Breaking: Abp. Jose Gomez vs. Hillary Clinton in Antonio, Texas

An old story, with a new twist, and even some frosting:

• the old story: pro-abortion public figure (in this case, Senator Hillary Clinton) invited to speak at Catholic institution today (in this case, St. Mary's University - the "oldest and the largest Catholic University in Texas and the Southwest.")


• the new twist: local Church authority (Archbishop Jose Gomez himself) vocally speaks out against the invitation, and expresses dismay that he was "neither advised nor consulted about it." It's going ahead this evening anyway.


• the frosting: Not only does he appropriately quote the 2004 Document issued by the USCCB: "Catholics in Political Life", he is absolutely unapologetic about his position, while remaining pastoral in his language and approach (yes, it is possible, albeit difficult, to do both). You can read the Archbishop's full statement here in PDF format.

I have a feeling this story will get a great deal of attention, so expect updates to this post.

Why is this a big deal?

Because, as practically every pundit has pointed out, Hillary needs the Latino vote to carry Texas. Archbishop Gomez [wiki entry], besides being a Catholic leader, has deep ties to this Hispanic community, was born in Mexico, is on the USCCB committee on Hispanic Affairs, etc.

A short (but revealing) account of him was published in Time Magazine at his 2005 election. He's well respected and "listened to in Texas", as his former boss, Abp. of Denver Charles Chaput told Time.

St. Mary's, meanwhile, is "the heart of the Latino community of San Antonio" as one Clinton campaign volunteer put it. They are expecting about 3,500 people to attend at 6:30 PM this evening.

Sources:

• Catholic News Agency
• Local coverage from WOAI, and again here, radio coverage here.
• update: Life News covered the story comprehensively, as the Hillary Project republishes.

update: Jeff Miller notes in the combox below that the same thing didn't happen last month when it was Obama's turn, in that case it was the Jesuit-run St. Peter's College in New Jersey.

update2: Zenit and Drudge (Associated Press) have both picked up on the story:

Clinton spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod said in a statement that the campaign respects the archbishop's point of view and appreciates the invitation to speak at the school.

Respect - it's free. And in this case, meaningless.

[top photo credit: CNA]