| Politics

Saturday night in two historic votes the importance of faithful Catholics in both major political parties became crystal clear.

Washington, D.C. (Catholic Online) – In a November 19, 2008 article in his always interesting “Inside Catholic”, my friend Deal Hudson, Ph.D., properly praised then candidate Joseph Cao who was running for the 2d District Congressional seat in Louisiana. The article was entitled “The Jesuits Produce a Great Political Candidate” and it noted: “Joseph Cao is a Catholic lawyer and former Jesuit scholastic from New Orleans… Few candidates for public office are as forthright as Cao when asked about their position on abortion. “I am very anti-abortion,” he told me without hesitation. Cao would like to overturn Roe, but in the meantime, “We have to find a way to defeat Roe without having to overturn it.” His solid pro-life credentials are attested to by the endorsement of the FRC Action PAC, among others.”

Saturday night, in two historic votes, the importance of faithful Catholics in both major political parties became crystal clear. I am sure my friend Deal Hudson is surprised at now Congressman Cao’s decision to break ranks and become the only Republican to support the passage of the House version of "Health Care Reform". This occurred only AFTER the Bill was amended to remove what Was contained within its scheme, a clear authorization of Federal Funds to kill children in the womb through Abortion. I am not surprised. I may not agree with him because I have other concerns about the legislation, but I understand and respect his decision. After all, in the very same interview cited above, then candidate Cao gave Dr. Hudson an indication of his views concerning how he would approach his public service in these words: “I went all over the world to work with the poor and experienced a crisis of faith in Mexico over human suffering and God. I asked my spiritual director, ‘What is God doing about all this suffering?’ He told me that ‘God sends people to help.’ That was when I began to realize my calling was politics.”

First, let there be no more wrangling about the facts. The Bill as proposed by Nancy Pelosi - an unfaithful Catholic who should be ashamed and strongly opposed in her next campaign while we all pray for her return to the truth - promoted the intrinsic evil of abortion. It would have funded the feticide of our first neighbors in the womb. End of discussion. All of those folks who tried to argue that all of us who sounded the alarm over this evil were wrong have been exposed as frauds. The phony compromises and fake amendments were a subterfuge.

Before the determined and courageous efforts of Congressman Bart Stupak, a Pro-Life Catholic Democrat whose name along with Republican Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania of the 16th District of Pennsylvania is on the now historic amendment, the legislation would have funded more abortions with tax dollars. The “Health Care Reform” legislation which passed last night as HR 3962 - by a vote in the House of Representatives by a vote of 220 – 215 - would have had a lethal effect, resulting in the intentional killing of potentially millions more of our first neighbors. Thank God for the courage and perseverance of faithful Catholic Democrat Bart Stupak!

The Stupak/Pitts Amendment was strongly supported by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops who worked with admirable persistence and courageous clarity in order to force its passage. It actually was passed earlier in the evening by an historic vote of 240 to 194.Some cowardly members did not vote at all. This amendment stripped abortion funding from the otherwise anti-life Legislation. Prior to the amendment, the funding would have occurred through both the so called “Public Option” and through what are called “affordability credits” which are to be given to certain health care consumers in order to purchase insurance. It was, as many including this writer pointed out, a “shell game”. It would have resulted in the spilling of more of the blood of the innocents in our Nation. Congressman Bart Stupak, Pro-Life Democrat, is the hero of the hour.

Congressman Bart Stupak is a faithful Catholic and a Democrat from the first Congressional District of Michigan who Co-Chairs the Bi-Partisan Pro-Life Caucus with another faithful Catholic, Republican Congressman Chris Smith. Stupak is one of a strong and vocal contingent of Pro-Life Democrats who carry on the legacy of the late, great Governor of Pennsylvania Bob Casey. They hear the cry of all the poor, including children in the first home of the whole human race, their mother’s womb. They recognize the truth that these dear children whom Mother Teresa rightly called the “poorest of the poor” have no voice but ours. These fellow Americans living in the womb are our first neighbors. It is men and women like Bart Stupak and Chris Smith who are the models of public service for all Catholics and other Christians.Stupak is a Democrat, Smith is a Republican.

Congressman Stupak ...