Keystone Today

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, recently said that Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro is exploiting Catholic voters for political reasons after Shapiro sent out a campaign letter using Catholic imagery. 

Former Pennsylvania congressman Keith Rothfus claimed that Shapiro threatened Catholic nuns and Catholic social services in the past and said this type of campaign messaging is “offensive.” In a 2017 Supreme Court case, Shapiro challenged the nuns' religious exemption to the HHS contraceptive mandate which forced them to continue to pursue their exemption in the courts.

“This now blatant exploitation of Catholic voters for crass political purposes. Catholics across Pennsylvania deserve an apology,” Burch said in a statement.

A recent campaign letter from Shapiro showed an image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Rothfus posted the letter to Twitter, criticizing Shapiro for historically threatening the Little Sisters of the Poor in legal cases on religious freedom.

Rothfus called out Shapiro and said in his tweet, “@JoshShapiroPA⁩ using #Catholic imagery in his campaign is highly offensive. This mailer came today and includes an image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. We know Shapiro threatened the religious freedom of Catholic nuns and Philly Cath. Social Svcs this. He owes an apology.”

The “Catholic nuns” Rothfus mentions are the Little Sisters of the Poor, who in May of 2016 won a Supreme Court case through executive order and were granted an exemption against the HHS contraceptive mandate. The nuns were again challenged by Shapiro as well as several other states. On Oct. 2, 2019, the Little Sisters of the Poor released a statement: “After a loss in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the order of Catholic nuns is asking the Supreme Court to end their six year-long legal battle and let them keep their focus on serving the elderly poor.” According to the statement, the previous ruling granting the exemption freed the nuns from providing “services such as the week-after pill in their health care plans or pay millions of dollars in fines.”

Mark Rienzi, president of Becket Law, the firm defending the Little Sisters of the Poor, said in a press release, "This is a nonsensical political battle that has dragged on six years too long. These states have not been able to identify a single person who would lose contraceptive coverage under the new HHS rule, but they won’t rest until Catholic nuns are forced to pay for contraceptives. It is time for the Supreme Court to finally put this issue to rest.”

According to Rothfus’ tweet, Shapiro’s campaign letter reads, “For thousands of victims of sexual abuse, Josh Shapiro has never stopped fighting to deliver justice.” Burch called out Shapiro for historically taking the Little Sisters of the Poor to court again while using Catholic imagery in political campaign letters.