A top Catholic group revealed plans today for a $1 million campaign to urge President Joe Biden to be more like the last Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, and condemn attacks on churches sparked by the Supreme Court’s reversal of the abortion case Roe v. Wade.
In a new ad, CatholicVote reminded viewers that during an outbreak of church burnings in the early 1960s, Kennedy said, “To burn churches, I consider both cowardly as well as outrageous.”
But since the court’s Dobbs decision, Biden has been more encouraging of protests against Catholic churches and pro-birth pregnancy centers, many run by the church, than outspoken against a string of some 200 attacks.
“Churches are being burned again because they protect unborn babies and women in need,” said the ad to run nationally online and on TV in Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin media markets.
In the ad, Biden is shown during a vacation bike ride break addressing the protests. After referring to Biden as “our second Catholic president,” the ad quotes him saying, “Keep protesting because — keep making your point.”
Despite being a regular churchgoer, Biden is pro-abortion, as are many Catholics. He has sided with those angry with the court’s decision, as has Vice President Kamala Harris.
CatholicVote has kept a list of the growing number of attacks on churches and pregnancy centers, and the ad comes after it and several other activist groups had urged Biden to speak out against the sometimes violent protests against churches and birth centers.
“CatholicVote has been tracking the rash of attacks against Catholic churches and pregnancy centers since the Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs was leaked,” the group said in a statement shared with Secrets. It added, “Not a single person has been arrested, and Biden’s DOJ has prosecuted zero individuals responsible for these attacks.”
