We can enter another piece of evidence into the case against reactionary responses to the mere mention of the word abortion.
Former USCCB president and Archbishop of Chicago Francis Cardinal George issued a statement last week along with the Catholic Conference of Illinois criticizing Illinois governor Pat Quinn for his plans to attend a luncheon held by an PAC that advocates for abortion rights.
That’s not surprising. But what the Cardinal and the rest of the Illinois bishops failed to do was find out why Quinn was attending the lunch. If they had, they’d have learned the Quinn is planning to present an award to Jennie Goodman, an advocate for rape victims and a rape victim herself. But reactionary measures against Quinn resulted in a statement that accused the governor of going “beyond a political alignment with those supporting the legal right to kill children in their mothers’ wombs to rewarding those deemed most successful in this terrible work.”
Cardinal George told the Chicago Tribune, “I first heard of Ms. Goodman only after we had crafted the statement (and) published it. Then, all of a sudden she comes forward. All of a sudden, she was there, and that wasn’t part of the story as we did it.”
