Donohue, Sebelius- And JFK

I had thought John F. Kennedy settled all of this, for Presidents and others of the Executive Branch, on September 12, 1960:

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept (sic) instructions on public policy from.... (any) ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials....

I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or anyother subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views- in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates.

Apparently, William A. Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, disagrees, if his attack on the appointment of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius by President Obama to head the Department of Health and Human Services is any indication. Which it is, as revealed by this exchange (video below) from the March 1 edition of the CBS Evening News, reported by Media Matters:

PINKSTON: She is not without controversy. Sebelius, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, has received harsh criticism from anti-abortion groups.

DONOHUE: She is the champion of abortion rights right through term, and for Obama to choose somebody who has sown such division within the Catholic community to head HHS really is an insult to Catholics.

PINKSTON: But Governor Sebelius has at least two powerful GOP allies. Both U.S. senators from Kansas -- Republicans -- endorse her appointment and complimented President Obama for sending a Kansan to the White House. Randall Pinkston, CBS News, New York.

Never one to retract, or even modulate, divisive and idiotic rhetoric, Donohue reiterated his stance the following day on a pro-life website, writing

Catholics do not expect that abortion-rights presidents will go out of their way to choose pro-life Catholics to be in their administration. But they also don’t expect them to go out of their way to offend them. Obama has done just that. As I said last night on the CBS Evening News, ‘She is the champion of abortion rights right through term, and for Obama to choose somebody who sews such division within the Catholic community to head HHS really is an insult to Catholics.’ Indeed, she has been publicly criticized by the last three archbishops of Kansas for her radical views on abortion.

Leave aside Donohue's history of bombastic and thoughtless rhetoric; his stereotypical implication that all Roman Catholics oppose abortion rights (rather unlikely if a pro-choice opinion is able to engender the "division" he says it does); and his assumption that all Roman Catholics who do oppose abortion rights would believe that an HHS Secretary's abortion views, in a country with an uneviable health care system and a President who has declared his dedication to reform of that system, would trump that official's views on health care and qualifications to lead a drive to reform. (And, especially, ignore a run-on sentence.)

No, Donohue is most exorcised by the support of a Catholic appointee for a woman's right to choose an abortion- otherwise, he would not have contended that the nominee "has sown such division in the Catholic community." And his diatribe runs counter to the remarks of the first (and only) Roman Catholic president in our history, who asserted that he would make his decision on "whatever issue may come before me" .... "on the basis of what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest." It is a rebuke, undeserved and unjustified, to a Presidential candidate who declared "I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic." Fortunately, the religion of Kathleen Sebelius appears to be far less important to most Roman Catholics (and non-Catholics) than to Mr. Donohue.

Kathleen Sebelius, as John Kennedy and the vast majority of Roman Catholics understand, is a candidate for a cabinet position- not the Roman Catholic candidate for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Reverend Hagee and William Donohue

apology- an admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret (a public apology) (Merriam-Webster online dictionary); statement expressing remorse: a written or spoken statement expressing remorse for something (encarta)

The Boston Globe: "The Rev. John Hagee, an influential Texas televangelist who endorsed John McCain, has apologized to Catholics for his stinging criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and for having "emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews."

The Los Angeles Times: "An evangelical pastor who backs John McCain tried to put his controversial remarks about the Catholic Church behind him, apologizing to the head of the Catholic League and expressing "deep regret for any comments Catholics found hurtful."

The Wall Street Journal: "John Hagee, the controversial evangelical pastor who endorsed John McCain, will issue a letter of apology to Catholics today for inflammatory remarks he has made, including accusing the Roman Catholic Church of supporting Adolf Hitler and calling it “The Great Whore.”

The New York Times: "Mr. McCain said Tuesday that he had not been involved in brokering the apology letter from Mr. Hagee...."

Predictably, Hagee uttered the standard line of any public official who wants to avoid admitting a mistake but wants to be characterized as having offered an "apology," expressing "deep regret for any comments Catholics found hurtful." (Translation: the problem is not in what I said, but in how you took it.)

Doesn't any of these newspapers understand what an apology is?

Predictably, Hagee uttered the standard line of any public official who wants to avoid admitting a mistake but wants to be characterized as having offered an "apology," expressing "deep regret for any comments Catholics found hurtful." (Translation: the problem is not in what I said, but in how you took it.)

Hagee even boasted "in my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms. I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews...." (Translation: I made these remarks because I'm really a valiant soldier in the war against prejudice.)

And how did William A. Donohue, the zealot who is president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, respond to this phony apology?

Well, miracles do happen. If I wasn’t a believer before, I sure am now.

Republican activists have been working with him over the last several weeks, giving him books and articles and getting him up to speed and away from the black legends about the Catholic Church. I have to assume he’s acting sincerely, and now understands (that what he has been saying is wrong).

Someone who crusades against what he considers anti-Catholic or anti-Christian sentiment should understand this, at a minimum: a miracle is a supernatural act of God. If it is not this, it is not a "miracle." And Reverend Hagee's conversion of convenience is not a miracle, but a desperate act by a mere mortal hostile to homosexuals, blacks, Roman Catholics, and New Orleans and determined to divert attention from his pal, John McCain.