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Denver Archdiocese Severs Ties with Catholic Lawyers' Group over Award to Abortion Supporter

DENVER, December 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This November, the controversy over pro-abortion Catholic politicians has ended the association of the Catholic Lawyer's Guild with the Denver Archdiocese. Every year, various branches of a Catholic lawyer's association around the world gather to celebrate their profession with the Red Mass, a tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages. In most dioceses, the bishop or his delegate celebrates the Red Mass and the Guild gives an award to a Catholic politician.

This year, the Denver group has invited pro-abortion Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, who won a Senate seat in the past election, to receive an award named for St. Thomas More, the group's patron. During his election campaign Salazar said that he would "defend the constitutional right" to abortion and that he did not support "mandatory waiting periods, spousal consent, biased counseling requirements or other extreme limits on abortion rights."

The Guild, in deciding to honor a pro-abortion politician, has raised the ire of the Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput who led the charge in the US episcopacy against John Kerry and other Catholic politicians' support of abortion. In response to the Guild's action, the diocese has pulled auxiliary bishop Jose Gomez from saying Mass at the Guild's annual dinner next month and has told them to find other accommodations for the dinner than the diocese's John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization.

The Guild has voted to carry on in defiance of the Archbishop. "Our group felt we wanted independence," said Laura Tighe, the guild's incoming president. "We are obviously very distinctively Catholic, but there's a great difference on how we exercise our Catholicism. We understand the ramifications of our decision, and we will go on."

In June the US bishops, meeting in Denver, made a statement on the role of Catholic Church in politics which said that no Catholic group may give "awards, honors or platforms" to Catholics "who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

"It's reasonable to expect a Catholic organization to be consistent with Catholic teaching," Sergio Gutierrez, the archdiocese spokesman, said. Gutierrez said that the Archbishop is interested in finding appropriate Catholic lawyers who may be held up as "true examples and authentic examples of exemplary Catholic lawyers."

Chaput has not let up his attention to this issue with the election of George W. Bush as President. His latest article appeared in the November issue of Crisis Magazine, in which he wrote, "The abortion issue cannot be avoided. It's the central moral conflict of this moment in our nation's history. Every abortion kills an unborn child. Every abortion leaves a woman emotionally scarred. Every abortion is a grave act of violence. All of these things fundamentally damage the common good."

Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Denver Archbishop says those who Support Abortion "Rights" Cannot be Catholic
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jul/04071402.html

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