Posted on 08/01/2012 7:36:08 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Six former Vatican ambassadors have banded together to lead a new outreach for Mitt Romney presidential campaign to encourage Catholic voters to support him over pro-abortion President Barack Obama in November. The issue of abortion is one of the reasons for their decision to endorse Romney, as they explain in a new letter announcing the effort.
Catholics for Romney National Co-Chairs and Former U.S. Ambassadors to the Holy See include Frank Shakespeare, Tom Melady, Ray Flynn, Jim Nicholson, Francis Rooney, and Mary Ann Glendon. Together, they wrote the following letter supporting the former governor:
Fellow Catholics,
We are all called to advance the moral teachings of Christianity in the life of our country. Where the stakes are highest – in the defense of life, liberty, and human dignity – we have a duty to act that is greater and more urgent than allegiance to any political party.
In the election of 2012, this conviction has united all of us – each a former ambassador of the United States to the Holy See – in support of Governor Mitt Romney’s candidacy for president. Whatever issues might dominate the presidential campaign from now until November, our concerns lie with fundamental rights, beginning with religious liberty.
While the current administration has brought our first freedom under direct assault by imposing government mandates that completely disregard religious conscience, Governor Romney believes that freedom to live one’s faith is essential to liberty and human fulfillment. And he has pledged himself to removing those federal mandates immediately.
While the current administration has now put its weight on the side of those who propose to redefine the meaning of marriage itself, Governor Romney has stood firm in defending this sacred institution. In the White House, just as he did in the Massachusetts State House, he will defend the institution of marriage before the Congress, the courts, and the country.
Where the current administration has shown its sympathy for the pro-abortion lobby, Mitt Romney will be a faithful defender of life in all its seasons. And he understands the special duty of people of faith to serve in this cause. As Governor Romney recently said, “From the beginning, this nation trusted in God, not man. Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.”
These are the words of a man we believe can be a great force for good in this nation. We are Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, but on this question we are united in faith and in action. We urge our fellow Catholics, and indeed all people of good will, to join with us in this full-hearted effort to elect Governor Mitt Romney as the next President of the United States.
National Co-Chairs, Catholics for Romney
Frank Shakespeare (U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See 1986-1989)
Tom Melady (U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See 1989-1993)
Ray Flynn (U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See 1993-1997)
Jim Nicholson (U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See 2001-2005)
Francis Rooney (U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See 2005-2008)
Mary Ann Glendon (U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See 2008-2009)
Obviously not "pro-Romney" sop much as "Anti-Obama". This is getting interesting.
Check out:
http://www.mittromney.com/coalitions/catholics-for-romney
Glendon is the one who refused to attend the Notre Dame graduation in 2009 --- not even to pick up her Laetare Medal --- because she would not appear on the same dias as Obama.
One classy lady.
One classy lady.
I was wondering who was missing (the ambassador during Clinton’s second term). Turns out it is Lindy Boggs, the widow of Hale Boggs and mother of Cokie Roberts. She is 96—I don’t know what kind of condition she is in but presumably too much a part of the Democratic establishment to support the Catholic Church over the Democratic Party.
I could care less if Joseph Smith’s ghost is whispering in Mitt’s ear. I want Obama out out out....The rest falls into place after this
I always sort of liked Ray Flynn’s chutzpah, even when he was very much a Democrat.
I like him more now!
Good! thanks for the post
If I could believe anything Mitt says, I’d be happily voting for him. I like what he’s been saying quite a bit. I just don’t trust the guy.
I am glad these people are coming out for him. One thing is certain, he couldn’t possibly be worse than Obama when it comes to the right to life.
If he lives up to his word, I’ll vote for him the second time around, when he has proven he means what he says.
I just can’t vote for a big-government statist dingbat, until he proves to me that he’s a changed man.
If only we had nominated a good person this time.
Thanks for the ping!
I am not thrilled with Mitt either, but we already know that Obozo has it out for all Christians. Imagine for a moment how unleashed he will be if he does not have the threat of an election to lose over his head.
Amen to that!
This may be another one of those elections where I have to hold my nose to vote—but I’ll do it! We need every vote we can muster to beat out obammy!
BTTT
But I look at it this way. Obama is, as we speak, bashing our house down with a wrecking ball. After the first week of November we know he's bringing in demolition experts with dynamite.
Even if Romney is just "pretending" to be a "builder" but actually is in league with the destroyers -- but with a crowbar --- I say vote for the guy with the crowbar. It gives us a better chance to fight.
