Respecting life – and the truth

In
the world of politics, however, October 2010 may come to be known as
“Disrespect Catholics Month.”  The latest sign of this disagreeable
observance is an outrageous mailer sent out by the Democratic Farmer Labor
party in Minnesota.  The oversized postcard, circulated in a hotly contested
U.S. House of Representatives race, essentially defames the Catholic Church.

Pictured
on the mailer is the midsection of a man garbed as a Catholic priest.  He
is wearing a Roman collar and carries a Bible in his right hand.  On his
chest is a clearly legible campaign sticker, which reads, “Ignore the
Poor.”  The other side of this crude bit of political dirty trickery
charges the Republican candidate in the race with wrongly focusing on the
abortion issue while dismissing concern for Americans living in poverty.

The
mailer doesn’t make an argument so much as exploit a bigotry.  Because it
has no basis in fact – the nation’s Catholic charities operate in the spirit of
Mother Teresa, who gave her life in service to the poor but opposed elective
abortion as the “greatest poverty” – the mailer has no purpose other than to
inflame religious prejudice and confuse voters.

Sadly,
it’s not the only – and certainly not the most subtle – example of election-eve
efforts to target and confuse religious voters. 

Over
in Ohio a candidate for Congress named Steve Driehaus has filed a complaint
against a pro-life group, the Susan B. Anthony List, over billboards it erected
that questioned Driehaus’s vote for the Obama-Reid-Pelosi health care
bill.  The billboard decried the vote as having the effect of forcing
taxpayers to pay for elective abortions.

Rather
than argue his differences over the bill with pro-life groups, and the
thousands of voters in his district who care about the issue, Driehaus is
abusing an unusual Ohio campaign law in an attempt to silence his
critics.  His assault on the First Amendment is being aided by Catholics
United, a front group that has organized to defend several Democrats against
the accusation that their votes for the health care bill represent a massive
expansion of tax-funded abortion.

First
of all, the mission of Catholics United is clearly partisan.  It is making
its presence felt in battleground House races where the Catholic vote could
make the difference.  Because the word “Catholic” is not a brand that can
be trademarked, like GE or Pepsi, any group can take this label and claim to
speak authoritatively on moral issues.

Catholics
United is not remotely, however, an official arm of any Catholic entity. 
In fact, it is related to another group, Catholics in Alliance for the Common
Good, that has received major funding from the notorious billionaire George
Soros, who has also funded Catholics for Choice and efforts to legalize
recreational drugs.

Catholic
leaders – those who have actual authority to speak on questions of morality and
policy – can’t haul the likes of Soros and his brand rustlers into court. 
What they can – and must – do is underscore the falsity of the claims of groups
like Catholics United.  

The
history here is clear.  Just two days after the Democratic Congress passed
the health care bill, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (as official as
it gets for American Catholics) issued a detailed statement on the new
law.  Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, speaking for the Conference,
asserted that the bishops continued to oppose the law because “there is
compelling evidence that it would expand the role of the federal government in
funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion.”

The
statement went on to point out that President Obama’s Executive Order, while
purporting to resolve the pro-abortion deficiencies in the bill, fell far
short.  “We do not understand,” Cardinal George said, “how an Executive
Order, no matter how well intentioned, can substitute for statutory
provisions.”

Thus,
the authentic U.S. Catholic position on this bill has long been plain. 
Whatever its other merits, it is absolutely defective and unacceptable because
of its massive subsidies for abortion.  Preferring to be apolitical, the
Catholic bishops have not used Respect Life Month to restate these concerns.

Catholics
United has rushed into this void, intent on confusing faithful Catholics in the
pews.  They have rounded up a small band of liberal clergy and laypeople,
all to claim the health care bill is “pro-life.”

It’s
high time, as the outrageous Minnesota mailer makes clear, that the nation’s
Catholic bishops re-enter the debate and affirm the stand they took last
March.  Voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere have the right to know
the whole truth about these vital issues.  They also have the right to
know who it is that is speaking to them. 

Catholics
United not only does not speak for the Catholic Church, it is speaking
expressly against it.  And it is attempting to silence pro-life groups
that are pointing this out. 

If
October really is Respect Life Month, the nation’s authentic Catholic leaders
have just a few more days to set the record straight.

Frank
Cannon is Treasurer of the Susan B. Anthony List and president of the American
Principles Project.