Opinion Pieces Examine Future Of Catholic Electorate After Strong Support For Obama

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 18 Nov 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The following summarizes recent opinion pieces examining how Catholic leaders are reacting to Catholic support for President-elect Barack Obama. Exit polls showed that 54% of Catholics voted for Obama.

~ Patrick Whelan and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Baltimore Sun: The recent election demonstrated that "American Catholics want leaders who are serious, deliberative and have a sense of gravitas about the questions confronting" the country, Whelan -- president of Catholic Democrats -- and Kennedy Townsend -- a board member of the group -- write in an opinion piece. At the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops General Assembly last week, the "putative argument" among bishops "was that only Republicans are sufficiently pure on the abortion question," but the "facts show otherwise," Whelan and Kennedy Townsend write. They continue, "Democrats do a better job of reducing the number of abortions than Republicans" adding that "[s]ignificantly more progress was made during the Clinton administration than during any of the three Republican administrations that preceded or followed it." Whelan and Kennedy Townsend note that the U.S. abortion rate decreased by about 50% more rapidly under the Clinton administration than during the current administration. "In other words, while the Republicans have been focused on laws such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that have not been proved to have stopped even a single abortion, the Democrats oversaw meaningful reductions," according to Whelan and Kennedy Townsend. Strategies endorsed by Obama to reduce the need for abortions -- including expanding SCHIP, improving prenatal care and facilitating adoption -- "have been shown to be more effective than the Republican focus on promoting the possibility that some abortions in smaller states might be made illegal if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned someday," they write. The real "heart of some of the bishops' concerns" was that they "wanted the Republican to win," they continue, adding, "But Catholics care about many issues: torture, war and peace, health care, immigration -- as well as how to be a good neighbor, how to care for the least among us and how best to work for the common good." They continue, "We hope that in the course of their deliberations, these bishops will speaks out and recommit to the 'faithful citizenship' ideas that represent the heart of Catholic teaching" (Whelan/Kennedy Townsend, Baltimore Sun, 11/16).

~ Patrick Reilly, Washington Times: Bishops do not only "remain conflicted about how to contend with pro-choice politicians ... but they are also conflicted with their own Catholic colleges and professors, who played a vital role in turning the Catholic vote to" Obama, Reilly -- president and founder of the Cardinal Newman Society -- writes in an opinion piece. Reilly points to numerous academic leaders who voiced their support for Obama, including professors at Catholic colleges who "made the argument" for Obama "in the media and in lectures to Catholic audiences." Their argument, according to Reilly, was that Obama would do more than Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to "reduce abortions by fighting poverty, reforming health care and otherwise helping Americans in need." Reilly says that although "[l]eft-leaning academics are nothing new to the United States, ... on Catholic campuses their activism can become opposition to religious truths which Catholic educators are expected to teach and respect." He continues, "Theological dissent, contempt for the bishops and the Vatican, capitulation to the 'Sexual Revolution,' and imitation of elite universities and their glorification of academic freedom and cafeteria-style curricula produce graduates from Catholic colleges that are far less committed to the moral, social and political values of their predecessors." Reilly adds that "pundits have begun to question whether the 'Catholic vote' truly exists any more, as the majority of Catholic voters seem to follow social trends." Although "[d]issent in the pews is something the Catholic Church has wrestled with for centuries ... the more contemporary challenge is fidelity among Catholic educators and the apparent consequences when professors are in open conflict with the bishops" (Reilly, Washington Times, 11/17).

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In related news, washingtonpost.com on Sunday included a video of California first lady Maria Shriver on why she considers herself a "cafeteria Catholic" and supports abortions rights (washingtonpost.com, 11/16).

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