Catholic Church and politics in the United States
Members of the
In 1776 Catholics comprised less than 1% of the population of the new nation, but their presence grew rapidly after 1840 with
Since the election of the nation's first Catholic president in 1960, Catholics have split about 50–50 between the two major parties in national elections. Beginning with the decline of unions and big city machines, increased suburbanization and with upward mobility into the middle classes, Catholics have drifted away from liberalism of the Democratic Party and toward
Religious tensions were major issues in the presidential election of 1928 when the Democrats nominated Al Smith, a Catholic who was defeated, and in 1960 when the Democrats also nominated John F. Kennedy, a Catholic who was elected. For the next three elections, a Catholic would be nominated for the vice presidency by one of the two major parties (Bill Miller in 1964, Ed Muskie in 1968, Tom Eagleton and then Sargent Shriver in 1972), but the ticket would lose. Geraldine Ferraro would continue the tradition in 1984, but she also lost, and the non-Catholic vice-presidential streak was broken in 2008. A Catholic, John Kerry, lost the 2004 election to incumbent George W. Bush, a Methodist, who may have won the majority of Catholic vote.[7] The 2012 election was the first where both major party vice presidential candidates were Catholic, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.
As of January 2023[update], there are 27 (out of 100) Catholics in the
19th century
Before 1840, Catholics constituted a small minority and as a result, they played a relatively minor role in early American history.[9] Catholics only constituted a significant community in Maryland and Baltimore became an early center of Catholicism. From the American Revolution until the end of the 18th century, about 1% of the American population (about 30,000) was Catholic. Still, Catholics were among the Founding Fathers and they were also a part of the First Congress; Daniel Carroll serving Maryland's 6th congressional district,[10] and Charles Carroll of Carrollton serving as the first senator from Maryland.[11][12] Presidential candidates did not seek Catholic votes until Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay did so in 1832.[9]
Catholics and urban America
The role of Catholics in
Many Catholics served in the Civil War armies, they served in both the North and the South, and the bishops rejected the antiwar and anti-draft sentiments of some Catholics. The rapid rise of the Irish out of poverty, and the continuing growth in membership, especially in industrial and urban areas, made the church the largest denomination in the U.S. Distrusting public schools which were dominated by Protestants, Catholics built their own network of parochial elementary schools (and, later, they built high schools), as well as colleges, and public funding of parochial schools was a controversial issue.[9] As the Bennett Law episode in 1890 in Wisconsin demonstrated, Catholics were willing to cooperate politically with German Lutherans to protect their parochial schools. A distinct Catholic vote existed, however; in the late 19th century, 75% of Irish and German Catholics in America voted for Democratic presidential candidates. [9] The Irish increasingly controlled the Democratic party machinery in major cities.[15]
Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools, became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic Protestants who believed that the government should be used to reduce the pervasiveness of social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches comprised over a quarter of the vote and they wanted the government to stay out of personal morality issues. Prohibition debates and referendums heated up elections in most states over a period of decades, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and it was repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry GOP.[16]
Voting Behavior by Religion, Northern USA Late 19th century | ||
---|---|---|
Religion | % Dem | % GOP |
Immigrants | ||
Irish Catholics | 80 | 20 |
All Catholics |
70 | 30 |
Confessional German Lutherans | 65 | 35 |
German Reformed |
60 | 40 |
French Canadian Catholics | 50 | 50 |
Less Confessional German Lutherans | 45 | 55 |
English Canadians | 40 | 60 |
British Stock | 35 | 65 |
Sectarians |
30 | 70 |
Norwegian Lutherans | 20 | 80 |
Swedish Lutherans | 15 | 85 |
Haugean Norwegians |
5 | 95 |
Natives | ||
Northern Stock | ||
Quakers | 5 | 95 |
Free Will Baptists | 20 | 80 |
Congregational |
25 | 75 |
Methodists |
25 | 75 |
Regular Baptists | 35 | 65 |
Blacks | 40 | 60 |
Presbyterians |
40 | 60 |
Episcopalians | 45 | 55 |
Southern Stock | ||
Disciples | 50 | 50 |
Presbyterians | 70 | 30 |
Baptists | 75 | 25 |
Methodists |
90 | 10 |
- Source: Paul Kleppner, The Third Electoral System 1853-1892 (1979) p. 182
Labor union movement
The Catholic Church exercised a prominent role in shaping America's labor movement. From the onset of significant immigration in the 1840s, the church in the United States was predominantly urban, with both its leaders and congregants usually of the laboring classes. Over the course of the second half of the nineteenth century, nativism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-unionism coalesced in Republican elections, and Catholics gravitated toward unions and the Democratic Party.[9]
The
