Posted on 02/13/2004 4:00:01 PM PST by madprof98
Topeka — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Catholic leaders were arm-in-arm Thursday on the issue of affordable housing, but have been at arm's length on other issues, most notably abortion.
Anti-abortion advocates issued a broadside against Sebelius and the Catholic Church after the governor, who is Catholic and supports abortion rights, was invited to lecture at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth.
Mark Gietzen, head of the Kansas Coalition for Life, said Sebelius' campus visit would be a scandal greater than recent ones involving priests who abuse children.
"If the pro-abortion-choice governor is honored as planned by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church in Kansas will no longer be able to claim to be pro-life," Gietzen said. "We are about to witness a church scandal of far greater proportion."
Thursday, Archbishop James Patrick Keleher was in the Capitol to join forces with Sebelius in calling for efforts to increase the availability of housing for low- and middle-income Kansans.
The two shook hands and spoke briefly together before the news conference.
But Keleher, who heads the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, has previously been at odds with Sebelius.
Keleher expressed displeasure with Sebelius and her abortion-rights stance a year ago when she took office. He asked Sebelius to move an inauguration interfaith service from Topeka's Assumption Catholic Church, the church Sebelius attends. She refused.
Wednesday, Keleher testified to a House committee in favor of a measure to put a prohibition of same-sex marriages in the Kansas Constitution. Sebelius said the measure was unnecessary because Kansas law already has the same ban.
Asked about Sebelius' visit to Saint Mary, Keleher declined to comment. His diocese covers 21 counties, including Douglas County.
For her part, Sebelius said she had a good working relationship with Catholic leaders.
She met with several bishops this week on issues such as housing, criminal justice and poverty.
"The reality is that the vast majority of views that I hold and act on, I share with the Catholic Conference, and they are comfortable with that and I am, too," she said.
Last year, Sebelius vetoed a bill setting health and safety standards for abortion clinics. She argued that medical personnel -- not legislators -- should develop such standards.
An effort to impose the safety standards is again before the Legislature, and Sebelius said if the exact same bill was sent to her desk, "I'll veto it again."
Sounds about as Catholic as Michigan's Canadian-in Chief Granholm.
2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.
Catechism Catholic Church
Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
From usccb.org
Diocese of Dodge City
Most Reverend Ronald M. Gilmore
910 Central Avenue, Box 137
Dodge City, KS 67801
Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
Most Reverend James P. Keleher
12615 Parallel Pkwy.
Kansas City, KS 66109
Diocese of Salina
Most Reverend George K. Fitzsimons
P.O. Box 980
Salina, KS 67402
Diocese of Wichita
Msgr. Robert E. Hemberger, JCL
Diocesan Administrator
424 North Broadway
Wichita, KS 67202
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