Newspapers Examine Infighting Among Catholics Over Which Party Better Reflects Church Teachings

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Abortion;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 07 Oct 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Several liberal Catholic groups and Democrats this year are "waging a fight within" the Roman Catholic Church over the presidential election, and the "intrachurch election debate is increasingly spilling into public view," the New York Times reports. According to the Times, efforts by Democrats and liberal groups to portray the Democratic Party as better representing the "full spectrum of church teachings" than the Republican Party have led to a "vigorous backlash" from some Catholic bishops and conservative groups. Conservatives contend that advocating an end to abortion rights in the U.S. "outweighs almost all other issues," while liberals say that implementing better social programs could more effectively reduce the U.S. abortion rate than overturning court precedents, the Times reports (Kirkpatrick, New York Times, 10/5).

According to the Boston Globe, U.S. Catholic bishops long have expressed opposition to abortion rights but the role that the abortion issue should have in the November presidential election has become highly contested by liberal Catholics who argue that Catholic voters should feel justified in taking into account other issues. In Boston on Sunday, Cardinal Sean O'Malley said to a crowd, "We're not here to impose any religious principles on our nation," adding, "We know that this is a pluralistic society. But we're here to say that we must stand up for human rights, and the first human right of all is life" (Paulson, Boston Globe, 10/6).

In Pennsylvania, Scranton, Pa., Bishop Joseph Martino instructed all churches in the region to read a letter he wrote. The letter says, "Being 'right' on taxes, education, health care, immigration and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life," adding, "It is a tragic irony that 'pro-choice' candidates have come to support homicide -- the gravest injustice a society can tolerate -- in the name of 'social justice'" (New York Times, 10/5).

In response, some lay Catholics and two prominent Catholic legal scholars are publicly making the case for Catholics to vote for Obama, the Globe reports. Nicholas Cafardi of Duquesne University's Law School and former general counsel for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in a recent column wrote, "Overturning Roe v. Wade is not the only way to end abortion, and a vote for Obama is not somehow un-Catholic" (Boston Globe, 10/6). Douglas Kmiec -- a Catholic legal scholar who worked as legal counsel during the administrations of former President Reagan and former President Bush -- has been travelling around the country telling Catholics that Obama's platform better fits Catholic social teaching, including reducing the abortion rate, according to the Times.

According to the Times, Catholic voters make up nearly one-third of voters in many heavily contested states and have become a central focus of both presidential campaigns. Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) campaign has sent surrogates -- such as Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a Catholic who opposes abortion rights -- to emphasize McCain's opposition to abortion rights to Catholic audiences. Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) campaign has trained grass-roots organizers about recent statements made by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

According to the Times, the Bishops Conference recently "all but banned" third-party voter guides from being distributed in churches except for the endorsement of the presiding bishop. However, some guides have been authorized, and the Web site for the Cathedral of St. Peter in Wilmington, Del., is displaying a video from the conservative Catholic group Fidelis that argues that abortion and same-sex marriages are the most important issues in the election. Some liberal Catholic groups are attempting to distribute their voter guides and other material through direct mail and meetings of lay Catholics (New York Times, 10/5).

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