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Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded today to a story last night by CNN’s Anderson Cooper on attempts by some Catholics to get the McCain campaign to oust Catholic author and activist Deal Hudson from the Catholics for McCain National Steering Committee: “Anderson Cooper said last night that those opposed to Hudson were citing two reasons why he should be dumped from the McCain campaign as an advisor: Hudson ‘harassed an 18-year-old female college student 10 years earlier,’ and his ‘brokering a deal between a meeting of conservative Catholics and San Antonio mega-preacher John Hagee.’ “There is nothing Catholic about...

When he was a state senator in Illinois in June 2002, Barack Obama was explicitly asked by Chicago media personality Jeff Berkowitz whether he supports school vouchers. “I would support anything that is going to be better for the children of Illinois,” he said. He emphatically added that “I am not closed minded on the issue.” In February 2008, Obama spoke to reporters from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the issue. Still keeping an open mind, he said, “If there was any argument for vouchers, it was ‘Let’s see if the experiment works.’ And if it does, whatever my preconception,...

The first time I learned about the practice I was horrified. It was the mid-1990s. The source was Sharon Dunsmore, a nurse in a hospital NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) who wrote a small booklet about the experience. One day on the job she had been summoned “stat” to the delivery room to deal with an “oops abortion”—a failed abortion in which the baby unexpectedly survived, or, as Dunsmore quoted the pediatrician on the scene, “had the audacity to survive.” The team struggled as to whether to continue intubating the child—now a little boy, not a “fetus”—who clearly was not...

Surveys show a growing number of Roman Catholics say they are going to vote for pro-killing-womb-infants B. Hussein Obama. Yet the official Catholic position is definitely pro-life. In addition, John McCain states he is pro-life. Then why are Catholics going against the moral stance of their church? The answer of course is individualized and confusing. Yet no matter the answer, Christ weeps for the children slain. Thousands upon thousands of little ones are discarded from females’ bodies. This is the Old Testament pagan idol Moloch set up throughout the world. Moloch was where mothers brought their offspring, placing them on...

In his column of June 24, Wall Street Journal writer William McGurn looked at the mostly NARAL-friendly Catholics named to the Obama campaign’s National Catholic Advisory Council. Noting that Obama enjoys a NARAL approval rating of 100%, and that — while in the Illinois State Senate — he voted against a measure similar in intent to the unanimously approved 2002 Federal Born Alive Act, McGurn wonders how the council and other Catholics for Obama can rationalize support for a candidate who stands in such profound contrast to the church’s firm teaching that abortion is “an intrinsic evil.” The…line of argument...

How can Catholics for Obama rationalize their support for the pro-choice candidate?... The moral calculus does look easy until one considers that war, torture, the death penalty, poverty, racism, and even the excesses of capitalism — those evils so well defined in Catholic social teaching, and of concern to Catholics of all political persuasions — are fully present in the act of abortion. Consider: War is a struggle between two evolving powers over who will have dominance; whether just or unjust, it involves the murder of the innocent and the disruption of families. War introduces pain, fire, violence, savagery and...

It is clear from a number of statements by Bishops and by statements of the Magesterium of the Church that it would be a sin to vote/support Obama Barack for President. Also, because of the planks of the Democratic Party, it would be sinful to support/contribute to a party that holds abortion to be a right. Clearly, people can vote for Obama Barack. It is just that it is a sin to do so. The Priests for Life has a number of documents on statements of various Bishops/Cardinals and the Church on this matter. There are the following links: Statements...

Washington DC, Jun 25, 2008 / 01:23 am (CNA).- A new survey from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicates that Catholics may lean towards voting for the Democratic candidate for president in the 2008 election.The CARA polling shows that only 21 percent of all Catholics are either strongly or weakly affiliated with the Republican Party in 2008, compared to 31 percent in 2004. Fewer Catholics identify themselves as Republicans than in any year since 2000.Among all adult Catholics, 38 percent identify as a weak or strong Democrat, while 22 percent lean Democratic. Republicans are...

You are the Democratic candidate for president. You want to reach out to Catholics. So what do you do when the majority of the elected officials on your National Catholic Advisory Council have the seal of approval from NARAL Pro-Choice America? That's the position Barack Obama now finds himself in. A few months ago, his Catholic advisory council was announced with great enthusiasm, and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) was listed as a national co-chair. His appearance at the top of the council sent a clear message: This campaign is determined to recover some of the lost Democratic sheep who...

