Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., founder and president of The Ruth Institute, issued a statement criticizing the US Conference of Catholic Bishops for congratulating Vice President Biden on his election as president,
calling it “ill-conceived” and “disappointing.”
“Congratulating Joe Biden on his election before all the votes have been counted shows poor judgement at best,” Morse declared.
“The media have no authority to decide an election. Secretaries of State must certify the results in their state. USCCB president Archbishop Gomez is surely
aware of the numerous disputes surrounding the integrity of the election process. For him to prematurely ‘recognize’ that ‘Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has
received enough votes to be elected the 46th President of the United States,’ is to claim a knowledge and an authority that he does not
possess.”
Morse said Gomez’s call for “unity” and “compromise” is “simply not appropriate to the situation.”
“All voters, including Catholics, in states with credible accusations of election fraud have every right to contest the election through all legal channels,”
Morse asserted. “They should not be asked to ‘promote fraternity and mutual trust,’ when their trust has been violated by election tampering. The court
challenges and legal processes should be allowed to proceed without prejudice.”
“When the media claimed to ‘call’ the election for Biden, many thoughtful people concluded that they were attempting to build momentum for the idea that
Biden had won, in spite of the serious problems with the election process. This is precisely the sort of thing that many Americans have come to expect
from the legacy media, with its barely concealed commitment to the Biden campaign. What should the public conclude when an official of the Catholic
Church makes a comparable premature call?”
Morse saved her harshest criticism for Archbishop Gomez’s final statement, which she found “frankly, revolting.”
“He asks the Virgin Mary to help us work together to fulfill the vision of America as ‘one nation under God, where the sanctity of every human life is defended and freedom of conscience and religion are guaranteed.’
“But the Democratic Party promises to do precisely the opposite on every point,” Morse said. “They will eliminate what remains of religious conscience
rights. They have no respect for innocent human life. And they even tried to take an innocuous reference to God out of their 2012 platform.”
Morse explained that: “The Ruth Institute is an interfaith international coalition to defend
the family and build a civilization of love. Everything we do is in keeping with the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have followers around the
world: Evangelicals, Mormons, and Jews, who are working hard to defend Catholic teachings, not because the teachings are Catholic, but because they
are true. None of us has the slightest illusion about the nature of the Democratic Party.”
Finally, Dr. Morse emphasized, “The Ruth Institute reminds the public that Archbishop Gomez’s statement has no authority to bind Catholics who may wish
to contest the election through legally permissible means.
“We call on all Catholic clergy to distance themselves from this unfortunate and ill-conceived statement by Archbishop Jose Gomez, President of the US
Conference of Catholic Bishops.”