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WASHINGTON, D.C., March 2, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Deal Hudson, editor of Crisis magazine, has reported that Ono Ekeh, program coordinator for the Secretariat for African-American Catholics at the USCCB is moonlighting as the administrator of the “Catholics For Kerry” internet newsgroup. “Catholic” Senator John Kerry has taken a militantly pro-abortion stance, repeatedly saying that he will approve only pro-abortion judges for the Supreme Court.

USCCB itself takes a strong pro-life stance, saying, “The well-informed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political policy or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.” However, Hudson reports that on the “Catholics for Kerry” site, Ekeh has made several comments that directly challenge the Vatican, the bishops’ conference, and even the president of the conference, Bishop Wilton Gregory himself. Ekeh has even gone so far as to imply that John Kerry is pro-life because of his stand against poverty.

Mr. Ekeh attacks the Vatican policy on pro-abortion politicians. On the Catholics for Kerry website he says, “John Kerry has recently made it clear that he will not be taking orders from the Vatican and rightly so… Senator Kerry made a prudent decision in rejecting the Vatican’s demands. Such a rejection does not mean a lack of respect for the Vatican or the Church’s teachings. Rather, it highlights that the man understands that his obligations are primarily to the people his [sic] serves and not the Vatican.”  Ekeh even taunts his employer, Bishop Wilton Gregory, over the issue of “gay marriage”, with the US bishops’ reluctance to use excommunication as a penalty. “This is getting as close to excommunication as they would dare in our day and age… This is no less then than a tool of manipulation or control.”

Catholics for Kerry internet group:  https://groups.yahoo.com/group/catholicsforkerry/  To send a comment to Bishop Gregory:  Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory Diocese of Belleville 222 South Third Street Belleville, IL 62220   [email protected]

phone: 618.277.8181 fax: 618.277.0387