In Rerum novarum (1891), Pope Leo XIII criticized the concentration of wealth and power, spoke out against the abuses that workers faced and demanded that workers should be granted certain rights and safety regulations. He upheld the right of voluntary association, specifically commending labor unions. At the same time, he reiterated the church's defense of private property, condemned socialism, and emphasized the need for Catholics to form and join unions that were not compromised by secular and revolutionary ideologies.[17]
Rerum novarum provided new impetus for Catholics to become active in the labor movement, even if its exhortation to form specifically Catholic labor unions was widely interpreted as irrelevant to the pluralist context of the United States. While atheism underpinned many European unions and stimulated Catholic unionists to form separate labor federations, the religious neutrality of unions in the U.S. provided no such impetus. American Catholics seldom dominated unions, but they exerted influence across organized labor. Catholic union members and leaders played important roles in steering American unions away from socialism.[citation needed]
20th century
By 1900, Catholics represented 14 percent of the total U.S. population, soon became the single largest religious denomination in the country.
Bishops' Program of Social Reconstruction
Following World War I, many hoped that a new commitment to social reform would characterize the ensuing peace. The Council saw an opportunity to use its national voice to shape reform and in April 1918 created a Committee for Reconstruction. John A. Ryan wrote the Bishops' Program of Social Reconstruction. Combining Progressive thought and Catholic theology, Ryan believed that government intervention was the most effective means of affecting positive change for his church as well as working people and the poor. On February 12, 1919, the National Catholic War Council issued the "Bishops' Program of Social Reconstruction".
The Program received a mixed reception both within the church and outside it. The National Catholic War Council was a voluntary organization with no canonical status. Its ability to speak authoritatively was therefore questioned. Many bishops threw their support behind the Program, but some, including Bishop William Turner of Buffalo and William Henry O'Connell of Boston, opposed it. O'Connell believed some aspects of the plan smacked too much of socialism. Response outside the church was also divided: labor organizations backed it, for example, and business groups criticized it.
Defense of parochial school system
After World War I, some states concerned about the influence of immigrants and "foreign" values looked to public schools for help. The states drafted laws designed to use schools to promote a common American culture.
In 1921, the Ku Klux Klan arrived in Oregon and quickly attracted as many as 14,000 members, establishing 58 klaverns by the end of 1922. Given the small population of non-white minorities outside Portland, the Oregon Klan directed its attention almost exclusively against Catholics, who numbered about 8% of the population.
In 1922, the
Pope Pius XI, in 1929, explicitly referenced this Supreme Court case in his encyclical Divini illius magistri[21] on Catholic education. He quoted in a footnote the part of the case:
The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty, to recognize, and prepare him for additional duties.
Catholic Worker Movement
The Catholic Worker movement began as a means to combine Dorothy Day's history in American social activism, anarchism, and pacifism with the tenets of Catholicism (including a strong current of distributism), five years after her 1927 conversion.[22]
The group started with the
Similar houses of hospitality were established by Russian immigrant and Catholic social worker, Catherine Doherty, founder of Madonna House.
National Catholic Welfare Conference
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2009) |
1930s
Historian John McGreevey notes, "Priests across the country in the 1930s encouraged their parishioners to join unions, and some like
The Catholic Church encouraged Catholic workers to join the unions such as the Congress of Industrial Organizations "to improve their economic status and to act as a moderating force in the new labor movement".[24] Catholic clergy promoted and founded moderate trade unions, such as the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists and the Archdiocesan Labor Institute in 1939. American Catholics of that era were generally New Deal liberals who actively supported the CIO, viewed government as a positive force for social reform and often participated in non-communist trade unions, becoming a prominent group of the United Auto Workers. According to Colleen Doody, Catholics were the "backbone and the bane of New Deal liberalism".[24]
Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems
The Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems (1923–1937) was conceived by Raymond McGowan as a way of bringing together Catholic leaders in the fields of theology, labor, and business, with a view to promoting awareness and discussion of Catholic social teaching. Its first meeting was held in Milwaukee. While it was the venue for important discussions during its existence, its demise was due partly by lack of participation by business executives who perceived the dominant tone of the group as anti-business.
