September 2024
HEROES
Marcus Allen, FBI whistleblower
In late September, Catholic FBI whistleblower Marcus Allen tearfully shared his story with the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government.
For simply dissenting from the Biden-Harris administration’s preferred narrative regarding the events of January 6, 2021, Allen told lawmakers that he was retaliated against by superiors and accused of “promoting conspiratorial views.”
“The FBI questioned my allegiance to the United States, suspended my security clearance, suspended my pay, and refused to allow me to obtain outside employment or even accept charity,” the whistleblower recounted.
However, even amidst the turmoil, Allen said, his Catholic faith remained strong.
“Despite the stress and uncertainty, I’ve never once regretted standing up for truth,” he said. “Indeed, my family and I persevered due to our strength in faith, God’s grace, and the sacraments.”
Allen’s resolve, determination, and total trust in the Lord is the epitome of what makes a true hero.
Sen. Joe Manchin, I-WV
Manchin, now 77, was a Democrat for his entire adult life until late May – when he finally decided to leave the party and became an independent.
The retiring senator remains a member of the Democratic Caucus and as late as mid-September speculation continued that he would endorse his former party’s nominee Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.
However, Manchin put all the rumors to bed just over a week later, when Harris announced that she would seek to nuke the Senate’s filibuster to pass a radically pro-abortion bill “codifying” the overturned Roe v. Wade decision nationwide – a move that would destroy pro-life state laws everywhere.
This was a bridge too far for the Catholic West Virginian.
“Shame on her,” Manchin said of Harris, who was formerly his Senate colleague. “She knows the filibuster is the Holy Grail of democracy. It’s the only thing that keeps us talking and working together.”
After this, Manchin stated that, for him, endorsing Harris “ain’t going to happen.” He said what Harris is seeking to do “basically can destroy our country, and my country is more important to me than any one person.”
The moderate lawmaker – who notably has a mixed voting record on abortion and other issues important to Catholics – holds the distinction as the only person in Catholic Accountability Project history to have been on both sides of Heroes and Zeroes.
In February 2022, he was honored as a Hero, but was criticized as a Two-Face just three months later.
For those keeping score at home, Manchin’s latest decision to put country over (former) party cements him as a Hero, 2-1.
Bishop Kevin Rhoades, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
As radical and false “gender ideology” is being pushed on children throughout the nation, Bishop Rhoades affirmed that Catholic schools in his Indiana diocese will not follow suit.
The week of September 22, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend released a series of guidelines to make sure every one of its schools remains faithful to Church teaching on the reality of human sexuality, assigned by God.
“The guidelines prohibit school staff from adopting ‘preferred pronouns,’ recommending or administering the use of puberty blockers or hormone infusions, or teaching ‘gender ideology,’” CatholicVote reported on September 24.
“Participation in sports and use of single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms must all be done in accord with a person’s ‘God-given sexual identity, that is, his or her biological sex,’” CatholicVote’s report on Rhoades’ guidelines added.
In a time of great confusion, embracing sanity takes great courage. This is precisely what vaults the Midwestern prelate to a well-deserved Hero spot this month.
Honorable Mention
Gov. John Carney, D-DE
In the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard detailed in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that it is never too late for an individual to repent and turn to God during their lifetime.
Carney, the term-limited governor of Delaware, surprised many political observers when he vetoed a bill passed by his state’s Democratic-dominated legislature that would have legalized so-called “assisted suicide” in the state.
If that alone were not enough, the Catholic Democrat issued a stunning rebuke of his party’s bill, saying that he is “fundamentally and morally opposed to state law enabling someone… to take their own life.”
“I am simply not comfortable letting this piece of legislation become law,” Carney stated.
The move does not take away from the fact that Carney signed a bill in 2022 expanding so-called “abortion access” in 2022. It also does not change the truth that he compiled a staunchly pro-abortion voting record in the U.S. House in which he served from 2011 to 2017.
However, his recent veto is a huge step in the right direction and shows that he is willing to embrace a culture of life in at least one important respect. We pray he will continue down this path.