You are the Democratic candidate for president. You want to reach out to Catholics. So what do you do when the majority of the elected officials on your National Catholic Advisory Council have the seal of approval from NARAL Pro-Choice America? That's the position Barack Obama now finds himself in. A few months ago, his Catholic advisory council was announced with great enthusiasm, and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) was listed as a national co-chair. His appearance at the top of the council sent a clear message: This campaign is determined to recover some of the lost Democratic sheep who...

...My response is to assert another hierarchy for Doug to consider, one which is of logical derivation, a hierarchy that reflects our obligation to restrain the effects of the evil upon the persons injured. The severity of the consequences of our failure to defend the victims is obviously different. To borrow from an old adage of negligence law attributed to Justice Cardozo, of which my colleague is familiar, the “risk to be perceived defines the duty to be obeyed”. Yes Doug, you are accurate, both abortion and racism are intrinsic evils and both must be categorically exposed and opposed as...

I know, the Doug Kmiec posts are getting redundant, but he fascinates me as the clearest example among the Obamicans of someone who’s personally captivated by Obama (“Lightworker!”) but intellectually unable to justify voting for him on that basis. The solution: Self-persuasion through argumentation that the most liberal member of the senate is somehow the more responsible choice this year for a conscientious pro-life voter. Read his latest essay and tell me if you don’t have the distinct sense that he’s trying to convince himself of what he’s saying more so than the reader. Here’s my favorite part, which builds...

Along with some 30 or so religious leaders, it was my privilege to be in discussion with Senator Obama for several hours last week. It was a private meeting with intelligent men and women of many faith traditions not all of whom were his supporters. It was not arranged as a photo op or a meet and greet. It was a time to reflect on the meaning of faith. Obama was poised, civil, articulate, and prepared for a wide-ranging discussion that included questions across the spectrum of issues potentially touched by Christ’s love – which, of course, is everything. The...

A new survey examining party affiliation and religious observance finds that Catholic support is about evenly split between the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in the upcoming election. Due to this almost even division, non-Hispanic Catholics are considered to be “up for grabs” in the 2008 election. The survey was commissioned by the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College and conducted by Opinion Access Corp. of Long Island, New York, a prominent polling firm. It conducted a phone survey of 3,002 respondents about their political affiliation, their religious affiliation, and the level...

Barack Obama targets the religious Right By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 8:46PM BST 11/06/2008 Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama is aiming to lure members of the religious Right, as the movement that twice helped George W Bush win the White House. His campaign is set to launch the Joshua Generation Project, an initiative that will include household gatherings, blogs and concerts, to attract young evangelicals and Catholics ahead of November's US presidential election. The campaign has noted an "unprecedented energy" among young religious people for the Illinois senator and aims to bring them into a new coalition of...

Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and other issues Tuesday with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have been criticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate. Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent black clergyman who heads a Dallas megachurch, said Obama took questions, listened to participants and discussed his "personal journey of faith." The discussion "went absolutely everywhere," Jakes told The Associated Press, and "just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room." Jakes, who does not endorse candidates and said he also hopes to meet with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said some participants clearly have...

New York, Jun 10, 2008 / 05:25 pm (CNA).- Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has apparently dissolved his Catholic National Advisory Council. According to the latest information obtained by CNA, evidence of the committee’s continued existence remains illusive. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said in a June 9 press release that there is no mention of the advisory council on the Obama website and Obama’s National Catholic Outreach Coordinator has not responded to Catholic League inquiries about the council.In recent months two Catholic advisors to Obama have been the...

“On May 2, I issued a news release calling on Sen. Obama to dissolve his Catholic National Advisory Council. My principal reason for doing so was his selection of dissident Catholics to advise him: for example, most of the public officials are so pro-abortion that they had a 100 percent NARAL record." "On May 8, most members of the Advisory Council faxed me a letter defending themselves; I answered the same day taking them to task for their lame defense. But it now appears that my initial recommendation—to dissolve the group—may have been accepted." “There is no mention anywhere on...

Can a Catholic be for Barack Obama? The question has been raised by a law professor at Pepperdine University, who went from being a Mitt Romney adviser to an Obama supporter. The question is further raised by the appearance of the angry Rev. Michael Pfleger, a longtime friend of the Democratic nominee who recently preached at Obama's former Trinity church. Since this topic was recently a matter of talking heads' concerns, I was asked, in all seriousness, if Catholics can even vote. After all, war is bad. The death penalty is bad. Abortion is bad. John McCain supports the war...

WASHINGTON -- Word spread like wildfire in Catholic circles: Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Republican, firm foe of abortion and veteran of the Reagan Justice Department, had been denied communion. His sin? Kmiec, a Catholic who can cite papal pronouncements with the facility of a theological scholar, shocked old friends and adversaries alike earlier this year by endorsing Barack Obama for president. For at least one priest, Kmiec's support for a pro-choice politician made him a willing participant in a grave moral evil. Kmiec was denied communion in April at a Mass for a group of Catholic business people he later...