21st century
Religion plays a part in American elections. Religion is part of the political debate over
According to Dr. John Green of University of Akron, "There isn't a Catholic vote anymore; there are several Catholic votes." A survey conducted by the Gallup organization in 2009 revealed that, despite the opposition of the church to abortion and embryonic stem-cell research, there is no significant difference between the opinions of Catholics and non-Catholics on these questions.[25]
Voting guides
In 2004, Catholic Answers, a private lay Catholic apostolate, published its Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics.[26] It also published Voter's Guide for Serious Christians for non-Catholics.[27] In 2006, it revamped the guides and published them on its Catholic Answers Action web site.[28]
In 2016 another Catholic organization, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, published the Pope Francis Voter Guide [1] to help inform the faithful about their specifically political vocation as Catholics in the United States.
In January 2016, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops produced an updated version of their 2007 voter's guide, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. It is a summary of the USCCB's public policies based on church teachings.[29]
In September 2016, Bishop
Marriage and family
The Roman Catholic Church defines
Abortion
In accordance with its teachings, the Catholic Church opposes abortion in all circumstances and often leads the national debate on abortion.[35] The Roman Catholic Church has been a fierce opponent of liberalized abortion laws and has organized political resistance to such legislation in several Western countries.
Before the
In 2004,
During the 2004 presidential campaign, four bishops planned to deny communion to Catholic politicians who had voted for John Kerry.[37] This provoked a negative reaction, and the Catholic Church took a different approach for the 2008 election. The new message was compiled into a brochure titled "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," which "emphasized that issues involving 'intrinsically evil' actions could not be equated morally with others," according to the Times. The brochure cites abortion as the "prime example," and it also mentions euthanasia, torture, genocide, unjust war and racism.
In the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, as many as 89 Catholic bishops proclaimed that Catholics should make abortion their defining issue in the election.[38]
In November 2009, Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy disclosed that Thomas Tobin had ordered priests in the diocese to deny him communion because of Kennedy's position in favor of unrestricted abortion.[39]
Michael Humphrey of the
Polling results show that a majority of Catholics classify themselves as anti-abortion; a 2009 poll showed a 52% majority identifying as anti-abortion.[41] Pew Research, combining polls from 2011 and 2013, notes that over half (53%) of white Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, with 41% saying it should be illegal in all or most cases. Among Hispanic Catholics, 43% say it should be legal in all or most cases, while 52% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.[42]
Birth control
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2012) |
In 1948, Archbishop Richard Cushing campaigned against a Massachusetts referendum to loosen the state's ban on birth control. While the referendum failed, "deployment of the Church's political muscle," according to historian Leslie Tentler, offended non-Catholics and led Cushing to relax his position when the issue was debated again in the 1960s.[43]
The Catholic church hierarchy forbids birth control such as condoms or the pill because it views them as separating sexual intercourse from its intended consequence of reproduction.[44]
In 2012, when the
While the pope and the bishops have opposed birth control, the majority of American Catholics disagree with them, and believe the church should change its teaching on birth control. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2013 found that three-quarters of U.S. Catholics (76%) say the church should permit birth control.[48]
Immigration
The immigration debate has opened a chasm with Republican hardliners who want restrictions.[49] Some 30% of the Roman Catholic population is Hispanic and that percentage continues to rise steadily. Pope John Paul II advocated that countries should accommodate people fleeing from economic hardship. Cardinal Raymond Burke has been involved in rallies to allow undocumented workers a chance at citizenship. By welcoming migrant workers, many of whom are Catholic, Burke says, "we obey the command of Our Lord, who tells us that when we welcome the stranger, we welcome Christ Himself."[50]
In addressing the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2009, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver discussed the need when talking about reforming immigration law, to do so "... in a comprehensive way, so that justice is done and our borders are protected. It's always both/and; it's not either/or from my perspective."[51] "[N]o one can claim to be Catholic and think it's okay to treat immigrants unjustly or inhumanly. But you can disagree on immigration policies because you think that one works and one doesn't."[51]
