Kansas City Chiefs kicker slams Biden for supporting abortion in college commencement speech
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, an outspoken Catholic, urged Catholic college graduates last weekend to reject the “Church of nice," calling out President Joe Biden and other Catholics who support abortion and other practices that run counter to the teachings of the faith politically.
Butker, a three-time Super Bowl winner, gave the commencement address at Benedictine College, a Roman Catholic college in Atchison, Kansas, on Saturday.
Butker, a practicing Catholic who has emerged as an outspoken critic of abortion, used his speech to highlight how “bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues.”
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“Things like abortion, [in-vitro fertilization], surrogacy, euthanasia as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder,” Butker said. “Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.”
“He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure to many people, it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice,” he added. “He is not alone. From the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America, they all have a glaring thing in common: They are Catholic.”
Biden, a practicing Catholic, made the sign of the cross at a rally in support of Florida’s Amendment 4 last month. If passed, Amendment 4 would establish a right to abortion in the state constitution.
Butker’s remarks also singled out Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was the most prominent advocate for the COVID-19 lockdowns, which included restrictions on churches' ability to hold in-person worship services.
Although raised Catholic, Fauci drew criticism for suggesting that his “personal ethics” were strong enough that practicing his faith was something that he did not “really need to do.”
"Being Catholic alone doesn’t cut it," Butker said. “These are the sorts of things we are told in polite society to not bring up, you know, the difficult and unpleasant things. But if we are going to be men and women for this time in history, we need to stop pretending that the Church of nice is a winning proposition.”
“We must always speak and act in charity but never mistake charity for cowardice,” Butker declared. “As members of the Church founded by Jesus Christ, it is our duty and ultimately privilege to be authentically and unapologetically Catholic. Don’t be mistaken. Even within the Church, people in polite Catholic circles will try to persuade you to remain silent.”
Butker lamented that many Catholics, including bishops, elected to remain silent when churches were subject to COVID-19 worship restrictions.
“Too many bishops were not leaders at all," he said. "They were motivated by fear, fear of being sued, fear of being removed, fear of being disliked. They showed by their actions, intentional or unintentional, that the sacraments don’t actually matter.”
“Because of this, countless people died alone without access to the sacraments, and it’s a tragedy we must never forget,” he recalled. “We cannot buy into the lie that the things we experienced during COVID were appropriate. Over the centuries, there have been great wars, great famines, and, yes, even great diseases; all that came with a level of lethality and danger. But in each of those examples, church leaders leaned into their vocations and ensured that their people received the sacraments.”
Towards the end of his speech, Butker urged the audience to “stop pretending that the things we see around us are normal.” He expressed concern that “heterodox ideas abound even within Catholic circles.”
“There is nothing good about playing God with having children, whether that be your ideal number or your perfect time to conceive. No matter how you spin it, there is nothing natural about Catholic birth control.”
He added that he has only "grown the courage to speak more boldly and directly" in the last few years.
In March, Butker drew attention with comments he made during an interview with EWTN, hitting on topics such as abortion and his opposition to a Catholic church being used for a transgender activist's funeral.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