With Obama in a second term? No chance at all.
Governor Romney has stood firm in defending this sacred institution. In the White House, just as he did in the Massachusetts State House, he will defend the institution of marriage before the Congress, the courts, and the country.
Willard was ultimately responsible for same-sex "marriages" taking place in MA. He created these "marriages" through an unconstitutional and illegal directive to his Department of Public Health, and threatened to fire any Town Clerk or Justice of the Peace who failed to implement the "new law".
Where the current administration has shown its sympathy for the pro-abortion lobby, Mitt Romney will be a faithful defender of life in all its seasons.
RomneyCare mandated $50 abortions, and he favored legalized abortion during his runs for the Massachusetts Senate and governorship. He has an opinion that changes with the seasons.
he has pledged himself to removing those federal mandates immediately.
No, Willard has pledged to remove AND REPLACE those mandates. Replace them with what? Follow the template from RomneyCare.
These, my fellow Catholics, have forgotten Exodus 20:16 - Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
I stood arm in arm with the precious Catholics at a Pro-Life rally outside Madison Square Garden 20 years ago the week Clinton was nominated...
I do hope these people have really thought this through...
I dont believe Willard will be much better than Obama on abortion and gay issues...
His actual track record stinks..
You are correct --- but, not to quibble over mere wording --- it might be a matter of "bearing (a dubious) witness" in favor of your neighbor. They (the ambassadors) are, in a calculated bet, taking Romney at his word.
It may well be that Romney is lying, but (my comment above) even if he is, he's measurably less dangerous than Obama at this point. WHOEVER gets in, we'll have to tie them up with a non-veto-able, non-RINO House and Senate.
And between the two of them --- it IS between the two of them-- I'll vote for Romney just to be able to throw a punch at the Obamanation. It's as simple as that.
Hopefully the efforts underway not only in the Roman Catholic Church but as well many of the Protestant denominations will pay off in November. As you say, it is not only the wrecking ball but cases of dynamite ready to really put a hurting on America.
Even if Romney does "hate" us--- which is arguable --- he doesn't hate us like Obama does.
Obama has the knife to my throat. The thought of that focuses my mind.
I can appreciate your view, Mrs. D, but let’s face a fact: what’s the over-under that in addition to a Willard win, the House stays Republican and the Senate gets won?
I remain unconvinced that Bishop Willard will remain true to the statements he’s made on his endless campaign road-show, which is now six years old and counting. I look at his actual deeds while in the State House and the Governor’s mansion.
For “by their deeds shall you know them”...
Thanks for the ping.
Yes, this is clearly an “anybody but Obama” operation.
There is much we don’t know about Romney, but the things we do know about Obama are sufficiently grotesque to offset our misgivings about Mitt.
Get thee behind us satan!
Verga, I have been listening to these types of arguments in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and now 2012. I voted for Dole. I wouldn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but I gave in and decided to do so in 2004.
Then after seven years of having had time to work with Republicans and Democrats, we had the financial meltdown. Hell, Bush had a Republican majority for six of those years.
Then the whole thing was blamed on a “Conservative” Republican’s administration. (LOL Conservative) This gave fuel to Obama to get him elected and blame others for his failure for at least three years. Right now he’s claiming that ‘their way’ meaning Capitalism was tried, and then tells folks to look what happened with that.
I helped create this scenario. That frustrates me no end. I spoke out against Bush in 1999 and ever since. Most the folks who agreed with me are no longer here. And now folks that argued with us, concede that Bush was a blithering idiot, and he damaged our cause considerably. Jump forward to today, and now folks want to start it all over again, demanding I buy off on Romney. Not no, but HELL NO!
Did Conservatism thrive under Bush? No, because Bush couldn’t be bothered with it. Folks, just because a person is nice, it doesn’t mean they are Conservative. If it weren’t for the Tea Party and places like this, at the end of his administration, Conservatism would have been a single candle in the outer region of the solar system.
And then McCain slithered in.
Can you begin to understand why I don’t want to back a Leftist Republican? They absolutely destroy our ability to claim our way is better. Conservatism is thus destroyed, or at the very least, silenced for a period of time.
I’ve said this very thing on this forum for over 16 years now. Isn’t the evidence in? What more does it take to get this pounded into well meaning people’s brains? “DON’T NOMINATE STATIST LEFTISTS FOR PRESIDENT FROM OUR PARTY!!!!”
If we need that sort of thing, we can vote for a Democrat.