Most immigration to the U.S. is from predominantly Roman Catholic nations and about 3⁄4 of all lapsed Catholics have been replaced by immigrant Catholics in the United States.[52]
In 2006,
Transgender rights
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have openly opposed the Equality Act which serves to address discrimination towards members of the LGBTQ+ community. They claim that the legislation discourages differing opinions on marriage and sexuality and would codify gender ideology in federal law.[57]
Party affiliation
Before the 1960s, when cultural changes lead to an incremental liberalization of the Democratic Party, Catholics were seen as staunch Democrats. The Democratic Party ran Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate by a major party, in 1928, and, except when the ticket was headed by a
Since the 1960s, the Catholic vote has come to reflect the nation as a whole instead of being predominantly Democratic.[9] In the 60s and early 70s, a number of Catholics and Southern whites abandoned their traditional affiliation with the Democratic Party and began to support the Republican Party. This shift is evidenced by the fact that Nixon received 33% of the Catholic vote in the 1968 election compared to 52% in 1972. As a group, Catholics represented a quarter of the nation's electorate and were now one of the nation's largest swing groups. Both parties began to aggressively woo the Catholic voters. Although the Catholic hierarchy could not dictate who Catholics voted for, they did have a substantial influence over the faithful in their dioceses. Politicians were aware that the bishops could direct significant time, energy and money to support the issues that were important to them. From their perspective, the bishops were eager to regain some of the influence that their predecessors had wielded in the earlier part of the 20th century.[58] Since the 1970s non-Hispanic white Catholics have voted majority Republican very reliably while a majority of Hispanic or Latino Catholics have voted Democrat.[59]
In his successful
Although about one third of Catholics voted for Bush's reelection in
Their party independence continued into 2000, and Catholics became the large religious grouping that most closely reflected the total electorate, ahead of mainline Protestants. 50% of Catholics voted for Al Gore versus 47% for George W. Bush in the very close 2000 election. 52% of Catholics voted for Bush's successful reelection compared to 47% for the Catholic John Kerry in 2004, versus 51% to 48% overall.[9] Amongst white Catholics the figure was higher, with George W Bush receiving 56% of white Catholic votes.[62] Barack Obama, who chose the Catholic Joe Biden as his running mate, received 54% of the Catholic vote in 2008 compared to John McCain's 45%, close to the overall 52% to 46%.[63] In 2012 Obama and Biden faced Mitt Romney and the Catholic Paul Ryan. Obama won 50% of the Catholic vote to Romney's 48%, close to their 51% and 47%, respectively, of the overall vote.[64] In 2016 the Republicans' Donald Trump chose Mike Pence—who describes himself as evangelical Catholic—as his running mate, while the Democrats' Hillary Clinton chose the Catholic Tim Kaine as hers. The victorious Trump-Pence ticket received 52% of Catholics' votes compared to Clinton-Kaine's 45%.[65]
In some regions such as the "Mountain West" region, it is estimated that since the 1980s 42% of white Catholics vote Republican whereas only 20% vote Democratic.[66] White Catholics who are registered Democrats are also shown to defect to the Republican party in massive numbers during election years. This was particularly true during both of Ronald Reagan's presidential elections, as well as the Nixon-McGovern race. White Catholics who are registered as Republicans are substantially less likely to defect to the Democrats during election years.[67]
Presidential elections
1928
In 1928, Al Smith became the first Roman Catholic to gain a major party's nomination for president.[68] His religion became an issue during the campaign and was one of the factors in his loss. Many feared that he would answer to the pope and not the constitution. Another major controversial issue was the continuation of Prohibition. Smith was personally in favor of relaxation or repeal of Prohibition laws despite its status as part of the nation's Constitution, but the Democratic Party split north and south on the issue. During the campaign Smith tried to duck the issue with noncommittal statements. He was also criticized for being a drunkard because of the stereotypes placed on Irish Catholics of the day.[69][70]
Smith swept the entire Catholic vote, which had been split in 1920 and 1924, and brought millions of Catholics to the polls for the first time, especially women. The fact that Smith was Catholic garnered him support from
1960
Religion became a divisive issue during the
To address fears that his Roman Catholicism would influence his decision-making, John F. Kennedy famously told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters — and the Church does not speak for me."[72] He promised to respect the separation of church and state and not to allow Catholic officials to dictate public policy to him. Kennedy also raised the question of whether one-quarter of Americans were relegated to second-class citizenship just because they were Roman Catholic.
