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Colorado candidate: Catholic Charities fired me over abortion support
Last week, the Fort Collins Coloradoan reported that John Kefalas was no longer the community development and social ministries coordinator (translation: lobbyist) for Catholic Charities North, which is run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. "Circumstances surrounding his exit remain murky," the paper reported. "Kefalas would not say whether he had quit or been fired."

The circumstances still remain murky, but not because nobody's talking. Today's Denver Post reports that Kefalas, a Democratic candidate for the Colorado state House, says he was wrongfully terminated and forced to resign. Catholic Charities, however, says he quit on his own.

Murky indeed: Kefalas isn't a Roman Catholic—he's a Mennonite who, as part of a campaign questionnaire, said he supports Roe v. Wade. (Official teaching of the Mennonite Church, by the way, says abortion "runs counter to biblical principles which give a high value to human life" but adds, "the demands of discipleship are to be accepted voluntarily, not imposed legally upon everyone regardless of conviction.")

Catholic Charities president Jim Mauck was none too pleased that his organization's lobbyist doesn't share the church's beliefs on one of its top social issues. In a Monday letter, apparently written after Kefalas and his job were parted, Mauk told him that it's "an irreconcilable conflict of interest for one in the position you held at Catholic Charities to take the public position as you did."

There's no "litmus test" for employees, Mauck told Post reporter Eric Gorski. "We do ask employees, 'Here's our value base, can you agree to those values?'"

But that question has become more specific in recent years Mauck notes. He's been in the position for six years, but the recent clergy scandals led the church to require all employees to "conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with the discipline and teachings of the Catholic Church." When the archdiocese implemented the rule, Kefalas protested. "Talking as a private citizen with some intelligence, I should be allowed to say what I want," he said. "I'm not trying to do any kind of irreparable harm to Catholic Charities. But I feel they are creating hardships for me and my family."

Irreparable harm? Wrongfully terminated? Kefalas is speaking legalese, but there's no mention of any plans to file a lawsuit.

If he does file, this will certainly be a case to watch. But if he's just whining and the story remains a matter of "he said, he said," it could die a quick death. Much may depend upon a possible recount of his primary election. Kefalas is only up by seven votes out of 4,630 (initial reports were even closer, putting Kefalas up by only two votes).

Another ban for the partial-birth abortion ban
Small victories: In declaring the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Richard C. Casey called the procedure "a gruesome, brutal, barbaric, and uncivilized medical procedure," and said there's "credible evidence that [such] abortions subject fetuses to severe pain."

Casey said he was bound by a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring such a ban to contain an exception for the health of the mother. When Congress passed the law, it took note of that Supreme Court decision, adding a section explaining that the procedure is never necessary to protect a mother's health. But some doctors disagree, Casey noted—though he called much of the testimony on why it's necessary "theoretical or false."

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August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48