Even toward the end under Bush, and now even more-so under Obama, Conservatism is thriving. The Tea Party sprang up, because the Republican party would not pull it’s head out of it’s posterior. An article appears on the forum right now heralding that Conservatism is making big progress in the Republican party. Romney aside, I believe it’s actually true. Why, because rank and file Republicans and the Tea Party members won’t tolerate anything else any longer.
Do I want to support a Bush III type of presidency? Hell no!
Let the Left screw the nation into the dirt. Let them destroy themselves in the process. Then good U. S. Citizens can get back to rebuilding this nation with Socialism, Communism, Marxism, and the boot-lickers of Islam in our nation discredited for all time, just like they should have been long before this.
Our kids are getting an education today, that money can’t buy. And it’s one we couldn’t sell just four years ago. Today we can, but not with Romney.
I sympathize with your predicament. I tried to sound the voice of reason earlier this year, but the rank and file had to have Romney. Okay, they got Romney. Well they don’t have me. And don’t you dare try to blame me for what happens from this point forward. I laid out scenarios earlier this year. It isn’t rosy under Obama or Romney at this point.
I will never again vote for a Leftist statist candidate from any party. If folks keep nominating them, they will never get my vote. It’s as simple as that.
You had better vote for him!
And, while you are at it, get out and work extra-hard to ensure that Romney wins this election.
You and every other Romney nay-sayer knows full well that Obama MUST NOT BE RE-ELECTED!
For the life of me, I cannot fathom how any American could either withhold their vote or vote for Obama.
The choice is clear — America cannot stand four more years of Obama!
You must vote for Romney and conservative House and Senate candidates and then hold their feet to the fire!
The alternative is unthinkable!
BTW, if you don’t vote for Romney this time, there may not be a 2016 Romney option! Then where would you be?
You’ve already cast your vote for the ultimate leftist in your heart.
Rationalize it any way you wish, but your vote is cast for Obama and the Death culture.
Read it again, until you understand why I won’t buy in again.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2913257/posts?page=22#22
AMEN
Oh B. S. Rationalize it?
Another-words, I’m just a real rotten apple unless I’ll vote for a Leftist Statist Republican. Talk about rationalizing...
Read it again, until you understand why I won’t buy in again.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2913257/posts?page=22#22
I finally do understand you, and will never waste my time reading another of your deceptive posts.
I don’t really give a fig what you do.
We would not have had Obama except for one person.
President Bush.
Now you want to do it all over again.
What are you shooting for, George Soros in 2016?
I see your point, I don't agree with your position, but I do see your point.
Thanks Verga. I have nothing against you, but it needed to be said. There are going to be a lot of people here that agree with you.
Every four years we go through this, and every four years we either have a Lefty Democrat standing on our head, or a Lefty Republican sitting on our shoulders. We’re mired in quicksand, and neither party is lending a hand up. We’re sinking deeper and deeper, and we pretty much have to ask both parties to quit pushing us down. WE ARE SINKING!
I long for a nominee that will truly give us a hand up.
Name five big pieces of government bureaucracy that were struck down under Bush. That (and actually more) is what we must demand.
Take care.
Good news!
ROMNEY, BUSH ARE NOT KILLERS. OBOMA IS A KILLER. Ask any emigrant from Cuba, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, to name a few countries that are/have been under communist/socialist/marxist/sharia law rule. THEY will tell you about the hell under leftist regimes..how people suffered and died. And how they now kiss the ground that is the United States, but are very afraid that a oboma win will be a repeat of the oppression and suffering they experienced in their former home countries.
Start operating in the here and now like these refugees are doing...and learn from the experience of those who KNOW the difference between a oboma and a Romney. We can survive a Romney, while working together to agree upon a conservative candidate for the 2016 elections. Romney is a stop gap initiative, until the 2016 elections and a true conservative candidate we can all agree up and vote for. This “every four years” election as you refer to it, is MORE than just another election. This is the election of our lifetime...if we do not remove this dangerous enemy in OUR White House, we will not have another opportunity to do so, for dictator oboma will see to it that we never have the vote again, and that is only the beginning of hardcore socialism being shoved down our throats, with the jack boot on our necks as we bow on bended knee to dictator oboma..this will be oboma’s lifetime dream come true.
Remember, Romney is but a stop gap till we choose our conservative candidate and VOTE in the 2016 elections. If you do not vote for Romney, understanding full well what the strategy is to put him in place in the White House, than your vote will be for oboma, and all the hell that goes with him. Please join us, We the People...save this country in November, or live with the realization that you could have helped, but you chose not to.
