Cardinal Dolan criticizes Democratic Party chairman’s pro-abortion comments

April 27, 2017

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee said that the Committee would not support pro-life Democratic candidates—prompting criticism from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

“Every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health,” said chairman Tom Perez. “That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.”

“The recent pledge by the Democratic National Committee chair to support only candidates who embrace the radical unrestricted abortion license is very disturbing,” responded Cardinal Dolan, who serves as chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “The Democratic Party platform already endorses abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy, even forcing taxpayers to fund it; and now the DNC says that to be a Democrat—indeed to be an American—requires supporting that extreme agenda.”

Cardinal Dolan added:

True solidarity with pregnant women and their children transcends all party lines. Abortion doesn’t empower women. Indeed, women deserve better than abortion.

In the name of diversity and inclusion, pro-life and pro-’choice’ Democrats, alike, should challenge their leadership to recant this intolerant position.

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• Posted by: feedback - Apr. 28, 2017 2:33 PM ET USA

  Democrats have been like that at least since the Clinton presidency. It's good to hear them loud and clear what they stand for. Now every Catholic, from the top Cardinals, clergy and religious to laymen, can make a fully informed decision. No more ifs or buts.

• Posted by: nix898049 - Apr. 28, 2017 12:55 PM ET USA

  This last ton of bricks finally broke the cardinal's back? Not likely. It's all just a formality for Dolan now. He has to know that the DNC stopped listening to anything he and his colleagues say years ago.

• Posted by: unum - Apr. 28, 2017 11:26 AM ET USA

  Thanks Cardinal Dolan. Perhaps your words will cause some of the pseudo-Catholics that belong to our anti-God political party to campaign for change. Many of us clearly remember when faithful Catholics were the stalwarts of the working man's party, but that is no longer the case. Maybe the leadership of the Catholic clergy, like Cardinal Dolan can change their thinking.

• Posted by: jalsardl5053 - Apr. 28, 2017 1:26 AM ET USA

  Well, the DNC charade is now over. It's time for the appropriate someone to run and then file an anti-discrimination lawsuit; what's good for the goose is good for the gander. It's also time for more than a few Democrats - whether Catholic or not - to examine their continued membership in such an organization.

• Posted by: Bernadette - Apr. 27, 2017 7:44 PM ET USA

  AMEN to that! Diversity and Inclusion are "buzzwords" that have signaled trouble, troube, trouble. "Jesus Chrit, the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever!" We can count on Him to lead us to Truth.

• Posted by: karenobray5027 - Apr. 27, 2017 6:16 PM ET USA

  Thank you, Cardinal Dolan...It's about time! So many Catholics, jumping on the social justice bandwagon, have become "Democrat first, Catholic second" that it's put our Church, our Constitution, our culture, and our civilization itself in great peril. And thank you, Catholic Culture, for providing a forum for truth.

• Posted by: Randal Mandock - Apr. 27, 2017 6:01 AM ET USA

  "In the name of diversity and inclusion." Huh? In the name of buzzwords? How about in the name of God and His Church? What is becoming intolerable is the straw man of a Church that hates the poor and marginalized, a Church that excludes sinners. In my lifetime I have never known such a Church, although there have been a few clerics... And where has C. Dolan been living for the last 30+ years? The Democrat party has been pushing its politicians to support abortion all over the world for decades.