Catholics United executive director Chris Korzen issued the following statement today in advance of Senator Casey’s speech at the Democratic National Convention:

“Today is an historic day for the millions of U.S. Catholics who believe the authentic values of our faith can play a positive role in our public discourse. Senator Casey is a faithful leader whose Catholic upbringing and education has inspired a career of service and a profound dedication to the common good. That one of our own has received such an honor undoubtedly serves as a source of pride to many in our church community.”

“Catholics United believes that the prime time convention appearance of a pro-life leader like Senator Casey indicates the Democratic Party’s willingness to dialogue with Americans of all political persuasions on the crucial issues of our day. There was a time when the Democratic tent wasn't big enough to include pro-life Catholics. Senator Casey's speaking role is a clear signal that those days are over. We are hopeful that tonight’s address will begin to heal the deep divisions that exist in our country, and pave the way for common ground efforts to reduce abortion – such as ensuring health care and economic security for women and families.”

“We thank Senator Obama and the Democratic Party for this wonderful opportunity.”

Catholics United executive director Chris Korzen issued the following statement today in response to Catholic senator Joe Biden’s addition to the Democratic presidential ticket.

“Catholics United believes Senator Biden’s selection as vice presidential candidate is a positive development for Americans who respect leaders who have strong religious, family, and personal values. Senator Biden’s well-known commitment to his Catholic faith has inspired his advocacy on issues such as genocide, universal health care, education, workers’ rights, and violence against women. His faith has helped him to find solace during times of tragedy and crisis.”

“We are optimistic that Senator Biden’s history of seeking practical means of addressing abortion will help move our nation beyond the divisive, acrimonious, and unproductive debate that has come to surround the issue. Senator Biden accepts his church’s teachings on human life and can work to advance these teachings in ways that Americans of all political persuasions can support.”

“Catholics United is especially hopeful that operatives on the far right will refrain from using Senator Biden’s faith and the teachings of the Catholic Church as political weapons in the coming campaign. Faith and values should be used to unite Americans behind solutions to the key challenges of this age – war, poverty, lack of health care, and a looming climate crisis – and not as partisan wedges to divide voters.”

Catholics United executive director, Chris Korzen, issued the following statement in response to the Democratic Party’s proposed platform language on abortion.

“Catholics United welcomes the Democratic Party’s new platform language as the seed of a practical and effective plan to significantly reduce abortions in the United States. Although we understand that Catholic teaching does not support all the provisions contained in the party’s abortion platform, we believe faithful Catholics will appreciate this development as a positive step toward abortion policy Americans of diverse ideological and religious backgrounds can unite behind.”

“For far too long, extremists on both sides of the political spectrum have used the abortion issue to divide voters, often at the expense of other pressing concerns. By focusing on the root causes of abortion – economic inequality, lack of education and health care, and other threats to the integrity of the American family – the leaders of the Democratic Party are signaling a willingness to bring Americans together in support of common ground solutions. We hope and pray party leaders will pursue these abortion reduction policies with vigor both in the run-up to and after the November elections. As Catholics, we will continue to stand up for the sanctity of human life and encourage elected officials from both parties to do all they can to end abortion, torture, poverty, war and other grave threats to the dignity of the human person.”

For Further Information:

• Catholics United Presents the Kansas Abortion Reduction Study
• Renewing America's Promise: The New Platform for the Democratic Party

A former US military interrogator at Abu Ghraib and a survivor of torture recounted their experiences with the press this morning and are joining with others to ask US Senator John McCain to renounce his recent votes in support of torture as an interrogation technique. Former military interrogator, Joshua Casteel, torture survivor and purple heart recipient, Father Roy Bourgeois and USAction program manager Alan Charney have asserted that torture is not only immoral, it is also ineffective.

After Tuesday’s mixed verdict in the prosecution of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, questions linger whether the inadmissible evidence collected with torture adversely affected the government’s case. In the case of suspected 9/11 co-conspirator Mohamed al Qahtani, the government decided against prosecuting the suspected terrorist after news reports detailed the coercive interrogation methods used on him.

Joshua Casteel and Fr. Roy were part of an effort that collected more than 20,000 petition signatures urging Senator McCain to renounce torture. The petition drive is being sponsored by Catholics United, School of the Americas Watch, and TrueMajority.org.

Senator McCain who was once a leader in the fight against torture, supported the Military Commission Act and voted against anti-torture provisions of the Intelligence Authorization Bill. This year McCain was the only member of Congress to distinctively change his mind on the issue, which has left him at odds with those working against torture.

For Further Information:

• True Majority and Catholics United Petition to Ban All Torture

Today, torture survivors Sr. Dianna Ortiz and Fr. Roy Bourgeois, and former military interrogator Joshua Casteel joined Catholics United, True Majority, and School of the Americas Watch in petitioning Senator John McCain to ban torture forever, without exception.

