Has Obama's Catholic National Advisory Council been scrapped? Bill Donohue writes in a recent press release:

On May 2, I issued a news release calling on Sen. Obama to dissolve his Catholic National Advisory Council. My principal reason for doing so was his selection of dissident Catholics to advise him . . . . [I]t now appears that my initial recommendation-to dissolve the group-may have been accepted.

There is no mention anywhere on the Obama website of the Catholic National Advisory Council. On Friday, we placed three phone calls to his campaign: two to media relations and one to Mark Linton, Obama’s National Catholic Outreach Coordinator. We were told each time that someone would get back to us, but no one did. I then personally e-mailed Linton informing him of the three phone calls, requesting that he respond to my question: ‘I would like to know whether the Catholic National Advisory Council for Sen. Obama is still operative.’ He has not replied.

It would appear, then, that the group no longer exists.

Obviously, nothing can be known for sure until the campaign comments on Donohue's assertion, but in the wake of the Pfleger debacle, as well as Archbishop Naumann's high-profile rebuke of Nebraska governor Kathleen Sebelius (both members, or former members, of the Council), it would not be entirely surprising.

What is certain is that religious outreach has been a thorny issue for both candidates this campaign season. All this endorsing, backtracking, and repudiating can't be good for morale.