Pro-Life Liberal Sargent Shriver Dies; Democratic Challenger to Obama Emerges

By Deacon Keith Fournier
1/20/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Along with his late wife Eunice, Sargent Shriver belonged to America's dwindling population of Pro-life liberals

Eunice and Sargent Shriver were Pro-Life Democrats. There was another interesting news story on the same day of the sad news of the passing of Sargent Shriver which has implications for the Democratic Primaries for President. Because I would still like to see Pro-Life people in both parties, I believe it is time to shake them both up.The first challenger to President Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination has emerged, Randall Terry, the long time Pro-Life champion.

The late Sargent Shriver at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy.

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

BETHESDA, Md. (Catholic Online) - On Tuesday, January 18, 2011, long time public servant Sargent Shriver died at the age of 95. In August of 2009 his beloved wife Eunice Kennedy Shriver predeceased him. Together they founded the Special Olympics and dedicated their lives to caring for those to whom too many pay little or no attention. They were the last of an increasingly rare breed of people in political circles these days, consistent liberals who recognize the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death and actually allow that fundamental truth to inform their lives of public service.

Sargent Shriver was the first director of the Peace Corps and was chosen to serve as a running mate for George McGovern's failed Presidential bid in 1972. He ran for the Presidency in 1976. He was instrumental in what was called the "War on Poverty" under the Johnson administration. Whether one agrees with the underlying view of the role of the Federal Government which permeated the brand of political liberalism espoused by this good man and his good wife, there is no doubt that it was informed by a sincere recognition of the dignity of every human life.

A New York Times editorial written by Ross Douthat on August 30, 2009, the week Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, was entitled "A Different Kind of Liberal." It drew comparisons and contrasts between Ted Kennedy, who died the same month, and his sister, Eunice Shriver. He noted "Liberalism's most important legislator probably merited a more extended send-off than his sister. But there's a sense in which his life's work and Eunice's deserve to be remembered together - for what their legacies had in common, and for what ultimately separated them."

He continued "What separated them was abortion. Along with her husband, Sargent Shriver, Eunice belonged to America's dwindling population of outspoken pro-life liberals. Like her church, she saw continuity, rather than a contradiction, between championing the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed and protecting unborn human life. Her brother took a different path. Not at first: In 1971, in a letter to a voter that abortion opponents would have many opportunities to quote, he declared that "wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized - the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old."

I grew up in Massachusetts during the heyday of this brand of liberalism. I actually remember consistent liberals. Sadly they are now nearly extinct. The Shriver's stood in the proud tradition of the last truly great Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States; the late Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey. He was a great champion of all the poor and a candidate whom I proudly supported in his bid for the White House. He was censored at the National Democratic Convention when the forces of death on demand in the name of "choice" took over that once great Party. He and the Shriver's heard the cries of all of the poor, including those whom Mother Teresa rightly called "the poorest of the poor", children living in the first home of the whole human race who have no voice but our own.

Under the leadership of the late Governor Casey, a full-page advertisement appeared in the New York Times during the Democratic Convention in July 1992 called "A New Compact of Care: Caring about Women, Caring for the Unborn." Both Eunice and Sargent Shriver signed this document , I offer a small excerpt in honor of Sargent Shriver:

*************

Beyond the False Dichotomy: A New Compact of Care

"The advocates of abortion on demand falsely assume two things: that women must suffer if the lives of unborn children are legally protected; and that women can only attain equality by having the legal option of destroying their innocent offspring in the womb. The cynicism of these assumptions reflects a terrible failure of moral imagination and social responsibility and an appalling lack of respect for women.

"We propose a new understanding, one that does not pit mother against child. To establish justice and to promote the general welfare, America does not need the abortion license. What America needs are policies that responsibly protect and advance the interest of mothers and their children, both before and after birth. Such policies would provide maximum feasible legal protection for the unborn and maximum feasible care and support for pregnant women, mothers, and children.... a public policy that more adequately expresses the traditions and convictions of the American people will do more than restore legal protection to the unborn.

"It will take seriously the needs of women whose social or economic circumstances might tempt them to seek the abortion "solution." It ...

1 | 2 Next Page

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 28 Comments

vance
2 years ago
Rob, there is good reason for the Repubs to be scared of the Liberal Establishment snooze media. Their demagoguery has paid off over and over again. The Repubs do not want to be labled as 'Incensitive' 'cruel' 'racist' and having no compassion. They have seen many of their colleagues voted out of office because of Liberal Media demagoguery. I have argued that the Repubs need to buy their own media.
Rob
2 years ago
First of all vance, you have no idea how I've voted and I have to be honest and say that it's pretty ignorant to go on such a rampage when you don't know. Second, you confirm what I said earlier, too scared to do anything. GOP was more worried about keeping their jobs than safeguarding the country. And being afraid of the media, that's a pretty lame excuse to let the country go off a cliff. I wasn't speaking about the fair housing act, I was speaking about banking deregulation and Mr. Graham's efforts that set the stage for what banking institutions were able to do to this country. But if in your version of the world, you only see the liberal establishment ruining everything, I don't know what the point is to continued posting. We get it, GOP is perfect, Democrats are evil. My point is these guys are the same, exactly the same.
vance
2 years ago
JeanCatherine, I'm with you.
JeanCatherine
2 years ago
God Bless everyone here for your God given opinions. There I said it and were supposed to keep this quiet. Well that said start supporting Priests for Life and all the Pro-Lifers who stand up and fight peacefully for the defense of life. That is where our arguments should go peacefully with them and to our Government Officials until they cant stand to hear from us anymore.

