(LifeSiteNews) — Dissident Catholics, including heterodox Sister Simone Campbell, made light of the Church’s teachings on the evil of abortion during the inaugural “Catholics for Harris” virtual meeting this week in order to cast Kamala Harris, who has avoided clarifying if she supports any restrictions on abortion, in a more positive light.
“Our Catholic faith doesn’t require the outlaw of abortion … it’s about protecting life at all stages. We must trust people’s conscience,” Campbell said Wednesday during a Zoom call in an apparent attempt to equate issues like housing and immigration with killing a pre-born child.
“Our Catholic faith doesn’t require the outlaw of abortion. It’s about protecting life at all stages. We must trust people’s conscience in difficult situations.” — @sr_simone pic.twitter.com/I1S9OnJLRg
— Catholics for Harris (@Catholic4Harris) September 19, 2024
The Catholic Church has always taught that abortion is intrinsically evil as it ends the life of an innocent child. It is also considered one of the four sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. Clergy the world over have routinely instructed the faithful that abortion is a “preeminent” voting issue.
Political operative Alex Nason emceed the event, which was scheduled weeks ago but delayed. Other than Campbell, who rose to fame after organizing the infamous “Nuns on the Bus” tours that pushed Democratic talking points during the 2010s, several other high-profile persons spoke as well, including Joe Donnelly, Barack Obama’s ambassador to the Holy See.
Professor and MSNBC commentator Anthea Butler and pro-abortion Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who told viewers that her “faith leads me to support Kamala Harris,” also appeared. DeLauro has ties to communist groups in the U.S.
According to Catholic News Agency, the call was organized by the Harris campaign in conjunction with Catholics Vote Common Good, a non-profit backed by the Vote Common Good organization. An X account called “Catholics for Harris” that was launched in July is also involved with the larger push for getting Catholic voters to support the pro-LGBT Harris. The group seems to have been founded by Christopher Hale, a former Obama official who was named executive director of the George Soros-backed Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good in 2013, but later resigned in disgrace over allegations of financial malfeasance. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a self-described “pro-life Democrat” in 2020.
“I believe that Kamala Harris is the best person to put us in a place where democracy will stay in place and that we as Catholics will be able to explore and express our faith in ways that are alongside the teachings of the Church.” — @AntheaButler https://t.co/x3Xtdbzbgl
— Catholics for Harris (@Catholic4Harris) September 19, 2024
During the call, Butler, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, repeated liberal claims that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. “Kamala Harris is the best person, along with Tim Walz, to put us in a place where democracy will stay in place, first of all, and secondarily that we as Catholics will be able to explore and express our faith in ways that are alongside the teachings of the Catholic Church,” she said.
Harris has repeatedly targeted Catholic as well as pro-life Americans during her time in public office. As Attorney General of California, she directed law enforcement to raid the home of pro-life journalist David Daleiden. As a U.S. senator, she attacked a Trump nominee over his membership in the Catholic Knights of Columbus group. Harris has also voted against legislation that would require medical care to be provided for babies born alive after botched abortions. During her time as Vice President, the FBI spied on Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass. Catholic father of seven Mark Houck also had his home raided by FBI agents in 2022 under the Biden-Harris administration after engaging in pro-life activism.
Other participants on the call gave standard talking points about how Trump would not care for migrants and that he is opposed to the working class, though such a claim seems to be belied by the fact that the Teamsters Union did not endorse the Democratic presidential candidate this election cycle, the first time in its history. Most of the group’s members are planning on voting for Trump.
In 2016, Campbell, who leads the Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, called a major pro-abortion leader’s retelling of her own abortion story at that year’s Democratic National Convention “touching and compelling” while stating “I don’t think it’s a good policy to outlaw abortion.” Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, had been on the Network’s Board of Trustees since 2010. It has also received grants totaling more than $300,000 from the radical Ford Foundation.
In 2020, Campbell along with pro-LGBT priest Fr. James Martin led prayers at the DNC. She told Catholic media that the question of whether abortion should be opposed is above her “pay grade.”
The Trump campaign announced earlier this month that it was relaunching the Catholics for Trump coalition that helped garner Catholic support for him in 2020. Trump was scheduled to appear at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania this weekend, but those plans have been canceled.
Two recent polls, one conducted by EWTN, the other by Pew Research, show conflicting data on which presidential candidate Catholic voters are supporting. EWTN found that Trump is trailing Harris among Catholics 50 percent to 43 percent with 6 percent undecided. Pew said 52 percent of Catholics were backing Trump compared with 47 percent favoring Harris.
Pope Francis controversially weighed into the U.S. election aboard the papal plane on his way back from Oceana by saying he doesn’t know whether Trump or Harris is the “lesser evil” because one opposes migrants and the other is for abortion.