Although Carney is leaving the governorship next January, he will continue to serve in public office as the next mayor of Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington. If he keeps following the promptings of the truth, he might just be a fully-fledged Hero sometime in the near future!
ZEROES
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly
Donnelly served just over two years as the Biden-Harris administration’s representative to the Vatican – a role he stepped down from over the summer.
He previously served as a U.S. Senator from Indiana from 2013 to 2019 before being defeated by a Catholic Republican. In the six years before that, he was a member of the U.S. House.
Over his Congressional tenure, Donnelly claimed to be a “pro-life Democrat” – a claim repeated by many in the mainstream media – despite his actions showing otherwise.
Now out of both elected and political office, Donnelly put his true colors on display for the world to see.
While speaking at the deeply controversial “Catholics for Harris” mid-September virtual rally, the self-professed pro-life Catholic Donnelly claimed that Harris stands “up for the least among us.”
At the rally, the voted-out ex-lawmaker also said that Harris’ “work is driven by the Bible and God,” and that the Democratic nominee “speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
In May, Donnelly – who is a vehement supporter of the LGBTQ movement – made headlines when he was chosen to give the commencement address for a Catholic college in his home state.
That month, he narrowly missed being a Zero due to three more self-professed Catholics committing arguably more egregious offenses. This month, he is not so lucky.
Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS
Campbell, the so-called “social justice”-minded “Nun on the Bus,” also spoke at the “Catholics for Harris” virtual rally.
The controversial sister, who received the country’s highest civilian honor from Biden in 2022, praised what she called the pro-abortion president’s “consistent faith.”
She then went on to issue an outright contradiction to the Catholic Church’s teaching on protecting all human lives beginning at conception.
“[Our] faith does not require the outlawing of abortions,” she said. “Our faith teaches us that protecting life is what we’re about, and we also trust each individual to have a well-formed conscience for making decisions.”
As CatholicVote reported back in 2021, Campbell spent her career in public life standing against the pro-life movement.
Actions may speak louder than words but, in Campbell’s case, both her actions and her words put her squarely into the Zero camp this month.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT
The final speaker at the virtual “Catholics for Harris” rally was Rosa DeLauro, who has served in the House since 1991.
Over her three-decades-plus in Washington, DeLauro has repeatedly and enthusiastically supported pro-abortion legislation, and has fought tooth-and-nail to block all efforts to help the unborn – while at the same time continuing to call herself a Catholic.
During the rally, the longtime lawmaker credited Harris with proposing a child tax credit which she claimed was the “flagship” of the nominees’ “economic plan.”
While we agree that a child tax credit is a much-needed pro-family solution, DeLauro neglected to say two things.
First of all, as CatholicVote reported in August, according to many critics “Harris ‘copied’ Trump and Vance on this policy” – as she did on countless other policies.
Instead of crediting Trump for initially suggesting the policy, DeLauro baselessly accused him of favoring corporations over the middle class.
Furthermore, the congressman also apparently glanced over the fact that Harris is the sitting vice president – so if she really wanted a child tax credit, she’d push for one now.
In June 2023, DeLauro drafted a pro-abortion “Statement of Principles” that was signed by roughly 30 of her self-professed Catholic Democratic colleagues, including ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
DeLauro was a Subzero then – but this month she will just have to settle for regular-old Zero.
Dishonorable Mention
Former climate change czar John Kerry
Twenty years ago, Kerry came just 19 Electoral Votes away from being elected president.
Now, months removed from stepping down from his former post as the Biden-Harris administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, he is calling for a major rollback of free speech rights.
Speaking at a panel for the controversial World Economic Forum (WEF), the failed 2004 Democratic presidential nominee called the First Amendment a “major block” to countering so-called “climate misinformation” and “disinformation.”
Kerry said: “If people go to only one source, and the source they go to is sick and has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to hammer it out of existence.”
Luckily for us, the Framers of the Constitution disagreed.
And to think this man nearly became president!