In the beginning of the Primary season of the Presidential contest in the United States which led up to this current General election quandary we now face, I found it reprehensible that certain “conservative” public personalities who purported to be “pro-life” were willing to support former Mayor Giuliani. They justified such action because he was purportedly a “strict constructionist” and would appoint Justices who were strict constructionists. The man is an unabashed proponent of abortion as a constitutional “right”, even though it violates the Natural Law. However, we now face the two candidates as we enter the General election. I...

Again, it is my own conclusion that Senator Obama would be more open to these considerations since he is more dedicated toward reducing the partisanship of the past, has very responsibly and very consistently called upon our better natures, and has articulated -- long before he sought the presidency -- a genuine appreciation for the importance of faith in the public square. Others will find greater potential in Senator McCain’s personal life experience as an adoptive father. Obama or McCain, Catholics must always give each other the benefit of the doubt that in reaching our conclusion, we stand upon the...

WASHINGTON — Word spread like wildfire in Catholic circles: Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Republican, firm foe of abortion and veteran of the Reagan Justice Department, had been denied communion. His sin? Kmiec, a Catholic who can cite papal pronouncements like a theological scholar, shocked old friends and adversaries alike earlier this year by endorsing Barack Obama for president. For at least one priest, Kmiec's support for a pro-choice politician made him a willing participant in a grave moral evil. Kmiec was denied communion in April at a Mass for a group of Catholic business people he later addressed. The episode...

The Obama speech was the first volley in the General Election campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America; a contest between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama. Earlier in the evening, while the results were still being tabulated in the final two Primary contests in Montana (which went to Obama) and South Dakota (which went to Clinton), 200 people heard the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, Senator John McCain, give a lackluster delivery of another General Election Speech. He attempted to position himself as a change agent also. He rolled out the first of what...

Communion aside, there is a Catholic-Obama problem. Many Catholics, beyond Fr. Pfleger, will vote for Obama. It's not a problem of Communion-denying magnitude, but one they should at least know going into Election Day. McCain may be imperfect, but for me, even if I didn't have a laundry list of why I'm opposed to abortion, the pope explained why a Catholic cannot vote for a candidate like Obama long before most of us ever thought Obama would be a candidate for the presidency. In a 2006 address, B16 (Benedict XVI)said: "As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal...

EXCLUSIVE | Contrite Father Mike regrets Hillary 'dramatization,' pain he's inflicted on his church On Sunday morning, I was enjoying a brisk walk along the Hudson River in lower Manhattan and some quiet contemplation when my cell phone rang. It was my editor. "Mike just called, and he wants to talk, but he'll only talk to you," he said. Mike, as in the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the perpetually embattled pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, who most recently has been under siege from comments he made about Hillary Clinton a week ago from the pulpit of Trinity...

The Catholic Left is hanging itself right before our eyes. Having never come to grips with the Church's teachings on sexuality, they are now tightening the noose on themselves in public. It is not a pretty sight. This month alone they have embroiled themselves in a debate with three separate archbishops, with no end in sight.... At bottom, it is not the Catholic Left's quarrel with three archbishops that is doing them in; it is their total failure to convince Catholics (as well as non-Catholics) that it is okay to vote for NARAL-approved candidates for public office and then claim...

The Catholic Left is hanging itself right before our eyes. Having never come to grips with the Church's teachings on sexuality, they are now tightening the noose on themselves in public. It is not a pretty sight. This month alone they have embroiled themselves in a debate with three separate archbishops, with no end in sight.   Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City recently rebuked Catholic Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius for vetoing a bill imposing new restrictions on abortion providers. Indeed, he publicly urged her not to go to Communion. The archbishop was not shooting from the hip: He...

Pastor John Hagee has pulled his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain; McCain subsequently renounced Hagee’s endorsement. Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on this development today: “One week ago today, I met with Pastor Hagee in my office. I found him to be sincere, apologetic and friendly. I also found him to be the strongest Christian defender of Israel I have ever met, and that is why attempts to portray him as anything but a genuine friend to Jews—one for whom the Holocaust is the horror of horrors—is despicable. “Hagee’s decision to sever all ties to McCain is...

