Obama Sends Supporter of Pro-Abortion Obamacare to Canonization of Mother Teresa

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 1, 2016   |   4:05PM   |   Washington, DC

The Vatican will canonize pro-life heroine Mother Teresa on September 4 on the anniversary of her death.

Mother Teresa was well-respected for her courageous and forthright views against abortion. Famously, the Catholic known also known for her role in helping to feed the hungry and end poverty, said that abortion “is the greatest threat to peace.”

However, President Barack Obama has chosen to dishonor that legacy by sending the head of a Catholic group who supported pro-abortion Obamacare. Obama today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to attend the Canonization of Mother Teresa in Vatican City. Included in that group is Sister Donna J. Markham OP, Ph.D., President and CEO, Catholic Charities USA.

Markham was a special assistant to the president of Georgetown University before serving six years as prioress of the activist Adrian Dominican Sisters in Michigan.  She also led an association of women religious that was the subject of a recent Vatican investigation and publicly undermined the bishops’ efforts to prevent abortion coverage in Obamacare-affiliated insurance plans.

LifeNews previously reported on information from the Cardinal Newman Society, a pro-life group that tracks Catholic officials and organizations that support abortion:

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Sr. Markham left Georgetown to serve as prioress of the Adrian Dominicans, a post she held from 2004 to 2010.  During her tenure, the reputation of the congregation for progressive activism was not diminished.  As key participants in the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Adrian Dominicans have been leaders in the “shareholder movement” to force public companies to disclose political donations and other transactions.  They also have been leaders in environmental activism; it was while Sr. Markham was prioress, in 2008, that Adrian Sister Patricia Siemen, O.P., founded the Earth Law Institute.

“The concept of inherent rights of nature emerges from the continuing tradition of indigenous peoples, who like Earth herself struggle to exist and flourish,” Sr. Siemens told the heterodox publication National Catholic Reporter. “Their cosmovision provides the world with a path forward, yet their communities continue to be targeted for destruction and commodification. The call for women religious to stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples and Earth is ever more urgent—and needed.”

While Sr. Markham was prioress, the Adrian Dominicans joined the Catholic Health Association in undermining the U.S. bishops’ efforts to ensure that abortion would not be covered under health plans associated with Obamacare.  They joined an effort to lobby Congress to approve the measure, despite the bishops’ opposition.

“Despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions,” wrote Sister Kathleen Nolan on behalf of the Adrian Dominicans’ General Council, together with other women religious, in a March 2010 letter to Congress. “It will uphold long-standing conscience protections and it will make historic new investments—$250 million—in support of pregnant women.”

Adding insult to the bishops, the sisters declared that theirs “is the real pro-life stance.”  Subsequently, their claims have been proven false by revelations of abortion coverage in Obamacare-funded plans.

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