Even so, it was widely believed after the election that Kennedy lost some heavily Protestant states because of his Catholicism. His address did not please everyone: many non-Catholics remained unconvinced that a Catholic could be president without divided loyalties; and many Catholics thought he conceded too much in his profession of belief in an absolute separation of church and state. The speech is widely considered to be an important marker in the history of Catholicism (and anti-Catholicism) in the United States.
Kennedy went on to win the national popular vote over
Summary of results
This chart shows the estimated Democrat/Republican split of the Catholic vote in elections since 1948. Catholic candidates and elections in which Catholics voted for the national winner are in bold.
Year | Election Winner | Party | D% | R% | Election Loser | Cook PVI | Citations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1948 | Barkley |
Democratic | 65 | 35 | Dewey–Warren
|
D+26 | [7][74] |
1952 | Eisenhower–Nixon | Republican | 51-56 | 44-49 | Stevenson–Sparkman | D+18–28 | [7][74] |
1956 | Eisenhower–Nixon | Republican | 45-51 | 49-55 | Stevenson–Kefauver | D+5–17 | [7][74] |
1960 | Kennedy–Johnson | Democratic | 78-82 | 18-22 | Nixon–Lodge | D+56–64 | [7] |
1964 | Johnson–Humphrey | Democratic | 76-79 | 21-24 | Goldwater–Miller | D+29–35 | [7][74] |
1968 | Nixon–Agnew | Republican | 55-59 | 33-37 | Humphrey–Muskie | D+19–27 | [7][74] |
1972 | Nixon–Agnew | Republican | 37-48 | 52-63 | McGovern–Shriver | R+3–D+19 | [7][74] |
1976 | Carter–Mondale | Democratic | 54-57 | 41-44 | Ford–Dole | D+8–14 | [7][74] |
1980 | Reagan–Bush | Republican | 41-47 | 41-50 | Carter–Mondale | D+1–16 | [7][61]: 185 [74] |
1984 | Reagan–Bush | Republican | 39-46 | 54-61 | Mondale–Ferraro | R+4–D+10 | [7][74] |
1988 | Bush–Quayle | Republican | 47-52 | 48-52 | Dukakis–Bentsen | D+3–13 | [7][74] |
1992 | Clinton–Gore | Democratic | 44-50 | 30-36 | Bush–Quayle | D+2–14 | [7][61]: 202 |
1996 | Clinton–Gore | Democratic | 53-55 | 35-37 | Dole–Kemp | D+8–12 | [7] |
2000 | Bush–Cheney | Republican | 50-52 | 46-49 | Gore–Lieberman | D+1–6 | [7] |
2004 | Bush–Cheney | Republican | 47-52 | 48-52 | Kerry–Edwards | R+3–D+6 | [7] |
2008 | Obama–Biden | Democratic | 53-57 | 43-47 | McCain–Palin | R+1–D+7 | [7] |
2012 | Obama–Biden | Democratic | 50 | 48 | Romney–Ryan | D+2 | [64] |
2016 | Trump–Pence | Republican | 45 | 52 | Clinton–Kaine | R+7 | [65] |
2020 | Biden–Harris | Democratic | 52 | 47 | Trump–Pence | D+5 | [75] |
Representation in government
Congress
According to the Pew Research Center, Catholics represent 30.5% of
On January 4, 2007, Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, became the first woman elected as the Speaker of the House. She was elected again as Speaker of the House on January 3, 2019, after serving as House Minority Leader for the Democrats from 2003 to 2007 and 2011–2019. Paul Ryan is Catholic as well and served recently as Speaker of the House from 2015 to 2019.