Forty years ago this month, Bobby Kennedy was still alive and running for the Democratic party’s 1968 presidential nomination. I was a seminarian in Washington, D.C. I was also an active volunteer in Kennedy’s campaign. I can still remember helping with secretarial work in the same room where Edward Kennedy and Pierre Salinger labored away on the campaign’s strategy. It was my first involvement in elective politics, and, after the Vietnam Tet Offensive in February and Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder on April 4, Kennedy’s cause seemed urgent. Then, on June 5, Kennedy was gunned down himself.After Robert Kennedy died,...

Denver, CO -- In the latest development of the saga over a group of Catholics who are supporting Barack Obama for president despite his pro-abortion position, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is weighing in. Chaput says the Catholics should following the church's pro-life teaching and get Obama to do so as well.

When Obama's Catholic supporters attacked Catholic League president Bill Donohue for his criticism of their candidate, they did not mention Obama's support for infanticide. The question will inevitably arise for the distinguished group of Catholics supporting Obama as to how they can defend his preference for infanticide in cases where a child survives a botched abortion. The fury Obama's Catholics vented toward Donohue will only force them to face that question sooner than they may have expected.  It's clear to me how it will be answered: It won't. Obama's Catholics are already attempting to reframe the abortion issue in their favor....

Washington, DC -- A leading pro-life Catholic is feuding with supporters of Barack Obama who claim to be Catholic but join the candidate in violating the Church's teachings by strongly supporting abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Catholic League President Bill Donahue says true Catholics would oppose Obama. Donahue began the exchange last week by issuing a press release calling on Obama to dissolve his National Advisory Council because the members of the panel and pro-abortion.

Demography is destiny. For the most part, this apothegm has defined this year’s Democratic presidential election results. It sure characterized last night’s results in Indiana and North Carolina. As Christi Parsons and Mike Dorning, my old colleague at The Chicago Tribune, wrote, Blacks, young people and college-educated voters overwhelmingly favored Obama, while white working-class voters, seniors and white women lined up decisively behind Clinton, a division in the Democratic Party that now appears impervious to gaffes, attacks and multimillion-dollar ad buys. The results followed each state’s demographic makeup. Yet one voting group has been a demographic outlier: Catholics. In several...

Reproduction and circulation of the following as a viral E-mail, and/or re-posting, is encouraged. Why Won’t Whites, Jews, and Catholics Vote for Obama? Despite the endorsement of Senator Robert Casey (D-PA), Barack Obama lost the Pennsylvania primary by a 55-45 margin. In Luzerne County PA, a traditional Democratic region whose demographics include factory workers and the descendents of immigrant coal miners (many Catholic), Obama lost by a three to one margin. Why does Barack Obama have so much difficulty in getting white people (and especially Catholics and Jews) to vote for him? Let’s give “Barry” some hints and see his...

When Sen. Barack Obama recently announced the formation of his Catholic National Advisory Council, he said he was “deeply honored to have the support and counsel of these committed Catholic leaders, scholars and advocates.” Commenting on this group is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:“The best advice I can give Sen. Obama about his Catholic National Advisory Council is to dissolve it immediately. Of the 26 Catholic former or current public office holders he has listed as either National Co-Chairs (5), or as members of the National Leadership Committee (21), there is not one who agrees with the Catholic Church...

Friday, May 2, 2008 By: Phil Brennan Barack Obama says he was "deeply honored to have the support and counsel" of all 26 members of his Catholic National Advisory Council, whom he called "committed Catholic leaders, scholars and advocates," and who dissent from three of their church's key doctrines: abortion, embryonic stem cell research and school vouchers. He should dump them, says Catholic League president Bill Donohue. "The best advice I can give Sen. Obama about his Catholic National Advisory Council is to dissolve it immediately," Donahue said. The reason? "Of the 26 Catholic former or current public office holders...

Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-Mich.), a Catholic congressman who endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president, told Cybercast News Service Wednesday that despite Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) failure to capture Catholic voters in the Pennsylvania primary, the majority of Catholics will vote for the Democratic candidate in the general election, whether it's Obama or Clinton. According to the exit poll of the Pennsylvania primary, church-going Democrats picked Clinton over Obama on Tuesday, with Catholic voters especially lining up behind Clinton. Among all Democratic primary voters who said they attend church weekly, Clinton beat Obama 61 percent to 39 percent. Among...

On Tuesday's "Good Morning America," news anchor Chris Cuomo used the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to label the pontiff as uncompromising and assert that the Catholic Church sees the visit as "an opportunity for the Pope to come here and reinforce hard-line doctrine." Earlier in the segment, Cuomo described Benedict as "a hard-liner charged with protecting Catholic orthodoxy." Cuomo also went on to claim that the Pope's goal is to strike a balance "between placating conservative followers and giving hope to liberals who seek social reform." The ABC journalist went on to mention the pontiff's background and note,...

