(May 18, 2008) The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized Regis College, founded by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, for conferring an honorary degree upon Massachusetts House Majority Whip Lida Eistenstadt Harkins (D-Needham), a longstanding advocate of legalized abortion. Representative Harkins will also deliver the commencement address at this morning’s ceremonies.
This is the second consecutive year that Regis College has honored a pro-abortion political figure. Last year’s commencement speaker was Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. Former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Eveyln F. Murphy, another supporter of abortion, serves on the college’s Board of Trustees.
The Catholic Action League called the decision by Regis to honor Harkins “another tawdry betrayal of Catholic principles by a nominally Catholic institution which has conformed to secular culture.”
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Representative Lida Harkins is a supporter of legal abortion, the public funding of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, same-sex marriage, mandatory contraceptive coverage in employer-sponsored group health insurance, and so-called emergency contraception, which forces Catholic hospitals to distribute abortion inducing drugs. In December 1994, she also voted against the repeal of the “Know-Nothing Amendment” to the Massachusetts Constitution, which prohibits any form of public assistance to Catholic school children, many of whom have since attended Regis College.”
“Regis College claims that Representative Harkins ‘exemplifies public service,’ despite the fact that she denies the humanity of unborn children and refuses to afford them the protection of law. No one will treat seriously Catholic opposition to abortion so long as Catholic colleges and universities continue to compromise themselves by fawning over political mediocrities who repudiate fundamental Catholic moral teachings about the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.”
