Matters have gone from bad to worse for Sen. Barack Obama’s Catholic National Advisory Council.
In the last issue of Catalyst, we detailed our objections to this advisory group; most of the Catholic politicians advising Obama are pro-abortion. When the group responded with a spirited defense, we hit them with an equally spirited rejoinder. Now there’s a real question as to whether they even exist anymore.
We know one thing for sure: The Obama website has deleted any mention of the Catholic National Advisory Council. More than that, the Obama headquarters will not return phone calls or e-mails on the subject; this includes journalists who have contacted the campaign about this issue.
In a startling move, a group called Catholic Democrats tried to tell us that the Advisory Council still exists. We decided to call them on it: Where is the evidence? They had none.
Obama’s Catholic Advisory ran into trouble with more than the Catholic League. One of the advisory members, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, was informed by Kansas City Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann not to go to Communion. He acted only after exhausting many avenues of dialogue with her; she refuses to budge on her pro-abortion stance.
Adding to Obama’s Catholic problem was Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput. He took “Roman Catholics for Obama ‘08” to task for misrepresenting his writings on whether Catholics can vote in good conscience for a pro-abortion politician. Archbishop Chaput also nailed Catholic Democrats for errors in their reporting on a Denver conference where allegedly Republican candidates spoke. Nothing of the sort happened.
And, of course, Obama was dogged for months for his close relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. After first defending him, Obama had to break loose altogether and quit Wright’s church after the public caught wind of the fiery preacher’s polarizing message. The Catholic League publicly criticized Obama for his association.
Then Obama linked up with his friend, Rev. Michael Pfleger, a radical Catholic priest from Chicago. After Pfleger publicly mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama had to drop him as well. We said that “Father Pfleger’s tirade would be inexcusable anywhere, but it is even more offensive when it happens in a church.”
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain and Pastor John Hagee had a falling out; both men issued statements pulling support for one another on the same day. McCain also dropped his relationship with Rev. Rod Parsley when stories surfaced that Parsley was anti-Muslim.