Catholics backed the winner in past presidential elections, posing a challenge to Sen. Barack Obama, who lacks their support in Pennsylvania, experts say. American Catholics supported the winner in seven of the last eight presidential elections, making a win among Pennsylvania Catholics in the April 22 primary a challenge to the Illinois senator's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Newsday said Monday "It's a big problem for him not just now but if he prevails and goes to the general election," Pennsylvanian pollster Chris Borick said. Obama's rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., takes the national Catholic vote by a two-to-one...

Pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to announce the formation of a Catholic Advisory Council today that he will likely use to try to make inroads among pro-life Catholic voters. However, whether Obama's position in favor of unlimited abortions funded with taxpayer dollars goes over with Catholic voters is another question. Senator Bob Casey and former Congressman Tim Roemer will participate in the Friday afternoon conference call to announce the formation of the advisory group. The participation and leadership of the two pro-life politicians is an obvious clue that Obama wants to siphon some of the pro-life Catholic...

Sen. John McCain cannot win in November without the Catholic vote, which is around 25 percent of the electorate. How is he going to get it? The worst thing he could assume is that it is going to fall into his lap because Catholics will have nowhere else to go. Some people with nowhere to go simply stay home. Or they may go elsewhere, as it appears they have already been doing. The Wall Street Journal reports that in "a recent survey of 19 states that have held presidential primaries this year, 63% of Catholics identified themselves as Democrats." That's...

After months of speeches and debates, and nearly $1 billion in total campaign spending to date, the presidential race is a dead heat. A head-to-head showdown between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama is now too close to call — 45.9 percent to 44.6 percent — based on an averaging of national polls by realclearpolitics.com. A head-to-head showdown between McCain and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is also razor-thin, 46 percent to 45.7 percent. Now, a poll of likely Christian voters offers evidence of why the McCain campaign is struggling to gain real traction and a lead that can last. The...

God has called each one of us into this real world, a world which he fashioned, and given to us the capacity to exercise our human freedom for the good. We make our choices and in those choices we change ourselves, as well as the world around us, for better or for worse. One of our choices is how we choose to govern ourselves and whether we will do so for the common good.

"Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States to that company of nations committed to human rights. I do not know if his earlier life experience is sufficient for the challenges of the presidency that lie ahead."

Those who accuse presidential aspirant Senator Barack Obama of empty rhetoric must have missed his speech last July, recently made public, to the benefactors of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. At that festive event, he was as sharp and specific as a scalpel. “The first thing I’d do as president,” he told a cheering audience, “is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do.” The audience cheered enthusiastically. And well they might. As NARAL enthuses on its web site, this act would “codify Roe v. Wade’s protections and guarantee the right to choose for future...

John McCain is refusing to renounce the endorsement of a prominent Texas televangelist who Democrats say peddles anti-Catholic and other intolerant speech. Instead, the Republican presidential candidate issued a statement Friday afternoon saying he had unspecified disagreements with the San Antonio megachurch leader, John Hagee. Hagee endorsed him at a news conference Wednesday in San Antonio. "However, in no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not," McCain said in the statement. His campaign issued the statement after two days of criticism from...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In early January I wrote a column arguing that Barack Obama "will not win the Catholic vote." Although Obama has won eleven primaries in a row, his "Catholic problem" is emerging in voting patterns and early media skirmishes. Catholic-vote expert Steve Wagner predicted two months ago that Clinton would beat Obama among Catholics. Clinton's advantage, Wagner explained, is her ability to put forth "persuasive arguments on key social issues." Obama, according to Wagner, has yet to make these kinds of arguments -- he attracts a "substantially frustrated constituency of people far to the left who don't feel...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been accused by the Catholic League of embracing a “bigot” — Texas evangelical leader John Hagee. McCain said on Wednesday that he was “very honored” to win the endorsement of pro-Israel Hagee, who heads a 19,000-member church in San Antonio. Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement: “There are plenty of staunch evangelical leaders who are pro-Israel, but are not anti-Catholic. John Hagee is not one of them. “Indeed, for the past few decades he has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it ‘The Great...

Like most Maryland Democrats, I voted for Sen. Barack Obama in the recent Potomac Primary. By doing so, according to the leaders of my church, I put my soul at risk. That's right, says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- tap the touch screen for a pro-abortion-rights candidate, and you're probably punching your ticket to Hell. For a church that "thinks in centuries," things sure are moving quickly. Back in 2004, as Washington correspondent for the independent National Catholic Reporter, I covered what Comedy Central's Jon Stewart dubbed the "wafer wars." A handful of conservative bishops warned Democratic presidential...