Is the National Organization for Marriage a Front for the Catholic Church?

I have often speculated that the Roman Catholic Church is a financial principal backer of the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM"). It would certainly explain why NOM is fighting legal battles in seven states seeking to avoid revealing its financial contributors. We now know that instead of being the grass roots organization it claims to be, NOM is principally supported by less than a dozen donors. Obviously, if these donors are Catholic dioceses and organizations, the blow back against the Church could be huge. NOM Exposed has gone a step further in tying NOM to the Catholic hierarchy - including a $10,000 per guest function at Archbishop Timothy Dolan's residence in New York (the invitation is set out above). Here are some highlights:

On several occasions, I've told you about OPUSFidelis. This is the Catholic firm to whom NOM has outsourced all of its social media, web design, and assorted online work. For the past year or so, OPUS head David Lejeune -- working with subordinates like Joe Giganti, Casey Fimian and Colton Brugger -- have essentially been speaking for NOM in the social media world.

But what does this affiliation say about NOM's ties to the larger Catholic establishment? Well consider the following.

This past summer, just one day before NOM's marriage-excluding dreams were crushed in Albany, another, far less pro-gay soiree was happening in Manhattan. The invite read like so:[see image above]

You'll notice the names Fimian and Lejeune -- both confirmed NOM figures. But also check out the address as the bottom. It's the same as OPUS' mailing address. The same OPUS that proudly touts NOM's anti-equality protestations as its big company highlight.

In terms of the Catholic socio-political template, you don't get a much more influential handshake. At least not outside of Rome.

So what does this tell us? Well, nothing that we didn't already know, really. It's just more confirmation that NOM, a group that presents itself as a generalized special interest group that "protects" faith generally, is, in truth, a Catholic organization that exalts Vatican values primarily. They of course have every right to take this approach to their advocacy. But they really should call themselves something like The Catholic Alliance for Canonical Rites rather than the National Organization For Marriage.