Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger / RNC Chairman Michael Steel
Posted on 03/24/2009 6:03:52 AM PDT by NYer
.- Saying there can be “no equivocation” about abortion, Bishop of Evansville, Indiana Gerald Andrew Gettelfinger has decided not to attend the Vanderburgh County Right to Life (VCRL) banquet because Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, a Catholic who made conflicting comments about his abortion views, will be addressing the gathering.
Bishop Gettlelfinger charged that Steele “assiduously avoids” strong language on abortion.
The Washington Times reports that 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is also to address the banquet attendees.
Paul Leingang, communications director for the Diocese of Evansville, told CNA that the bishop intends not to attend the dinner he would normally attend.
Evansville Catholic Charities Director Jim Collins also plans not to attend the gathering, saying he was “shocked” by Steele’s comments on abortion in an interview with GQ magazine.
The Republican leader had told GQ that he believes women “absolutely” have the right to choose abortion and that he believes abortion is “an individual choice.”
Steele later distanced himself from remarks in a statement, saying “I am pro-life, always have been, always will be” and voicing his support for the Republican Party platform and “its call for a Human Life Amendment.”
Last Thursday the VCRL board voted to honor its speaking contract with Steele, which agreement was reached last fall, according to the Washington Times.
"We have done our due diligence," VCRL Executive Director Mary Ellen Van Dyke told the Washington Times. "Michael Steele has made the board of directors more than satisfied with his response regarding the GQ article. He told us he always has been and will be pro-life and against abortion in all cases."
However, Bishop Gettelfinger wrote a letter to VCRL, saying that “the principled answer for us is that there can be no equivocation: Intentional abortion is an act of killing the unborn. There is no room for choice in this deadly matter. Mr. Steele assiduously avoids such strong language.”
On Monday CNA spoke with Evansville diocesan communications director Paul Leingang about Bishop Gettelfinger’s decision.
He said there were no new developments concerning the situation because Bishop Gettelfinger is out of town. The diocese had not received a response to the letter the bishop had sent to VCRL, but was still hoping for comment. The organization may not yet have received the bishop’s letter, Leingang explained.
Explaining to CNA why Bishop Gettelfinger will not be attending, Leingang said the bishop was “disturbed” by Steele’s comments in GQ magazine in regard to a woman’s “right to choose” and that they seemed to come from “a political stance, not a principled one.”
“The principled answer would be there can be no equivocation, there’s no room for ‘choice’,” Leingang told CNA, because of what is being chosen.
CNA asked about defenses of Steele which claimed he merely spoke with “unfortunate phrasing” in his GQ interview.
“The salient point is that this is the principled decision of Bishop Gettelfinger,” Leingang replied, reporting that the bishop spoke with Steele by phone last Friday and also read the statement that Steele had issued following the GQ interview.
“After that conversation and examination of the statement, Bishop Gettelfinger maintained his decision not to attend the banquet.”
The bishop has not previously had to take a stand by declining to attend an event.
“This is unique,” Leingang told CNA.
He added that Bishop Gettelfinger will explain his decision in an upcoming article for the diocesan newspaper The Message.
Steele is pro-abortion, he should resign his post as Chair of the RNC.
Plus he is anti-gun rights.
Is the Bishop related to the Gettelfinger who is head of the UAW and a huge Democrat? Inquiring minds want to know....
With Notre Dame having BO, a believer in killing the unborn, come to speak at its commencement, I’d say the Catholic Church is bi-polar.
This post totally needs the spine staff pic! WTG Bishop!!
Plus he is anti-gun rights.
Plus he is a Racist.....he advocates Affirmative Action.
Nope, some anti catholics claiming to be catholic and are not are making it seem like the church is bi polar. I don’t know why they don’t just formally renounce the church? You cannot be catholic and pro abortion. You excommunicate yourself by the act of supporting/participating in abortion. Too bad many catholics are either so ignorant or worse, so stupid, that they don’t know their faith well enough to know this. Any catholic you see advocating something that is a doctrine of the faith is in heresy, and therefore anathema. The catholic church itself is united and has no division...
He’s a pro-lifer who believes in a woman’s right to choose. Where’s the equivocation? /sarcasm
*should be advocating AGAINST something- sorry about that, fingers faster than proofreading LOL
He should be more concerned about South Bend than Evansville
Evansville Catholics are serious about their faith.
WTH? Gettelfinger is the Bishop of Evansville, not South Bend. (Psst - it’s 300 miles from here)
I think this is probably being done to demonstrate that the Church is opposed to pro-abortion statements from members of either party, and not just Dems. (Although a suspicious part of me just says that it’s easier for them to stand up to Republicans because most of the bishops are Dems to begin with, they know there will be no retribution against the Church from the GOP and, in any case, the traditional GOP platform is pro-life...)
Better said:Evansville Catholics are blessed with a gutsy bishop. Good for them!
Indiana does have more than one bishop (I know it’s in flyover country, but Indiana is a heavily Catholic state). Geography lesson: Evansville is in the southwest corner of Indiana...South Bend is in the very far north part of the state (D’arcy (sp?) is their bishop).
I originally hail from Indianapolis, which also has its own bishop (Buchelein).
Or do we do we have another detractor with a keen vision for seeing the speck in a Republican's eye, but who is blind to the plank lodged in a Democrats eye?
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
It does not appear that he is the Bishop for South Bend. So stay tuned on the Notre Dame issue.
OK correction noted, but my point really was that the outrage should be directed at a pro-abortion Pres__dent vs. a political party rep.
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