Reacting to news of her invitation, Catholic Charities and the Office of Church Ministry have withdrawn their sponsorship, reports the Buffalo News.

The Buffalo diocese has received hundreds of calls and e-mails complaining about Clinton's appearance, diocese spokesman Kevin Keenan told the News.

Buffalo residents have also flooded Canisius officials with calls and e-mails.

LaFalce, a Democrat and pro-life Catholic, justified the invitation by saying that Clinton would be speaking on government's role in caring for the sick - and not on abortion.

But critics of the Clinton invitation point to guidelines issued by the 10 American Jesuit provincials and a letter by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which state that people who violate Catholic principles "should not be given awards, honors or platforms."

The Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, said Friday he is not pleased that Canisius College invited Clinton and did not tell him in advance. But he declined to order Canisius to ban the pro-abortion former first lady from the campus.

Kmiec said the speech should go forward because the church needs to maintain a dialogue with the top Democrat and other public officials with whom they disagree on the issue of abortion, the News said.

"It is for that reason, despite calls for the cancellation of the event, that it was thought best to allow it to proceed, though reluctantly," Kmiec explained.

The Bishop's comments, however, didn't do much to quell the controversy.

"I don't think he went far enough, I'm sorry," Stasia Zoladz Vogel, president of the Buffalo Regional Right to Life Committee, told the News Saturday. "They owe her nothing. She's a public official. They can talk to her at any time."

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