human being, but believed it wasn't right to impose his belief on others. But he said an aide convinced him otherwise, arguing that the issue wasn't a matter of faith but biology: A fetus would become a human being, his aide said, if not aborted.

For Schundler, that was the bottom line. "The question becomes, if you really believe human life has value, you should stand up for it. And the reality is that an unborn child is a human being," he said.

Schundler has been open about this change in his position.

At news conferences held by abortion rights groups yesterday to endorse McGreevey, Schundler came in for heavy criticism. Both groups labeled Schundler an extremist who is out of touch with voters.

New Jersey NOW President Elizabeth Volz warned that Schundler "would move quickly to reduce women's reproductive choices, putting women's lives at risk" by sending them into "back alleys" for illegal abortions.

Bear Atwood, a member of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said McGreevey's past views on abortion, whatever they were, are irrelevant.

"I don't know the truth of what Jim McGreevey thought in the past. I think what's important is where Jim McGreevey is today," she said.

Staff Writer Ron Marsico contributed to this report. Jeff Whelan covers politics. He can be reached at (973) 392-7860.

[Coleus]

McGreevey = Pornography

[nmh]

I'm not Catholic but for them, voting for PRO ABORTION people is not unusal. The majority of Catholics vote for Demoncrats. Hey, don't blame me for WHO they vote for. It's up to THEM to stop voting for ABORTIONISTS. Common sense should step in even if they are Catholic.

[HEFFERNAN2]

Sorry Coleus...don't understand...Semper Fi, Mike

[Coleus]

Oh, sorry, read post #64 on this thread. McSleezy has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

[johniegrad]

Bella: It wasn't a problem with sinkspur as far as I know. I think it was a problem with Demidolt.

[laureldrive]

Hate to say it, but people who call themselves Catholic are the most potent force for unlimited abortion in the country. To begin with, Catholic voters supported Gore over Bush (Protestants supported Bush over Gore). Heavily Catholic cities and states are in the Blue zone - - MAssachusetts, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania: Democratic strongholds all. Catholic law schools are hotbeds of pro-abort sentiment - - eg, Georgetown. Then there are the main gatekeepers for judicial nominees in the US Senate. They have a pro-abortion litmus test, and their names are Leahy, Biden, Kennedy - - "Catholics" all. You may say they're not "really Catholics," but I haven't heard the priests or bishops second that assertion. None has been turned away from communion.

[laureldrive]

Is it accurate to call the Catholic Church, the Democratic Party at Prayer?

[Righter-than-Rush]

I'm glad the Catholics aren't Christians.

[B Knotts]

To begin with, Catholic voters supported Gore over Bush (Protestants supported Bush over Gore).

This is very misleading. Catholics who actually attend Mass at least once a month voted for Bush over Gore.

[laureldrive]

"""I'm glad the Catholics aren't Christians.""""

I certainly don't agree with that statement - - - but the fact that so many of the Catholic rank and file, and so many Catholic politicians, support stupid, even evil, public policy, certainly undermines the Catholic Church's claim to be the ONLY and TRUE christian church. It's just another denomination - a big one, granted - but it's got its share of corruption, like all human institutions.

[laureldrive]

Here's a crucial difference between an evangelical protestant church and a Catholic parish. If you go into an evangelical protestant church, odds are about 9-1 that the minister and congregation are social conservatives, including on abortion. If you go into a Catholic church, there's a 50-50 chance that the priest and a good portion of the congregation are liberals to left-wingers.

[Righter-than-Rush]

When I made the last post, I had in mind the early centuries when Catholics murdered people. Christians had no hand in it. That is the distinction I had in mind.

[spintreebob]

As a fellow Roman Catholic activist for social justice note that the most arbitrary and preventable act of violence in our society is abortion. Roe v Wade made it "justifiable homicide"...but it is violence none the less...and against the most helpless in our society.

Our educational system provides private schools for the rich, public babysitting for the poor. Social justice demands that the poor have the same choice the rich enjoy.

Clearly, upward mobility and economic justice for the masses has occurred only in an atmosphere of economic freedom. By definition the people in power (the government) are the powerful. These elitists pretend that their central planning is for the benefit of the poor. But it has proven to be a lie. Central planning, zoning, urban renewal, highway location, historical preservation and environmental planning has proven to consistently benefit the governing/elitist class and to keep the poor in a sub-servient class.

The ante-bellum South debated "bad masters" vs "good masters". The point was that slaves are valuable. They are most beneficial when well treated. Thus the elitists in government argue that their benevolent treatment of the dependent classes is the best that can be expected of people for whom we have low expectations.

The CHURCH should salt an honest debate in a political campaign. The CHURCH should encourage that the truth be told. The CHURCH should not be an enabler of the "good masters"

Bob Schmidt, parishioner, Church of the Holy Spirit (Roman Catholic)

[Coleus]

Righter than Rush, was just goading you and others for a response, it didn't deserve an answer. Long live the Pope!!and we are "Catholic Christians" not Christians.

[Coleus]

This picture shows what a liar the: Bishop of Paterson, Fr. Mark Condon, and Bro. Paul, Benedictine Brother who is Guardian of the Monastary, are. Without the use of the entrance road from route 3, the parking lot and the toilet facilities, the event could not have taken place. The 3 armed, off-duty police officers which kept some pro-life activists off of the Monastery property, were also: standing on, using, directing traffic and keeping representatives of www.CatholicVote.org, www.njrtl.org, and some Protestant ministers from protesting Jim McSleezy, the Catholic Pro-abortion, Democrat Candidate for Governor; ON THE CATHOLIC PROPERTY

This all happened on Consecrated, Roman Catholic property.

[Coleus]

Oops, I forgot to post the Bishops official reply in my last post, Here it is:

I spoke with Father Paul regarding the Democratic Fund-Raiser "Picnic." The > event was held last week on the grounds of Finestra Restuarant. There was no > sign advertising the evenT on Holy Face Monastery Property. The sign was placed > on state owned land near the monastery on Route 3. The monastery has no claim > on that propery and, obviously, has no ability to approve or prohibit any > advertising placed on that property. Father Paul noted that the > misunderstanding took place because of the proximity of Finestara to the > monastery property. > > Sincerely,

> > Father Mark Condon > Priest Secretary to Bishop Rodimer

Incidentally, the restaruant is out of business and had nothing to do with the event except rent the back yard.

The party was catered by another caterer and not the restaurant. The monastery provided an entrance from the highway, toilets, parking and let the armed guards keep pro-life activists from protesting.

The Monastery could have said, NO. But they didn't. Instead, they said YES, TO SATAN AND TO BABY KILLING.

Isn't that nice!!