The Catholic Coalition Against Religious Tests for Office has written to Washington, DC Archbishop Wilton Gregory urging him to publicly address the anti-Catholic bigotry of the leadership of the Democratic Party.
Citing the repeated harassment of Catholic appointees to public office by leading Senate Democrats, the fourteen Democratic state attorney generals who are “maliciously persecuting” the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the radical abortion agenda of the party platform, the Catholic Coalition appeals to Archbishop Gregory to speak out for the Church.
“Clearly, one of America’s two major political parties is now targeting Catholics and their Church. History will record whether America’s Catholic hierarchy was brave enough to speak out in defense of the faith,” states the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Breitbart News.
The letter, signed by Catholic Coalition president Ed Martin, makes reference to Archbishop Gregory’s vocal criticism of President Trump last summer after the president visited a shrine to Saint Pope John Paul II.
In defending his censure of Mr. Trump against critics who said he was acting in a “blatantly partisan” way, the archbishop compared his actions to the clergy who were active during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
“They are reminiscent of the criticisms that people gave to Catholic priests and nuns they saw marching during the civil rights period,” the archbishop said, while insisting that the Church and her pastors must be present in society, “beyond the four walls” of the church building.
In Monday’s letter, the Catholic Coalition notes that at the time the archbishop also said he had a duty to preach the Gospel to both sides of the political aisle. “Today, I am asking you to make good on that promise. I am asking you to address openly and publicly the ‘Catholic Problem’ of the leadership of the Democratic Party,” Martin writes.
Particularly disturbing is that one of the most egregious examples of overt anti-Catholicism in Democrat leadership comes from the vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, Martin observes.
Enclosed with the letter to the archbishop are several news reports including one from April 2019 in the Washington Examiner decrying Senator Harris’ actions in grilling a judicial appointee over his Catholic beliefs.
In December 2018, Sen. Kamala Harris “suggested attorney Brian Buescher is unfit to serve as a federal judge on account of his membership in an ‘extreme’ Catholic organization: the Knights of Columbus,” the article notes.
Harris asked of the Catholic attorney: “Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when you joined the organization?” and, “Have you ever, in any way, assisted with or contributed to advocacy against women’s reproductive rights?” and, “Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization?”
“Just so we are all on the same page: The Knights do not profess anything that is not already Church doctrine,” the article observes. “They’re not some crazy sect. The Knights are pro-life and pro-traditional marriage. This is not al Qaeda we are talking about.”
Soon after Joe Biden announced his choice of running mate in August, the Catholic League noted the serious problems he would face because of Harris’ “Catholic problem.”
Similarly, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich pulled no punches in his characterization of Kamala Harris as an “openly anti-Catholic bigot.”
All of which would suggest — Mr. Martin notes in his letter — that now would be a good time for the archbishop of Washington, D.C. to step up and warn the faithful of the Democrats’ serious Catholic problem.