Page 2, 18th October 1985
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GERALDINE Ferraro, in her new book, said she never expected her vice-presidential bid to bring three members of the Catholic hierarchy out of the "spiritual pulpit into the :partisan political ring."
In Ferraro: My Story, she discussed the opposition to her views on abortion raised during the campaign by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York, Bishop James Timlin of Scranton, and Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia. The book, published by Bantam Books, recounts her 1984 Democratic vice-presidential campaign. It began appearing in bookstores in early October.
Excerpts from the book, in which she called Cardinal O'Connor "a single-issue bishop" who used "an increasingly strident voice" to criticise her position on abortion, were published earlier in Newsweek magazine.
Ms Ferraro in the book described Cardinal O'Connor as a friend of the Reagan administration and supporter of Reagan's policies in Central America who "aimed his politically pious sights at me." She said the "gauntlet was down" when Cardinal O'Connor accused her of misrepresenting Catholic teaching. The director of the New York Archdiocese's Communications Office, Fr Peter Finn, said that Cardinal O'Connor has made no comment on the book.
Ms Ferraro also charged that Cardinal Krol threatened to pull out Catholic schoolchildren from a city parade if she was part of it during a campaign stop. That charge is "totally untrue", said Virginia Durkin, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
Mr Ferraro also said in the book she was "disgusted" from the onset of her campaign with "the religious implications of the Republicans. I provided a natural target ... I was Catholic woman who supported a woman's right to abortion. That was a sin of faith."
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