Bishop objects to Clinton speech at St. Mary's

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Archbishop Jose Gomez complained Wednesday about plans for a rally by Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, an abortion rights supporter, at a Catholic university.

The archbishop released a statement noting that Clinton and some other presidential candidates' support for abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research were not in line with Catholic values. The Rev. Pat Rodgers, an archdiocese spokesman, said Gomez was responding to telephone calls and e-mails from concerned Catholics.

Clinton held a rally at St. Mary's University, the oldest Catholic college in the city, on Wednesday evening.

"I was neither advised nor consulted by the university before the decision was made to have Senator Clinton speak at the university," Gomez said in the statement released by the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Gomez said he was not trying to tell people how to vote, but he noted that U.S. Catholic bishops have affirmed a statement calling on Catholics not to honor or give platforms to political candidates and officeholders "who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

The school issued a statement saying it does not endorse political candidates and acknowledges fundamental differences between the teachings of the church and the positions of political candidates.

The school is an independent liberal arts college with its own president and board of directors but is under the spiritual leadership of the archdiocese.

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The speech is a strategic mistake by the Clinton campaign. It has resulted in a reminder to Hispanic voters who are mainly catholic why they should not be supporting her candidacy. It probably want have much effect on her race with Obama who is a big supporter of abortion, but it could have an effect in a race against McCain.