With the nation’s Catholic bishops launching a new campaign today, the Fortnight of Freedom, to draw attention to the ways in which the Obama administration is violating religious liberty and conscience issues, the bishops are finding themselves under attack.
A leaked email from a liberal, George Soros-funded “Catholic” group called Faith in Public Life, is working behind the scenes to attack the bishops and try to get media outlets to run negative stories about the campaign.
Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, released a copy of the email he received, that is addressed to top reporters and news outlet editors. The email contains proposed questions media outlets could ask the bishops such as “Are you willing to sacrifice Catholic charities, colleges and hospitals if you don’t get your way on the contraceptive mandate?” and “Are you willing to drop all health insurance for your employees?”
“Reporters should consider asking about the Knights of Columbus, an organization with deep pockets,” the email added, saying reporter should reject the “fiction” that there is a “war on religion” and a “war on the Catholic Church.”
Donohue responded to the email in a statement LifeNews received:
June 21 marks the beginning of the “Fortnight for Freedom” events, the campaign for religious liberty being conducted by the nation’s bishops. Fair-minded persons may disagree with this effort, but there is something unseemly going on when those who work for a George Soros-funded group are quietly providing talking points to the media.
John Gehring is an official at Faith in Public Life, and it is his organization that lives off the bounty of the left-wing atheist billionaire, Mr. Soros. On June 7, Gehring sent a memo to his buddies in the media (a copy of which was generously leaked to me—click here) instructing them on how to handle the bishops. They should begin by questioning the prelates why the Obama “accommodation” wasn’t good enough. “You have to ask why the bishops can’t take yes for an answer,” he wrote.
Teaching them how to handle the “war on the Catholic Church,” Gehring advises, “Several bishops have used inflammatory and irresponsible rhetoric that conflates a process of working through complex policy issues with a fundamental attack on the Catholic Church.” He also frets over the politicization of the religious liberty campaign, an effort made possible, he neglects to say, because of the politicization of religion by President Obama.
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Not to be outdone, Gehring presses his lackeys to victimize the victim, beckoning them to ask the bishops—all of whom refuse to prostitute their principles—“Are you willing to sacrifice Catholic charities, colleges and hospitals if you don’t get your way on the contraceptive mandate?”
Finally, Gehring provides a go-to list of Catholic activists who can be counted on to subvert the bishops’ message. It’s what we would expect from a George Soros group.
