Catholic Bishops Confront Illinois Governor on Abortion Issue
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Illinois' six Catholic bishops have deplored Catholic governor Pat Quinn's role as the presenter of a “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” at an abortion advocacy group's upcoming ceremony. (Picture/www.chicagonow.com)
Illinois’ six Catholic bishops have deplored Catholic governor Pat Quinn’s role as the presenter of a “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” at an abortion advocacy group’s upcoming ceremony.
“We deeply regret the governor’s decision to present this award, which so closely associates him with a political action group whose purpose is contrary to the common good,” the six bishops said in a Nov. 2 statement released by the Catholic Conference of Illinois.
“With this action, Governor Quinn has gone beyond a political alignment with those supporting the legal right to kill children in their mother’s wombs, to rewarding those deemed most successful in this terrible work.”
An Oct. 27 e-mail from the abortion advocacy group Personal PAC announced that the Catholic governor “will present Jennie Goodman, Pro-Choice Leadership Award recipient, with the 2011 Award at its Annual Luncheon” on Nov. 17.
The announcement asks supporters to “join Personal PAC and over 1,000 other people in thanking Jennie for her courage and leadership on behalf of the women of Illinois!”
Personal PAC describes itself as a “political action committee dedicated to electing pro-choice candidates to state and local office in Illinois.”
Tickets prices for its 18th annual awards luncheon range from $150 to $5,000. Table service at the event is available at $2,500, $5,000, and $10,000 levels.
The Illinois bishops, including Chicago’s Cardinal Archbishop Francis E. George and Springfield’s Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, quoted a 1994 statement of Blessed John Paul II in their reaction to Governor Quinn’s involvement.
The late Pope, they recalled, “asked in his ‘Letter to Families,’ ‘How can one morally accept laws that permit the killing of a human being not yet born, but already alive in the mother’s womb?’”
“Governor Quinn not only accepts these laws,” the bishops stated, “he promotes them and publicly presents awards to their advocates.” “This approach is irreconcilable with any honest profession of the Catholic faith.”
The bishops said they would “continue to pray for (Quinn’s) conversion, and the protection of unborn human life.”
Meanwhile, they declared that “those acting in the manner of the governor” should not be honored “on Church property or at functions held in support of Church ministry.”
Gov. Quinn said Thursday he considers it “the proper, Christian thing to do” to present an abortion-rights group’s leadership award, sloughing off criticism from Cardinal Francis George and other Roman Catholic bishops.
This marks the latest rift between the governor and the Catholic church. The Quinn administration has waged a legal battle over state foster-care services offered by the church. That fight is rooted in the church’s refusal to recognize Illinois’ civil unions law.
The Americano / CNA
[...] The Americano: Illinois’ six Catholic bishops have deplored Catholic governor Pat Quinn’s role as the presenter of a “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” at an abortion advocacy group’s upcoming ceremony. [...]
It’s about time that the Bishops stand up and call out all the elected officials including President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, et. al who are pro-abortion and who continue to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood. The Bishops need to be calling out so-called “Catholic” universities and colleges that have given way to political correctness and secularity to allow anti-Christian, anti-life, organizations and groups on campus. Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College and others are CINOS…Catholic in Name Only. Had the Bishops been forceful enough in 2007, perhaps we w/n have Obama as President.