On November 11, a group allied with the Democratic Party released a public statement branding all Catholic bishops liars. The group, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC), made the charge in a news release: “Congress, AIDS advocates, and public urged to protest Catholic cardinals’ and bishops’ lying about condoms’ effectiveness to fight AIDS.”
The statement came as the bishops were meeting in Washington for their annual meeting. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) provides a link on its website to CFFC and has resisted calls to end its relationship with the anti-Catholic organization.
Here is what we told the media in a news release of our own:
“The Democrats are now in a bind: they can either dump Catholics for a Free Choice or explain why they shouldn’t. The Democrats, in their eagerness to support abortion rights, have needlessly sided with an anti-Catholic group. For the party of compassion and civil rights to associate with a group that is publicly flaunting its contempt for Catholicism is astonishing. It is also suicidal.
“Do the Democratic candidates running for president believe the Catholic bishops are a bunch of liars? If not, will they say the time has finally come to break off all relations with these bigots? Surely the Democrats have more to lose than gain by sticking with those who seek to alienate millions of Catholics.”