Senator John McCain was once a principled leader in the fight against torture. But then something happened. In 2006, he lended instrumental support to the Military Commissions Act, which among other things granted retroactive amnesty for past acts of torture and allowed for secret evidence collected during harsh interrogations. Then this past February, he voted against explicating banning the CIA from engaging in torture.

As Catholics we have a special obligation to work against torture. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: “Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity.” Furthermore, torture violates the dignity of both the victim and the perpetrator.

Never again should our country engage in such immoral behavior. With your help, lets make it clear that torture is never morally justified.

For Further Information:

• True Majority and Catholics United Petition to Ban All Torture
• "McCain's Backslide on Torture" - The Huffington Post
• "Secret Evidence Collected with Torture Barred from Terrorist Trial" - The Los Angeles Times

Catholics United executive director Chris Korzen issued the following statement today in response to Senator McCain’s indecision regarding whether or not to remove controversial advisor Deal Hudson from the “National Catholics for McCain Steering Committee.”

“In March, the McCain campaign proudly announced the launch of its 'National Catholics for McCain Committee'– a group that includes Deal Hudson and more than 100 other Catholics. Then, Senator McCain stated that he was ‘humbled by the supporters of such a diverse group of Catholic leaders.’ Now, as campaign spokesperson Tucker Bonds told the Washington Times, Deal Hudson is just ‘a name on a list.’”

“We believe the McCain campaign owes it to Catholics to clarify precisely which members of its ‘Catholics for McCain Committee’ are just names on a list, and which members are engaged in the committee’s stated mission of ‘actively recruiting Catholics at the national, regional, state, local, and parish levels to help share John McCain's vision and pro-Catholic message.’ Are U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate Sam Brownback and Ave Maria University founder Tom Monaghan also just names on a list? What about Republican House Leader John Boehner and Former RNC Catholic Outreach Director Martin Gillespie?”

“Although the McCain campaign is attempting to downplay Hudson’s role as a Catholic advisor and surrogate, the facts appear to tell a different story. In May, Mr. Hudson was a key player in the campaign’s attempt to rectify fallout over Senator McCain’s embrace of anti-Catholic pastor John Hagee. More recently, Hudson has used his InsideCatholic.com blog to issue a series of attacks against McCain’s opponent, Barack Obama. Just this past week, Hudson hosted a press conference for Frank Donatelli, deputy chair of the Republican National Committee with national Catholic media outlets. And on Monday, Hudson appeared on the Al Kresta Show to criticize Senator Obama’s Catholic outreach efforts. Deal Hudson, isn’t just a name on a list, he’s one of the most publicly identified Catholic supporter of McCain. This is the same Deal Hudson who established a White House Catholic Working Group, which – as he stated in his recent book – deliberately excluded the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from policy discussions. Last year, Hudson publicly ridiculed a Vatican climate change initiative that didn’t fit his political worldview.”

“We reiterate our call for Deal Hudson’s removal from the National Catholics for McCain Steering Committee.”

For more information:

• Catholics For McCain National Steering Committee Press Release

In 2004, Deal Hudson resigned from his position as a Catholic advisor to George W. Bush’s re-election campaign over allegations that Hudson had solicited an improper sexual encounter with an 18-year old Fordham University freshman. According to the National Catholic Reporter, which broke the story in August 2004, the incident happened in Hudson's campus office after a night of heavy drinking and resulted in a legal settlement and Hudson's loss of his tenured professorship.

Unlike the Bush campaign in 2004, Senator John McCain seems to believe that Hudson’s political value outweighs any of his past indiscretions and has brought him into the “Catholics for McCain National Steering Committee.”

In addition to questions about his personal conduct, Hudson has a long standing history of using Catholic teaching to advance a partisan agenda. In 1999, Hudson’s magazine Crisis authored an influential study explaining how the Republican Party could achieve greater success at the ballot box by making specific appeals to Catholic swing voters, a move that prompted Bush strategist Karl Rove to invite Hudson into high-level campaign conversations. In 2002, Hudson established a White House Catholic Working Group, which deliberately excluded the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from policy discussions. More recently, Hudson publicly ridiculed a Vatican climate change initiative that didn’t fit his political worldview.

Help us send a strong message to Senator John McCain that we believe divisive figures like Deal Hudson have no place in his campaign by signing this petition.

For more information:

• Catholics United letter to Senator John McCain
• "The Real Deal:  How a philosophy professor with a checkered past became the most influential Catholic layman in George W. Bush's Washington" - National Catholic Reporter
• "Bush Campaign Adviser Quits as Sexual Misconduct Case Is Recalled" - New York Times

What constitutes and effective anti-abortion agenda? Grandstanding in front of the Bishops Conference demanding that the Bishops withhold communion from fellow Catholics in public life? or Building a culture of life that supports women and children by providing desperately needed support services for expecting mothers? We think the choice is obvious.

