On November 1, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) ran one of their dishonest ads in the pages of the student newspaper at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Daily Illini; the same ad appeared five days later.
Like many student newspapers, the Daily Illini receives no student or university money, though it is distributed on campus and has faculty members serving as advisors. The pro-abortion ad run by CFFC angered the head of the Newman Center on campus, Msgr. Stuart Swetland, and that is why he called us asking for advice.
We are pleased to note that on election day, loyal Catholics struck back. “The Catholic Church is pro-life” ran the headline of an ad in the Daily Illini. It was signed by hundreds of students and included both a rap on CFFC and the full text of a statement on abortion written by the bishops.
The counter-CFFC ad read, in part, that we “affirm that abortion is a grave evil. In addition, we support and affirm that euthanasia, the sale of fetal tissue and parts, and the use of artificial birth control are unjustifiable, according to the Catholic Church’s teaching.”
Congratulations to Msgr. Swetland and the Catholic students who signed this ad. He and these students are a role model for all Catholic Newman Center priests and students throughout the country.
