Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 17, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).
A virtual campaign event designed to organize Catholic support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential candidacy is set to take place on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 18.
The “Catholics for Harris-Walz National Organizing Call,” which is open to the public, will be held Wednesday evening from 8 p.m. until 9 p.m. The campaign originally planned to hold the event prior to last month’s Democratic National Convention, but it was abruptly canceled. Organizers at the time cited a scheduling conflict as the reason for its cancellation.
“The call will be an opportunity to hear directly from the campaign about our vision, next steps, and how you can get involved and take part in this historic moment,” the event’s description reads. “We will be joined by special guests and community leaders to discuss the deciding role the Catholic vote will play in the upcoming election.”
A coalition of advocacy groups, including Catholics Vote Common Good, is organizing the call in tandem with the campaign. The group is part of the broader Vote Common Good nonprofit, which mobilizes various faith groups in support of progressive candidates.
Catholics Vote Common Good has already been organizing weekly phone banking on behalf of Harris’ presidential campaign.
The nonprofit, along with Catholic Democrats, has also relaunched the “Catholics4Kamala” website, which briefly went offline after the original event was canceled. The website does not directly address Harris’ strong support for abortion but instead states that “even on the life issue, there is an eerie silence among conservatives about the rise in abortion numbers nationally since the Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade” on its “about” page.
Harris supports codifying the abortion standards set in Roe v. Wade, which would prevent states from passing laws that protect unborn life prior to fetal viability. In the Sept. 12 debate with former president Donald Trump, Harris refused to say whether she supports late-term abortion in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy.
More than 9,000 late-term abortions are performed in the United States annually after the 21st week of pregnancy.
The website states that a Harris presidency “looks forward to the promise of an America that embraces and celebrates our diversity among people of many races, beliefs, and genders — an America that is caring and uplifting for all, seeks to provide the opportunity for everyone to achieve their God-given potential, and brings joy back to our politics.”
“Catholics are coming together to support the Harris-Walz ticket because of the threat that a second Trump presidency poses to reverse the progress against global warming, to explode the deficit with more tax cuts, to transform the Justice Department into an instrument for vindictiveness, to abandon Ukraine in its fight for sovereignty, and to hamstring our economy through a massive race-centered deportation operation,” the website adds.
Harris has advocated other positions that are contrary to Catholic teaching, such as gender ideology. As a senator, Harris also pointedly scrutinized judicial nominees for their membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization.
The Trump-Vance campaign launched its Catholics for Trump coalition earlier this month, which emphasizes the defense of religious liberty, traditional values, and the sanctity of human life as priorities.
A Pew poll released last week showed that a slim majority of Catholics supported Trump over Harris with the former president receiving 52% support and the vice president getting 47%. An EWTN News/RealClear poll earlier this month showed Harris with a slight lead among Catholics at 50% of the vote compared with Trump’s 43%.
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Catholics for Kamala-Walz makes about as much sense as Vegans for Meat.
Or Hezbollah for Taiwanese pagers.
You can’t vote for abortion on Tuesday and sing Oh How I Love Jesus in Sunday.
I think most of the Catholics for Harris/Walz are CINOs. Think about how many people attend a Mass that you personally have never spoken to (perhaps you’ve nodded to them as you are leaving the church after Mass, and they’ve nodded to you). There are so many anonymous people sitting in church week after week.
I wonder what would happen if the presiding priest were to say, “I would like everyone sitting in this Mass right now who supports legal abortion in the United States to please abstain from Holy Communion. I will pray for your souls.”
Don’t get me wrong–I love the Mass. But one of the “problems” in the Mass in the U.S. is that the “homily” is supposed to be short and it’s supposed to help the congregation understand and apply the Scripture readings of the day.” It’s a shame that the priests do not often preach “fire and brimstone” sermons, as the pro-life Protestant pastors do–about the grave sin of abortion, in which they would condemn the laws of the U.S. that allow for abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy! Yes, there are special meetings in parishes where a Catholic doctor has the opportunity to educate the attendees about abortion, but the people who attend these are usually already pro-life.
I think that more Catholics than we know of have no idea that their Church condemns abortion. They think that it’s a more merciful alternative than forcing a poor woman to bear a child. At least their hearts are in the right place.
I’ve heard some real “fire & brimstone” homilies about the sin of feticide. I think it can vary by parish & diocese.
I would love to see at least ONE Catholic Bishop, outside of Archbishop (should be Cardinal) Cordileone instruct his priests to deny Holy Communion to ONE ‘catholic’ (small c) politician who supports abortion, as in – do it right out in front of God and everybody and let the chips fall where they may.
(Hint – you could with that dementia dude on Pennsylvania Ave.)
Would the press cover it?