Pro-Obama Catholics need to ‘step up’ and respond to president’s policies, official says

Pro-Obama Catholics need to ‘step up’ and respond to president’s policies, official says

San Francisco, Calif., Mar 27, 2009 / 06:46 am (CNA).- Pro-Obama Catholics and Catholic organizations should “step up” and respond to the pro-abortion “rights” president’s policy decisions, George Wesolek, the Director of Public Policy and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Francisco said in a recent article.

In an essay titled “The Honeymoon is Over,” Wesolek described how he has observed President Barack Obama’s actions with “a mixture of admiration and hope,” and that he had been encouraged by Obama’s advocacy of health care access and his expressed desire to reach out to the Arab world.

“My sense of apprehension and unease, however, has been around the life issues,” he said, describing abortion as the “preeminent social justice issue of our day.”

“I heard during the campaign from pro-Obama Catholics and Catholic organizations established to promote his candidacy that Obama would accomplish more than the previous administration to curtail abortions and promote life using ‘non-divisive’ strategies,” Wesolek wrote. “I have been eagerly looking for indications that this was indeed the case.”

“I have not seen anything that would indicate a ‘pro-life’ openness or even a small move in that general direction. On the contrary, I have seen just the opposite,” Wesolek said.

He cited as matters of concern the president’s appointment of pro-abortion staff to key positions, his reversal of the Mexico City Policy, his reversal of the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), and his administration’s move to rescind federal conscience protections for pro-life health care workers.

Explaining that the Mexico City Policy had prevented U.S. federal funding for organizations that promote or perform abortion oversees, Wesolek argued the policy’s reversal means the “funded exportation” of abortion will be delivered to people around the world “as one of our solutions to grinding global poverty.”

In his view, the premise of this policy change is: “If abortion is the way to solve difficulties and inconveniences here in the United States, it must be eagerly awaited by others to solve their problems even if their culture abhors the thought of killing their precious resource of children.”

In response to President Obama’s reversal of the Mexico City Policy, the group Catholics United said it did not support the change. The group then charged Catholic League President Bill Donohue, a critic of Obama’s policy change, with pursuing “the politics of division and fear.”

The group also criticized “disinformation” about the bill and claimed that the policy change will not fund abortions because of the Helms amendment.

Discussing President Obama’s change to restrictions on ESCR, Wesolek said the decision demonstrates that the president thinks that “these embryos either are not human life or they are human life of such a second-class nature that they are not worthy of respect and protection.”

Along with the president’s decision to rescind an executive order which provided resources for adult stem cell research, Wesolek charged that the decision “implies an ideological mindset that is unscientific and predisposed to follow the trail of embryonic research even though there are no cures and serious problems with this kind of approach.”

He said that it is “most distressing” that there is “no reaction” from organizations that “were and are apologists for Obama and his policies.” Wesolek named Catholics United, Alliance of Catholics for the Common Good (most likely meaning Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good), Network and others.

Catholics United has also defended the appointment of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a pro-abortion "rights" self-described Catholic, who was nominated to become Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Saying these groups painted President Obama as “pro-life,” Wesolek remarked that some groups themselves said they were pro-life and would work to move policy in a pro-life direction under an Obama presidency.

“Where are they now? Where are there any policy initiatives that would blunt the irrevocable thrust of these Obama actions early in his presidency?” he asked.

“The culture of death is making deeper inroads in our national policies and there is almost no response from Catholics who helped elect President Obama. It is time for them to step up to the plate.”