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Michigan State Rep. James DeSanaYouTube/Screenshot

(LifeSiteNews) — Faithful Michigan Catholics held a Rosary rally on Sunday outside of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s home to oppose what appeared to be the mocking of the Eucharist by the leftist politician.

Whitmer went viral this week after a video showed her feeding chips to a feminist TikTok user, Liz Plank, on her knees while the Democrat wore a Harris-Walz hat. Whitmer supports abortion through all nine months of pregnancy and paid surrogacy. The Harris-Walz campaign surrogate also opposes funding lifesaving pro-life pregnancy centers.

A spokesman for Whitmer has called pregnancy resource centers “fake health clinics.” During the podcast, Whitmer shared her support for abortion and mocked concerns about “post-birth abortion.”

A Catholic Republican politician sharply criticized the video during the Rosary rally Sunday, which Catholic Vote organized.

“As a faithful and devout Catholic, it is always hardship to see the Holy Eucharist mocked and ridiculed. It is especially dismaying to witness this from the leader of our state, our governor,” Republican State Rep. Jim DeSana said during the rally. “When someone mocks or attacks the Church, they are attacking and persecuting Jesus.”

He called Jesus the “true victim” and criticized the “offense … against His body, blood, soul, and divinity.”

The Republican politician pointed out Michigan exists partially because of Catholics.

“Michigan would not likely be a state had it not been for faithful Catholics who were the first settlers from Europe to arrive here,” he said. “From Father Jacques Marquette and the founding of Sault Saint Marie and Saint Ignace to Cadillac’s founding of Detroit, to the valiant fight put up against the British by the Catholic settlers in the War of 1812 back in my home district of Frenchtown.”

A Catholic priest, Father Gabriel Richard, founded the University of Michigan, DeSana pointed out to the crowd.

“If it were not for the heroic defense of Catholics, Michigan would likely be a province of Canada and not a state in America,” he said.

“We will defend and we will pray for our governor,” DeSana said to conclude.

He also called the video a “mockery” and “deeply offensive to Roman Catholics” in comments given to The Midwesterner at the rally.

The video drew rebuke from Catholics inside and out of the state, as well as other conservatives. Whitmer has apologized to Catholic leaders and said it was part of a social media skit and not intended to offend.

“Over 25 years in public service, I would never do something to denigrate someone’s faith. I’ve used my platform to stand up for people’s right to hold and practice their personal religious beliefs,” she told the media. However, her administration, through Attorney General Dana Nessel, has targeted business owners who declined to host a same-sex “wedding.”

The Michigan Catholic Conference condemned the “skit.”

“The skit goes further than the viral online trend that inspired it, specifically imitating the posture and gestures of Catholics receiving the Holy Eucharist, in which we believe that Jesus Christ is truly present,” CEO Paul Long stated. “It is not just distasteful or ‘strange;’ it is an all-too-familiar example of an elected official mocking religious persons and their practices.”

He said the video had an “offensive impact” regardless of the intent.

“People of this state and across the country have grown tired of and continue to express their alarm at the bar of civility and respect toward people of faith lowering by the day,” Long stated.

Other Catholic leaders and commentators criticized the video, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews.

“A reminder to the doubters – demons exist, and they HATE … our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist!” Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“More decadent-empire behavior from Democrats, this time via Governor Nero of Michigan,” conservative commentator Michael Knowles said.

Catholic League CEO Bill Donohue also questioned Whitmer’s defense that the video was related to the CHIPS Act, which deals with funding for semiconductors.

“The typical video on TikTok shows one person sitting at a table, often in a restaurant, being fed – usually with a fork or spoon – by a friend,” Donohue wrote in a statement. “None of them are kneeling. None of them are receiving food on the tongue. What Whitmer did was to deride Holy Communion. There is no wiggle room for her to deny the obvious.” 

“Gretchen Whitmer is only the latest example of the gross anti-Catholic bigotry festering inside the Democratic Party,” Catholic Vote wrote on X.

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