THE BIG CON - 4 of 6

THE BIG CON - 4 of 6
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Thursday, September 10, 2009
Special Report by Anne Hendershott – continued

Undeterred by the lack of evidence for a relationship between increased welfare payments and abortion reduction, representatives for “Catholics in Alliance” continue to claim that the best way to reduce abortions is to address the root causes, rather than ban the procedure. This strategy has been effective for them. {One example where The Big Con worked is as follows: ghk}

In addition to the 2008 presidential victory for the Democrats, Tom Perriollo, one of the Democratic founders of Catholics in Alliance, narrowly won a congressional seat in Virginia in 2008 by convincing voters that they needed to address poverty in order to reduce abortions.

Enlisting an elaborate community organizing effort that invited religious voters to consider a different kind of “pro-life” candidate, Perriello defeated a pro-life Republican by creating confusion for Virginia’s voters, who may have assumed that he was pro-life because he spoke often of the need to reduce abortions.

Yet, in published interviews, Perriello promotes the Democratic abortion-rights platform, maintaining that there should be no restrictions on a woman’s right to choose abortion. James Salt of Catholics United is listed as having donated $2,000 to Perriello for Congress in 2007 and another $3,900 in 2008.

THE “ROOT CAUSE” STRATEGY

The “root cause” strategy used by Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United has been criticized by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, who recently described the organization as having “done a disservice to the Church.”

The Archbishop claims that these groups have “confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.”

The alliance between the progressive Catholic organizations and the Obama administration has been successful in driving a wedge into the Catholic community by promoting pro-abortion policies and actively seeking out representatives of progressive Catholic organizations like Catholics in Alliance to fill important posts.

Recently nominated to be the US ambassador to the Vatican, MIGUEL DIAZ is another example of the Obama administration’s alliance with liberal Catholics. A member of the Catholics in Alliance, DIAZ FUNCTIONS AS A “THEOLOGICAL CONSULTANT”FOR THE ORGANIZATION. While Diaz has no published statements on abortion or embryonic stem-cell research, his affiliations, board memberships, AND WILLINGNESS PUBLICLY to endorse pro-abortion Democrats like Kathleen Sebelius suggests that he is part of the Church’s contingent that wishes to “move beyond” the divisive abortion issue and elect pro-abortion Democrats.

After the controversy emerged within the Catholic community over Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to give this year’s commencement address and receive an honorary degree, Catholics in Alliance published a full-page ad in the “South Bend Tribune” entitled “Catholic Leaders and Theologians Welcome President Obama to Notre Dame.”

George H. Kubeck, to be continued