Supreme Court
A majority of the Supreme Court has been Catholic since 2005.
The first Catholic Supreme Court appointment was Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, appointed by Andrew Jackson in 1836.[76] The second, Edward Douglass White, joined the Court in 1894 and was elevated to Chief Justice in 1910. He was joined on the Court by Catholic Joseph McKenna in 1898. After White's death in 1921, there became an informally recognized tradition of holding one seat on the Court for a Catholic justice, though not necessarily the same seat.[76]
After Murphy died in 1949, he was not succeeded directly by a Catholic. However, President Harry Truman appointed Sherman Minton to a different vacant seat, and his appointment was seen as in keeping with the tradition, as Minton's wife was Catholic.[77] He would convert five years after his retirement from the Court.[78]
Upon Minton's retirement, Cardinal Francis Spellman successfully lobbied Dwight Eisenhower to replace him with William J. Brennan, a practicing Catholic.
The traditional one-seat rule was abandoned by President Ronald Reagan, who nominated two Catholics to serve together: Antonin Scalia in 1986 and Anthony Kennedy in 1988. They joined Brennan to give the Court a then-high of three Catholic justices.
President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas in 1991. At the time of his appointment, Thomas was a confirmed Catholic attending Episcopalian services, but he has since returned to active Catholicism.[79] He replaced the retiring Catholic Brennan with David Souter, an Episcopalian.
President George W. Bush appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both Catholics, in 2005. Alito's appointment gave the Court its first ever Catholic majority, which it has maintained since.[a] In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Catholic Sonia Sotomayor, raising the number of Catholic justices to six.[80]
In 2018, President Donald Trump appointed Catholic Brett Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy. Trump's other appointment thus far, Neil Gorsuch, is a practicing Episcopalian who had attended Catholic Mass and Catholic schools as a child. He joined the Episcopal Church upon marriage to his wife. It is unclear whether he still identifies as Catholic, and he is not typically included among the Catholic justices.[81] In 2020, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died; President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic, to fill the vacancy; she was subsequently confirmed by the Senate and sworn in to the bench.
Executive branch
There have been two Catholic
First Lady Melania Trump was the first Catholic to live in the White House since First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who remained there for two weeks after her husband's death 53 years earlier.[83][84][85]
Cabinet members
Past Catholic Postmaster General (formerly a cabinet post) James Farley (1933-1940)[86]
Past Catholic Secretaries of State include Edmund Muskie,[87] Alexander Haig,[88] and John Kerry.[89][90] Secretary James G. Blaine had Catholic roots. Secretary James F. Byrnes was raised Catholic but converted to Episcopalianism.
Past Catholic U.S. Attorneys General include Roger B. Taney,[76] Joseph McKenna,[76] Charles Bonaparte,[91] Frank Murphy, James McGranery, J. Howard McGrath, Robert F. Kennedy, William Barr, and Alberto Gonzales.[92]
Past Catholic Secretaries of Defense include James Forrestal,[93] Leon Panetta, and James Mattis.[94][95] Secretary Chuck Hagel was raised Catholic but converted to Episcopalianism.[96]
Past Catholic Secretaries of Labor include Maurice Tobin,[97] Martin Durkin, James P. Mitchell, Ann McLaughlin Korologos, Alexis Herman,[98] Hilda Solis,[99][100][101] and Tom Perez.[102]
Past Catholic Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development include Moon Landrieu, Henry Cisneros, Andrew Cuomo,[103] Mel Martínez, and Julián Castro.[104][105]
Past Catholic Secretaries of Energy include Bill Richardson.[106]
Secretary of the Treasury and of the Interior Thomas Ewing married a Catholic woman, attended services for many years, and was formally baptized on his deathbed.[107] Treasury Secretary Donald Regan also had Catholic roots, but it is unclear whether he actively practiced while in office.
