About 100 people braved rainy conditions on Sunday to participate in a massive Rosary rally outside of the home of Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
CatholicVote organized the Rosary Rally for Religious Respect in response to a viral video in which Whitmer, wearing a Harris-Walz hat, appeared to mock Holy Communion by feeding a Doritos chip to a kneeling pro-abortion writer.
Catholic leaders widely denounced the video, including the Michigan Catholic Conference – the organization that serves as the voice of the state’s Catholic bishops.
On Sunday afternoon, CatholicVote posted a picture of the rally to X (formerly Twitter). The photograph shows a long line of people standing on the sidewalk – many of whom are wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas – in front of Whitmer’s Lansing, Michigan house.
On Friday, one Christian Michigan state lawmaker took to X to promote CatholicVote’s rally.
Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, called the event a “Response to Whitmer’s Communion Mockery.” He tagged CatholicVote in his post, giving them a “shout out.”
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Schriver shared a graphic denoting the rally’s date, time, and location.
“Defend the Faith and Stand Up Against Bigotry,” the graphic reads.
CatholicVote National Political Director Logan Church told FOX News, “We find it profoundly troubling that our faith and its sacred beliefs are so openly mocked.”
“As Catholics, we believe in the power of prayer, especially for our nation’s leaders,” Church added.
She noted that the rally “served as a call for the conversion of Governor Whitmer’s heart and mind, urging her to recognize and respect our religious convictions.”
“We also hope this serves as a reminder to our elected officials that Catholics vote,” emphasized Church.
After a day of backlash from Catholics over the controversial video, Whitmer issued a statement claiming that she “would never do something to denigrate someone’s faith.”
The video was “supposed to be … about the importance of the CHIPS Act,” she wrote. The CHIPS Act is an obscure bipartisan 2022 law relating to semiconductor manufacturing.
The video, Whitmer said, “has been construed as something it was never intended to be, and I apologize for that.”
CatholicVote indicated: “Whitmer’s followup statement, which seemed more a defense of the video than an apology to Catholics, is unlikely to quell the burgeoning Catholic backlash.”
On Thursday, Michigan Catholic Conference President and CEO Paul A. Long called the video “not just distasteful or ‘strange,’” but “an all-too-familiar example of an elected official mocking religious persons and their practices.”
“Whether or not insulting Catholics and the Eucharist was the intent, it has had an offensive impact,” Long added.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