Today, Catholics United expresses grave concerns over an ad campaign from the group Society for Truth and Justice and Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, which urges the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to deny communion to “pro-abortion politicians,” and to condemn Catholics who vote for those same politicians. Catholics United believes the campaign and an affiliated protest – scheduled for Friday, June 13 at the USCCB’s meeting in Orlando – constitute both a shameful attempt to use the Catholic sacrament of Communion as a political weapon, and a means of perpetuating decades of the acrimony and division that have prevented real progress toward ending abortions in the U.S.

Catholics United calls on the Society for Truth and Justice and Operation Rescue to work with leaders from across the ideological and political spectrum to craft real solutions to the abortion issue. A growing body of evidence – including a Catholics United study using data from Kansas and an upcoming 50-state study by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good – suggests that providing economic and social supports for pregnant women and families are the most effective ways to prevent abortions.

“Many of these organizations’ supporters are undoubtedly motivated by a profound and commendable desire to preserve and protect human life at all stages,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United and co-author of A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division. “Unfortunately, the leaders of these organizations are pursing strategies that are counterproductive to their stated objectives. This type of political rhetoric and campaign intervention is directly responsible for many of the failed policies of the last decade that have proved to be a disaster – by all reasonable measures – for human life and dignity.”

The ad campaign and USCCB protest are eerily reminiscent of a 2004 concerted effort by the Republican Party and far right Catholic political organizations to convince Catholics that Senator John Kerry’s position on abortion rendered him unfit for their vote. Although theologically inaccurate, this well-funded and well-organized campaign may have been the decisive factor in securing President Bush’s win in Ohio.

“It’s time to move beyond the failed policies of the past and address the real threats to the common good: war, poverty, and lack of health care and education, the environment, and our dire economic situation,” said Korzen. “It’s also time to stop using the abortion issue to divide voters and to start bringing Americans together around common ground solutions. The Society for Truth and Justice and Operation Rescue’s action are bad for Catholics, bad for the unborn, and bad for America.”

For more information:

• Society for Truth and Justice Release
  
• Society for Truth and Justice Ad
  
• Catholics United Abortion study
  
• A Nation For All

Catholics United executive director Chris Korzen issued the following statement today in response to Catholic League president Bill Donohue’s latest attack on Sen. Barack Obama:

“Today Bill Donohue issued a set of frivolous comments on Rev. Michael Pfleger’s recent inappropriate remarks about Hillary Clinton. Instead of focusing on the nature of Pfleger’s remarks, Mr. Donohue chose the unfortunate path of using the incident to question the character of Sen. Barack Obama. Catholics United is concerned that Donohue’s comments appear part of a systematic campaign to influence the outcome of the upcoming presidential election by maligning Sen. Obama to Catholic voters.”

“This pattern of partisan rhetoric is nothing new to the Catholic League under the leadership of Mr. Donohue. Donohue has targeted Senator Obama and his advisors in recent months over similarly petty issues. Earlier this year, he let John McCain off easy over an endorsement from the anti-catholic John Hagee, while in 2007 he vowed to make John Edwards’ hiring of two anti-catholic junior staffers the central issue of the election. In 2004, Donohue pursued a relentless campaign to challenge the credibility of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry by painting him as a bad Catholic. And we know from Deal Hudson’s book Onward Christian Soldiers that Donohue participated in at least one campaign meeting with Karl Rove during the run-up to the 2000 election.”

“Catholics United wholeheartedly supports the Catholic League’s noble mission of ‘defending the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.’ It is difficult, however, to understand how Donohue’s own political activity as Catholic League president is consistent with this mission or the organization’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax status.”

“We are also concerned that Donohue’s media profile risks creating an appearance of partisanship on the part of the entire Catholic community. Although he often seems to pretend otherwise, Mr. Donohue has absolutely no authority to speak for Catholics or the Church institution.”

The leaders of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United today urged Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn) to withdraw his support for Rev. John Hagee and the Texas pastor’s “Christians United for Israel” summit. Sen. Lieberman is scheduled to appear at the event in July. In a letter to Sen. Lieberman, the groups cited Hagee's “long-standing pattern of intolerant behavior” that includes comments offensive to many groups of Americans.

Hagee has stirred controversy in recent months for having referred to the Catholic Church as “the great whore” and claiming that God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish residents of New Orleans for immoral behavior. More recently, revelations surfaced that Hagee believes Adolf Hitler’s persecution of Jews was carried out in fulfillment of God’s will. The pastor has also made comments offensive to Muslims, women, and African-Americans.

“Senator Lieberman must send a strong message to all Americans that Hagee’s bigotry and extremism have no place in our political system,” said Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance. “The best way to do this is to renounce his support of Hagee, and withdraw from the ‘Christians United for Israel’ summit.”

“Americans of all political stripes are desperate to move beyond the divisiveness and partisanship that have characterized U.S. politics in recent years,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. “By participating in Hagee’s summit, Senator Lieberman risks perpetuating the acrimony and intolerance that the pastor has come to represent.”

For Further Information:

• Catholics United Letter to Senator Joseph Lieberman