Archbishop Chaput, repeat after me: “Abortions! Don’t! Kill! Babies!”

There was an article in the New York Times yesterday about the possibility of Obama inviting Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who, like his late father, Robert P. Casey Sr. (who was not allowed to speak at the 1992 DNC) is a Roman Catholic who opposes abortion rights, to speak at the DNC this year.

The thinking is that if Sen. Casey speaks at the convention, it will show Catholics who oppose abortion that it is ok to vote for a candidate who supports it. They are also hoping that inviting Casey to speak will rectify his father not being allowed to do so 16 years ago.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, of Denver (where the DNC is to be held), says that voting for a candidate that supports abortion is a sin:

Archbishop Chaput, who has stopped short of telling his flock how to vote, has called abortion a “foundational issue.” He has said that a vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights or stem-cell research, like Mr. Obama or Senator John Kerry in 2004, was a sin that must be confessed before receiving communion. Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, Senator John McCain , an opponent of abortion rights, met last week in Denver with Archbishop Chaput.

The archbishop declined an interview request but his spokeswoman, Jeanette DeMelo, said that his views had not changed. In a column this year, Archbishop Chaput wrote that Catholics could support a politician who supported abortion only if they had a “compelling proportionate reason” to justify it. “What is a ‘proportionate’ reason when it comes to the abortion issue?” the archbishop wrote. “It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life — which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.” (Emphasis added)

#1: Abortions! Don’t! Kill! Babies!

#2: If abortion is a sin because it kills babies, and abortions don’t kill babies, then logically, abortion is NOT a sin.

I can understand the logic behind inviting this guy in the hopes that he’ll attract more Catholic votes, since Catholics tend to be the major block of swing voters, but I’m just not sure it’s worth it to invite someone who supports taking away a woman’s fundamental rights as a human being to control her own body. I’m just not sure the trade-off is worth it.

Thoughts? Should Obama invite Sen. Casey to speak at the DNC?