If I could tell the future I would be rich. We can extrapolate Obama’s acts, but we don’t actually have full information on what Romney will do. It’s nothing more than a guessing game.
Obama is a known pro-abortionist, among other things. I will never forget his “punished with a child” remark. It was the remark of an evil mind.
Some FReepers will stoop to every level to avoid voting for Romney; but he’s the only choice offered against Obama in this nation. God knows how we vote. I will vote for the only viable alternative to Obama .... Romney.
Especially if we elect a conservative congress along with it. Romney just might go along with it. Obama most certainly will ignore it. That's a difference so big you can drive a truck through it.
I am helping. You just refuse to recognize it as such.
As long as the Republican party can loft these stinkers and get them elected, they will never allow us to put someone in the office who will roll back the laws that are chocking our nation.
If you wish to enable them, I’m not going to give you guff. I won’t do it.
We have been trying your way for the last 24 years. How has that worked out for us? We’ve gone from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. Is that evidence of success?
Take care...
We have. He was just not the first choice of many of on this site.
We now have the option of Romney or obama, period.
If that’s your test, what happened the last time we had a Republican president and a Republican Congress? Did that prevent Leftist adventurism?
What about Medicare Part D?
What about the attempt to ram not an amnesty (amnesty) down our throats?
What about the economic meltdown?
How did that work out for us?
The sad thing is, when it’s their guy in the White House, both sides true to accommodate him.
For the record, McCain/Kennedy would have passed if McCain had not wanted to run for president the next year. All Democrats and enough Republicans would have voted for that to pass it.
McCain withdrew his push. That’s how much Republicans in Congress look out for us. They don’t.
Romney gets in there, and he gets pretty much whatever he wants.
And then out here you have folks saying, “Yeah, but the word amnesty didn’t even appear in that bill.” Sheesh!
What about Medicare Part D. Then we had folks saying, “Yeah, I know it’s bad, but the Democrat plan would have been worse.”
You see, even a place like this is substantially muted, because folks want to protect their own guy.
I refuse to buy into this any longer.
Yes we do. And we do largely because the RNC doesn’t fight with us. It allows open primaries, and encourages it’s D. C. gang (GOPe) to bad mouth our good candidates while it praises folks like Romney or McCain.
For the record, I expect Romney to win. He’ll have some folks here cursing him for four or eight years. He’ll have others running interference for him every step of the way.
In short, F. R. will cease to be unified against Leftist government for another four or eight years. And if it is, you can only imagine what the rest of the nation will be like.
Speaking with the sad experience of one who let his "conscience overwhelm his good sense" and handed Clinton another term, let me say this:
Still, it all pales in comparison to what BO's dictatorship has dumped on us in a mere 43 months or what he intends to dump on us in the next 4 years if reelected.
Every RINO administration, for all their faults, at least accepted the restraints imposed on them by congress. BO has not and will not.
If you've fallen overboard on a ship, will you refuse to latch on to a small piece of flotsam because you think a lifeboat may come along? Or will you latch on to what is immediately available to keep you afloat a little longer?
Thank you for the ping, and for keeping me informed. I don’t have much time to read the news, and I tend to miss some important things like this.
I do agree wholeheartedly with your disdain for open primaries.
.
This is not a “buy in” vote!
This election is about saving America FRom a Socialist death!
Let us work together to defeat Obama and elect conservative MCs and Senators.
Let us work together to take our Party and our Country back!
For it is for damn sure that if Obama and his LIEberal/Socialist/Marxist/Fascist posse are re-elected, THEY WILL DESTROY AMERICA!
Romney was not my first choice, either. But I can guarantee you that a Romney administration will be one or two orders of magnitude better than another Obama administration!
And, that is all we have, at this moment. We can purge our Party of RINOs, but first, we have to win the White House, hold the House and take the Senate.
So, LETS GITER DONE!
AMEN
BTTT.
Mary Ann Glendon is a good, conservative Catholic, whose support for the right to life is questionable. I see why she and the others are saying this—because Obama is so totally horrible.
Regretably, however, Mitt Romney has a pro-abortion record, too. I simply cannot vote for him. He is a gay marriage pioneer, and was also a pioneer in socialized, tax-payer funded abortion as a “health” issue.
I understand that these guys are desperate to do something about Obama’s hateful attacks on everything the Catholic Church stands for. But I CANNOT vote for Romney, another baby killer.
That’s how we got here—50 or 60 years of criminal Democrats, and complicit establishment Republicans, who failed to roll back any of their evil schemes.
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