Key Player in Pro-Abortion Group Was Canonical Advisor to U.S. Bishops

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DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - On the 100th anniversary of the founding of Planned Parenthood, Catholics for Choice (CFC) is praising the abortion giant. In a tweet, CFC says that PP "exemplifies the Catholic social justice tradition," followed by the hashtag "100 years strong." Founded by dissident Catholic Francis Kissling, CFC's support for abortion comes directly in conflict with the Church's longstanding opposition to abortion.

Research shows a key player at the pro-abortion group once advised the U.S. bishops in an official capacity. Sara Morello, former Executive Vice President of CFC, worked as a canonical advisor for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 1994–2001. Shortly afterwards she went to work for CFC in 2002 as the director of writing and research.

A trained canon lawyer with a degree from Catholic University of America, Morello advised the bishops on issues of canon law, and went on to use that legal expertise to defend access to abortion. During her time at CFC, she wrote a pamphlet titled "Catholics and Abortion — Notes on Canon Law," in which she defended pro-abortion Catholics, arguing that canon law does not excommunicate Catholics who support the death of the pre-born.

"Simply put, no one can rightly state that everyone who falls into any of these categories is automatically excommunicated," she wrote. The "everyone" she is referring to are women who have abortions, those who assist women who have abortions, people who hold pro-abortion positions, politicians who support abortion, and those who vote for pro-abortion politicians.

Morello is just one among multiple Catholic leaders who once worked within the USCCB and then went on to promote anti-Catholic positions. In other examples, Tom Chabolla, John Gehring and Frances Xavier Doyle all worked for the USCCB — in Doyle's case, in the high rank of Associate General Secretary — and went on to work for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), a liberal Catholic front group connected to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Alexia Kelley, co-founder of CACG, spent nine years working at the USCCB before going on to create her dissident organization with the help of John Podesta, campaign chair for Hillary Clinton. Kelley worked from 1993–2002 at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the U.S. bishops' domestic program dedicated to fighting poverty.

Recent wikileaks revelations show CACG was founded to foment revolution and dissent in the Church, as John Podesta admitted in an email to Sandy Newman, the president of Voices for Progress. "There needs to be a Catholic spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church," wrote Newman to Mr. Podesta.

Podesta responded, "We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this."

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