The Catholic secretaries in the Biden administration are Lloyd Austin (Defense), Deb Haaland (Interior), Gina Raimondo (Commerce), Marty Walsh (Labor), Xavier Becerra (Health and Human Services), Miguel Cardona (Education), and Jennifer Granholm (Energy). Haaland is the first Native American in a presidential cabinet and also the first Native Catholic within it. Granholm converted to Catholicism while at Harvard Law School in the mid-1980s.[108][109][110][111][112]
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant and he attended Catholic schools, but began to attend the Church of England's Christ Church Cathedral during his term at the University of Oxford and said he felt "more-or-less Anglican" by the time he returned to the U.S.[113] Buttigieg has since been an Episcopalian.[114]
See also
- Anti-abortion movement
- Anti-Catholicism
- Anti-Catholicism in the United States
- Catholic Church in the United States
- History of the Catholic Church in the United States
- Catholic Democrats
- Christianity and politics
- Christianity in the United States
- History of Christianity in the United States
- Identity politics
- Jewish views and involvement in US politics
- Latino vote
- Political Catholicism
- Religion in politics
- Religion in the United States
- Freedom of religion in the United States
- History of religion in the United States
- Religious discrimination in the United States
- Third Way (centrism)
Notes
- ^ For a two-month period following the retirement of Anthony Kennedy on July 31, 2018, there were four Catholic justices on an eight-member Court. However, the Court did not hear any cases during that time.
References
- ^ CARA's New Book Identifies Trends in U.S. Catholic Church Archived February 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Catholicism USA
- ^ The Official Catholic Directory 2009.
- ^ Donald T. Critchlow, Intended Consequences: Birth Control, Abortion, and the Federal Government in Modern America (2001) p. 196
- ^ Davis, Nicola (October 24, 2016). "Pope Francis's edict on climate change has fallen on closed ears, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ "Can a good Catholic dissent from Laudato Si'?". June 24, 2015.
- ^ Davenport, Caral (June 16, 2015). "Pope's Views on Climate Change Add Pressure to Catholic Candidates". New York Times. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "CARA, "Presidential Votes of Catholics: Estimates from Various Sources"" (PDF). Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ Diamant, Jeff (January 3, 2023). "Faith on the Hill" (PDF). Pew Research Center.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Silk, Mark; Walsh, Andrew (November 3, 2008). "A Past Without a Future?". America. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ "CARROLL, Daniel, (1730 - 1796)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved October 3, 2008.
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- ^ "CARROLL, Charles (of Carrollton), (1737 - 1832)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved October 3, 2008.
- ^ Immigrants and Immigration, Americans at War, Macmillan Reference USA
- Lutheransformed numerous denominations in the U.S.
- ^ Steven P. Erie, Rainbow's end: Irish-Americans and the dilemmas of urban machine politics, 1840-1985 (1990)
- ^ a b Kleppner (1979)
- ^ "Rerum novarum". Vatican.va. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ Terry Matthews: Catholicism in Nineteenth Century America Archived May 29, 2001, at archive.today, Lectures for Religion, Wake Forrest University
- ^ "GPO-CRECB-1933" (PDF). Retrieved June 3, 2021.
- ^ Howard, J. Paul. "Cross-Border Reflections, Parents' Right to Direct Their Children's Education Under the U.S. and Canadian Constitutions" Archived October 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Education Canada, v41 n2 p36-37 Sum 2001.
- ^ Pope Pius XI (December 31, 1929). "Divini illius magistri". Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- ^ ""Dorothy Day, Prophet of Pacifism for the Catholic Church" Archived September 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine" from "Houston Catholic Worker" newspaper, October 1997
- ^ "List of Catholic Worker Communities". Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
- ^ S2CID 163015502.
- ^ "Catholics Similar to Mainstream on Abortion, Stem Cells". March 30, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics". Archived from the original on September 27, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
- ^ "Voter's Guide for Serious Christians". Archived from the original on April 15, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
- ^ Catholic Online. "Some issues morally 'non-negotiable,' says '06 Catholic voter's guide". Catholic Online. Catholic.org. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
- ^ "An Assessment of the New USCCB Document Faithful Citizenship". January 6, 2016.
- ^ Kevin Jones, A Phoenix bishop's plea to voters and politicians: no votes for abortion, Catholic News Agency (September 20, 2016).
- ^ "CIC". 1055 §1. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008.
