Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that May 4 is a Thursday.
CV NEWS FEED // The funeral for the late Rep. Donald Payne, Jr., D-NJ, a pro-abortion Baptist, is reportedly scheduled to be held at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark Saturday, May 4.
North Jersey Media Group reported Friday that the late congressman’s funeral will take place “at 10 a.m. Thursday at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica.”
Other sources corroborated this date and location.
In addition, multiple sources indicate that Payne listed his religious affiliation as Baptist. It is likely that he was never baptized as a Catholic.
Payne’s father and predecessor, the late Rep. Donald Payne, Sr., D-NJ, was also Baptist. When the elder Payne died in office back in 2012, his funeral was held at a Baptist church.
In his dozen years serving in Congress, the younger Payne compiled a consistently pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ voting record.
Two years ago, after a still-unknown individual leaked the Supreme Court’s draft opinion of the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Payne decried the impending loss of what he called “a woman’s right to choose.”
“This absolute tragedy is the direct result of the continued radicalism of the Republican Party and its turn to the far right,” Payne said in a statement blasting the leaked Dobbs draft.
“Now, women across the country are in jeopardy of falling backwards to a dark past when access to a safe abortion procedure was difficult or impossible,” he added. “I have always been a proud supporter of a woman’s right to choose.”
“Last September, I joined Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives in passing the Women’s Health Protection Act,” Payne said later in the May 2022 statement. “This legislation would guarantee the legal right to an abortion for all women nationwide.”
Payne went on:
The U.S. Senate must act now to pass this bill and, if necessary, Senate leaders must abolish the filibuster to allow an up or down vote to be held. There is no other action that would rise to the urgency of this moment than doing whatever it takes to pass this bill. The American people are watching and they are counting on us to act. We must not let them down.
In 2021, the congressman voted for the pro-LGBTQ “Equality Act” which CatholicVote President Brian Burch at the time called a declaration of “war on all Christians across America.”
Burch stated that the bill “denies the very real physiological differences between men and women” further deeming it “a bulldozer against girls[‘] sports.”
“The Equality Act explicitly exempts itself from the requirements and protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Burch added. “That’s why we call it a War on Religion.”
However, the self-professed Christian Payne praised this controversial legislation stating, “This bill would remove an injustice regarding how LGBTQ Americans are treated nationwide.”
Payne passed away at the age of 65 last week after having suffered a heart attack earlier this month.
There are currently no further details as to why the congressman’s funeral is being held at a Catholic cathedral.
