C. J. Doyle’s Remarks at the National Day Of Protest Rally In Boston: August 22, 2015

This is really a wonderful turnout. It looks like we have more than 250 people here today. God bless all of you, and you are certainly to commended for showing up on this Saturday in August.

Well, the mask has been torn away with these videos. The veneer has been shattered, irretrievably. The seemingly impenetrable, carefully constructed facade of public respectability of Planned Parenthood has cracked and crumbled. That facade was built over the course of seven decades with the help of America’s wealthiest foundations, the establishment press, the leadership of both political parties, and the nation’s corporate elites.

Now, as a result of these videos, Planned Parenthood no longer projects the image of the country club gentry. Now, it reminds people of Baron Frankenstein, the only difference being that Mary Shelley’s fictional character did not extract organs from bodies whose hearts were still beating.

This is a monstrous organization which is engaged in cold-blooded evil. This is the sort of thing that calls to mind the degraded physicians who worked in concentration camps, or who experimented on prisoners of war in 1940’s Japan; the difference being that this is not happening continents away, in totalitarian societies overseas, but is happening right here, all across America today.

This is, obviously, going to be a very uphill struggle to de-fund Planned Parenthood. PP enjoys the support of the President of the United States, many in Congress, the Democratic Party, some in the Republican Party, and much of the media.

While engaged in this uphill struggle, it should not be made more difficult for us by our own Church. I want to speak to you for just a few moments about the cooperation being provided to Planned Parenthood by some of our own Catholic organizations and institutions.

We have just learned the absolutely appalling news that Boston College—Jesuit administered Boston College—is, apparently, offering internships for Planned Parenthood, and, apparently, Boston College is not alone. Other Catholic colleges and universities throughout the United States are doing the same.

Congressman John Lewis of Georgia is someone who was not only endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, but in 2006 received the Planned Parenthood Living Legend Award. Last May, Congressman Lewis was the principal commencement speaker at Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee, administered by the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

One of the members of the U. S. Senate who just voted to continue the funding of Planned Parenthood is Ed Markey. In 2007, then Congressman Markey was the principal commencement speaker at Jesuit administered Boston College Law School.

I don’t know if you have heard of Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy. He just claimed that all these videos are bogus, and that we must retain funding for Planned Parenthood. A few months ago, he was the principal commencement speaker at Jesuit administered Boston College Law School.

One of the things we learned as a result of all of these revelations and scandals is that the local political arm of Planned Parenthood here in Massachusetts—the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts—keeps a list of “Champions” and “Allies” in the Massachusetts Legislature. One of these is State Representative Kevin Honan, from this area. Kevin Honan is a graduate of Saint Columbkille’s School and Boston College, and is a member of the Knights of Columbus, and recently received a humanitarian award from the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston.

Bye the way, one of the other allies of Planned Parenthood in the Legislature is Representative Steven Ultrino of Malden. Do you know what Representative Ultrino did before becoming a state legislator and a legislative ally of Planned Parenthood? Representative Ultrino was the principal of a Catholic parochial school, Saint Mary’s Parish School in Winchester, and is still listed, as of 2015, as the Director of Finance and Operations of Saint Mary’s Parish.

We can find numerous other examples of this. In the last year alone, Boston College, Boston College Law School, the College of the Holy Cross, Merrimack College, Regis College, the College of Our Lady of the Elms, and Catholic Memorial High School have all honored public figures and elected officials who agree with Planned Parenthood about keeping abortion legal and keeping it publicly funded.

Of course, we can’t forget that Boston College honored Secretary of State John Kerry by inviting him to be the university’s principal commencement speaker in 2014. Secretary Kerry, when he ran for President in 2004, was endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and had a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood as a U. S. Senator—and he is allowed to give the commencement address at Boston College!

And I regret to tell you this—it certainly gives me no pleasure to tell you this—but among the participants at that commencement was the Chairman of the Pro-Life Activities Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

So how can we possibly take seriously the opposition of the Catholic Church to abortion when we see so many Catholic institutions honoring the champions, allies, and endorsees of Planned Parenthood?

Pro-Lifers shouldn’t be forced to fight a two front war, against a culture of death in secular society, and against a culture of betrayal in our own Church. We cannot hope to persuade our fellow citizens of the justice of our cause if that cause is not first vindicated and upheld in our own Catholic institutions, which profess to be pro-life, and which ought to be pro-life.

Ultimately, if we are going to defeat Planned Parenthood, we are also going to have to reform the Church, and ensure that our own Catholic institutions demonstrate Catholic integrity and pro-life fidelity. 

Thank you all very much and may God bless you.