It can be overturned and it will be I predict. God Bless. Lets pray for it and be active if we can.
vance
2 years ago
Rob, Bill Clinton passed the Fair Housing Act before Newt Gingrich and the Repubs took control in 1994. In 2005, Bush did address the problem BUT Barney Frank got on national TV with his Elmer Fud speech and told us everything is fine. He promptly told us that changing Fannie and Freddie would deprive all those POOR and MINORITIES from owning a house. The Repubs have been scared by the Liberal Establishment Snooze Media from doing anything because the Left-wing Talking Heads of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC would demagogue them to death with accusations that they Hate Blacks, Hispanics, POOR, Women, Children, and the Holy Sacred Environment and yada yada yada. THEN you have all the Rob's, Everett's, Grimes, Bulbajer's saying, "Yeh, those Evil Repubs, Let's vote them out". I've seen this drill over and over again. That's why I'm with Sarah Palin telling the Left-wing media to go to hell which is where the Liberal Establishment wants to take this country.
Rob
2 years ago
Do you mean the Republican sponsored bills on deregulating the banks that Clinton signed? I completely agree on that front. Greed fueled the whole darn problem. And I didn't hear any party sounding the alarm bells. Maybe a token speech here or there, but you must expect for me to believe that the GOP was completely unaware of the issue during the time they controlled the house, senate and presidency. Seems to me that they had ample time to correct this issue. Truth is they didn't want to. Everyone was fat, dumb and happy. So either they failed to see the problem, which shows incompetance of epic proportions, they lacked political courage to solve the problem, or they were content with what was going on. I'm not sure what the answer is, but the results of BOTH parties dropping the ball are evident. Maybe you are willing to blindly trust the GOP, but I'm sorry I'm not. I don't trust either party right now. Until I see results, I don't trust a darn thing any of them say. It's all just words.
vance
2 years ago
Rob, you must have slept good Like Everett over the last 30 years because IT IS GOVERNMENT TO BLAME. It started with the Jimmy Carter Regime in the 1970's with Democrat Senator Alan Cranston who pushed through legislation to drop the FDR FCC rules that were in place as a protection against "Better Fool Markets" or Housing Bubbles. Immediately, there was a 'Better fool' market that jacked up housing prices through the ceiling. Then in 1980 the big crash came. During the Reagan prosparety, the economy came back around and the housing market rebounded. In 1990 we had ANOTHER 'Better Fool' market which created ANOTHER BUST. The Clinton Admin passed more regulations ( The Fair Housing Act) MANDATING Banks to make loans to those who could not qualify. Up to the Clinton Admin the housing problems were driven by GREED. Our current problem was created by Clinton. I hope the Republicans pass legislation to UNDO the Clinton Admin.
Rob
2 years ago
vance, so are you contending that only liberals were at fault for the housing crisis? There were not any conservatives who either benefitted or went along with what was going on? They were as much to blame as anyone. And all the middle men who went along with this fraud are as much to blame too. No one forced a bank to provide a lousy loan? No one forced an investment firm to package these bad loans and trade them. Bottomline is folks didn't care so long as everyone was getting rich. And in typical Washington fashion, it's only as the house begins to crumble that the finger pointing begins. As far as I'm concerned, our entire government is to blame because they failed to protect us from this calamity. Our private businesses are to blame because they were oh so willing to profit from these ill-gotten gains and individuals are to blame because no one forced them to get into a home they couldn't afford. When we limit our blame to solely one entity we miss correcting the whole system. The whole system is corrupt and that supercedes what any one individual or party did. They both played a role, they both benefitted and quite frankly, have never been forced to suffer the consequences of their failure to provide proper oversight. Of the trillion spent in the last couple of months, how much of it was new spending, how much of it was our wars etc? The debt problem is solved easily enough, send us the bill already. This whole fight is ridiculous.
Bulbajer
2 years ago
John Flavin, I congradulate you for spending time with the readings and less on the political debate. Having said so, it seems to me like you entered into the political realm on this site at a bad time. This is one of the very few articles to portray liberals of any type in the positive light. Deacon Fournier has stated in the past that Catholics should not be first conservative or liberal but first Catholic, and I think that accurately describes the mission of this site, even if the editorials and choices for topics betray conservative biases occasionally (this is in my opinion, speaking as a liberal). In any case I don't think Catholic Online is left-leaning.
vance
2 years ago
Everett, I guess you've been taking a good nap with Pete because you slept through the years that your radical left-wing Teachers Unions have kept achievement scores among the poor and minorities consistantly low. You were asleep when your Socialist Democrat Party pushed fraudulent Environmental Laws that killed our industries and sent them overseas. Oh! and while you were snoring, the Socialiist Democrat Party engineered the Housing Bubble via Freddie and Fannie. You can thank your heroes Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. They created the largest housing crash in our nations history. Your Dear Leader Obama has brought all economic and labor employment figures close to the Great Depression. While you were having sweet dreams, Obama and the Socialist Democrat Party spent a TRILLION dollars just in the last 7 months. Gee Everett, only a moron would keep voting for the Socialist Democrat Party don't you think?

Prev12 3 Next

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment