Michael Steele, the ostensibly pro-life Catholic and, also ostensibly, the new hope of the GOP–though that’s dimmed considerably since he won election as head of the RNC–is being boycotted by Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger of Evansville, Indiana. Steele is to be the keynoter at the local annual Right To Life Banquet on April 16, but the GQ interview in which he seemed to clearly support the principle of a right to abortion continues to make waves.

According to a local Evansville TV station report, diocese spokesperson Paul Leingang said Bishop Gettelfinger is “uncomfortable” with Steele’s remarks. “After talking to him [Steele] and looking at the statement, the Bishop concluded that his decision stood. He would not attend,” Leingang said. He said Gettlefinger has attended the Vanderburgh County Right To Life Banquet faithfully for at least the past decade.

I guess Indiana just isn’t big on politicians these days.  

Hat tip to USA Today’s Cathy Grossman.

PS: Anyone know why Sen. Casey backed out of the commencement address gig at St. Vincent College? No explanation here, though one would wonder whether it has something to do with the increasing heat that the ostensibly pro-life Democrat has been getting, especially from his hometown bishop, Joseph Martino of Scranton. Of course, St. Vincent’s is where George W. Bush gave his valedictory last graduation season, at the invitation of the school’s president, Jim Towey, his former faith-based initiative director. There were protests but none that I recall from bishops.