The Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, has criticized a local Catholic college for hosting a fundraiser at which Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz defended abortion rights.
Last Thursday, some 300 people attended the event held at the Ochre Court waterfront mansion of Salve Regina University, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in Newport.
According to Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Beretta-Perik, the $1,000 minimum-per-person fundraiser took in at least $600,000 for the Harris-Walz campaign.
In his speech, Tim Walz, a former Catholic, criticized Republicans for trying to “take away women’s reproductive rights.”
Michael Kieloch, spokesman for the Diocese of Providence, told Catholic News Agency (CNA) that diocesan leaders “were surprised and disappointed by the decision of Salve Regina University to rent space to a partisan political event and fundraiser,” adding that they had received “a number of messages from Catholics across Rhode Island expressing the same surprise and disappointment.”
The diocese “does not permit Catholic institutions in Rhode Island to endorse candidates for office nor even give the appearance of such endorsements,” he said.
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Earlier this month, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s diocesan bishops on public policy matters, released a statement noting areas of “strong disagreement” with Tim Walz, including “protecting the innocent unborn from abortion, the protection of children from the manifestations of gender ideology, and the importance of parental rights in education.”
Walz, who has been dubbed an “abortion absolutist” by Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life, has consistently defended abortion-on-demand and signed a bill in 2023 making abortion legal in Minnesota throughout the full nine months.
In his Newport speech, Walz said that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are “rooting for failure.”
“Their whole thing is to instill fear in people — fear and pessimism,” Walz said, while the Democratic campaign is run on joy, happiness, and unity.
“I think it bothers them a lot, because Vice President Harris is smiling and she is bringing the joy,” Walz said.
Journalists were not permitted access to guests of the event but were restricted to a balcony separate from the main ballroom, and no photos or video of the speech were allowed.
