Washington, D.C. – As Pope Benedict XVI addressed the United Nations today, calling on the global community to reject violence and strive for a more peaceful world, Republican operatives hosted President George Bush and Senator John McCain at the National “Catholic” Prayer Breakfast (NCPB) in Washington. Although the event is billed as nonpartisan, 4 of 5 members of its board of directors are engaged in Catholic outreach for the GOP and for the McCain campaign.

Catholics United members gathered outside the event at the Hilton Washington today to inform individual Catholics and members of the media about the true nature of the prayer breakfast, and to remind Americans that President Bush and Senator McCain are out of step with Catholic teaching on a number of issues – chief among them war and torture.

These members honored the fullness of the Catholic faith and Pope Benedict’s message of peace with two giant 64 square foot banners reading “Enough with the Slaughter… Violence… Hatred in Iraq! - Pope Benedict XVI Palm Sunday 2008,” and “Thank You, Pope Benedict, for Speaking out against War.” They also delivered more than 1,200 signatures from members across the country, calling on prayer breakfast organizers to “refrain from using our faith to advance a partisan agenda,” and to “support the fullness of Catholic teaching by using this year's prayer breakfast to challenge President Bush and Senator McCain on unjust war and all forms of torture.”

“The National ‘Catholic’ Prayer Breakfast is better described as a Republican strategy session and photo-op,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. “The decision to invade Iraq and the support for certain forms of torture are the two greatest lapses of moral judgment by a public official in my lifetime. To host President Bush and John McCain without addressing these concerns is offensive to Catholics and to Pope Benedict’s message of peace.”

To avoid the appearance of partisanship at future prayer breakfast events, Catholics United is asking that NCPB organizers speak unequivocally against unjust war and torture and adopt a more politically diverse board of directors.

“The host of Republican activists who comprise the breakfast’s board of directors make its partisan commitments very clear,” said Catholics United organizing director James Salt. “The organization has a long way to go to achieve the nonpartisan requirements of its nonprofit tax status.”

The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast board of directors is comprised of:

• Joseph Cella, President – currently serves on John McCain’s National Catholic Steering Committee as well as McCain’s Virginia Family Issues Committee. He is former President of the conservative group Fidelis, whose political action committee gave exclusively to Republican candidates in 2006, primarily Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
• Austin Ruse, Vice President – currently serves on John McCain’s National Catholic Steering Committee as well as McCain’s Virginia Family Issues Committee, and as president of the Culture of Life Foundation and Institute. At the 2006 Prayer Breakfast, he referred to President George W. Bush as “The Second Catholic President.” He told the New York Times after the 2004 election: “Those 25 percent of voters who said moral values were the animating issues in this election, that is us. We understand that President Bush is a very loyal guy, and we believe that President Bush will be loyal to those who put him there.”
• Jacqueline Halbig, Treasurer – serves on John McCain’s Virginia Family Issues Committee, is the Bush Administration’s appointee to the Department of Labor's Center for Faith and Community Based Initiatives, and is a former employee of both the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council. Halbig is a Republican National Committee donor.
• Leonard Leo – currently serves as the Republican National Committee’s national co-chair for Catholic outreach. He formerly served as vice president of the Federalist Society, which bills itself as “a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order.”
• Bill Saunders – is Family Research Council Human Rights Counsel, and Federalist Society Vice Chair for Religious Liberty.

More information on the National “Catholic” Prayer Breakfast is available at www.catholics-united.org/ncpb.

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Catholics United is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the message of justice and the common good found at the heart of the Catholic Social Tradition. This is accomplished through online advocacy and educational activities. For more information, visit www.catholics-united.org.