Catholic ties of new ‘Women’s Ambassador’ come under scrutiny

Washington D.C., Mar 19, 2009 / 19:09 pm

A new report shows that Melanne Verveer, President Obama’s nominee to the new position of Ambassador-at-Large for Women’s Issues, has ties to groups such as Catholics in Alliance and the National Catholic Reporter. Though an “ardent supporter of abortion,” Verveer also worked for the predecessor to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Jack Smith, editor of the Catholic Key newspaper for the Archdiocese of Kansas-City-St. Joseph, on Tuesday reported several of Verveer’s connections.

She has worked as Chief of Staff to then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, for various pro-abortion “rights” politicians.

As Executive Vice-President of People for the American Way, Verveer helped organize the 1987 rejection of Judge Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the acceptance of which would have endangered Roe v. Wade’s place in constitutional law.

According to the Catholic Key, Verveer also has ties to Catholic organizations. Before working at People for the American Way, Smith reports, Verveer was Coordinator for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference, which would later be renamed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In 2002, Verveer was appointed to the board of the National Catholic Reporter, a newspaper which frequently dissents from Catholic doctrine.

In 2004 Mike McCurry, then-spokesman for the John Kerry presidential campaign, said Verveer helped the pro-abortion “rights” Democrat craft his Catholic image.

Verveer was also reportedly an original board member of the group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and is presently on the group’s Advisory Council.

On March 6 President Obama announced the creation of the position of Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, a move that coincided with the wishes of the numerous abortion-promoting groups.

A January 23 letter sent to Obama from the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Feminist Majority, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and several other groups praised his lifting of the Mexico City Policy. The groups also asked that he work to “ensure that officials from your Administration act as a strong voice for women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United Nations and other international arenas and do all in their power to translate international agreements into actions that improve women’s lives.”