Democrats not holding to promises for Catholic outreach, says Catholic League

Jan 22, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The Democratic National Committee has not developed Catholic outreach or rethought its position on abortion despite promises it made after the 2004 general election to do so, observed Catholic League president Bill Donohue.

Donohue decided to follow-up on these promises by conducting a search on the DNC Web site. According to Donohue, a keyword search for “Catholic outreach” only turned up “a statement opposing a voucher program designed to help Catholic schoolchildren who were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.”

The Web site also features an interview with Eleanor Smeal on Samuel Alito. Donohue was dismayed that the DNC would choose to highlight Smeal, whom he describes as “anti-Catholic.”

Donohue quoted Smeal as saying Oct. 31 that if Alito were to become a Supreme Court Justice, “the majority of the Court would be Roman Catholics, which would underrepresent other religions, not to mention nonbelievers.”

“It’s not just the DNC that doesn’t get it,” said Donohue is a press release. “Consider that the following members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have already declared their opposition to President Bush’s Catholic nominee to the high court: Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy and Ken Salazar. All are Catholic and all are Democrats.

“Following Smeal’s logic, are there too many Catholics on the Senate Judiciary Committee?” he remarked.