- ^ a b Libreria Editrice Vaticana (ed.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. pp. 2357–2359. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
- ^ "Majority Continues To Support Civil Unions". The Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life. October 9, 2009.
- ISBN 978-1-55612-759-5. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
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"Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting effect of immigration. The Landscape Survey finds that among the foreign-born adult population, Catholics outnumber Protestants by nearly a two-to-one margin (46% Catholic vs. 24% Protestant); among native-born Americans, on the other hand, Protestants outnumber Catholics by an even larger margin (55% Protestant vs. 21% Catholic)." (p. 6).
"... the Catholic share of the U.S. adult population has held fairly steady in recent decades, at around 25%. What this apparent stability obscures, however, is the large number of people who have left the Catholic Church. Approximately one-third of the survey respondents who say they were raised Catholic no longer describe themselves as Catholic. This means that roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics. These losses, however, have been partly offset by the number of people who have changed their affiliation to Catholicism (2.6% of the adult population) but more importantly by the disproportionately high number of Catholics among immigrants to the U.S." (p. 7). - ^ Kerwin, Donald (May 8, 2006). "Immigration reform: what the Catholic Church knows". Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. Archived from the original on April 21, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
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Bibliography
This section includes a improve this section by introducing more precise citations. (November 2019) ) |
- Casey, Shaun. The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 (2009)
- Cochran, Clarke E. and David Carroll Cochran. Catholics, Politics, and Public Policy: Beyond Left and Right (2003)
- Dolan, Jay. The Irish Americans: A History (2008)
- Heyer, Kristin E., Mark J. Rozell, and Michael A. Genovese. Catholics and Politics: The Dynamic Tension Between Faith and Power (2008)
- Marlin, George J., and Michael Barone, American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years Of Political Impact (2006)
- Morris, Charles. American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America's Most Powerful Church (1998)
- Prendergast, William B. The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith (1999)
- Woolner, David B., and Richard G. Kurial. FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America, 1933-1945 (2003)
Further reading
This section includes a improve this section by introducing more precise citations. (November 2019) ) |
- Blanshard, Paul. American Freedom and Catholic Power (Beacon Press, 1949) online, influential Protestant attack on Catholic political power
- Brenner, Saul. "Patterns of Jewish-Catholic Democratic Voting and the 1960 Presidential Vote." Jewish Social Studies (1964): 169–178. in JSTOR
- Byrnes, Timothy A. Catholic bishops in American politics (Princeton University Press, 1991)
- Casey, Shaun A. The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 (Oxford University Press, 2009) online
- Cooney, John. The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman (1984).
- Flynn, George Q. Roosevelt and Romanism: Catholics and American Diplomacy, 1937-1945 (1976) online
- Graziano, Manlio. In Rome We Trust: The Rise of Catholics in American Political Life (Stanford UP, 2017), 242 pp.
- Green, John Clifford. The faith factor: How religion influences American elections (Greenwood, 2007)
- Heineman, Kenneth J. A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh (2005) excerpt and text search; online
- Hennesey, James. American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States (Oxford University Press, 1981), puts politics in context
- Heyer, Kristin E.; Rozell, Mark J.; Genovese, Michael A. Catholics and politics: the dynamic tension between faith and power (Georgetown University Press, 2008). online
- Jelen, Ted G. "Catholic priests and the political order: The political behavior of Catholic pastors." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42.4 (2003): 591–604.
- McAndrews, Lawrence J. What They Wished For: American Catholics and American Presidents, 1960-2004 (University of Georgia Press; 2014) 503 pages; influence of Catholics on domestic and foreign policy
- Marlin George J. and Michael Barone. American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years Of Political Impact (2006)
- Moore, Edmund A. A Catholic Runs for President: The Campaign of 1928 (1956) online
- Noll, Mark A. and Luke E. Harlow. Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the Present (2nd ed. 2007) online pp 244–66, 345-66
- Prendergast, William B. The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith (Georgetown University Press. 1999)
- Schultz, Jeffrey D. et al. eds. Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics (1999) online
- Smith, Gregory Allen. Politics in the Parish: The Political Influence of Catholic Priests (Georgetown University Press, 2008) online
- Wald, Kenneth D., and Allison Calhoun-Brown. Religion and politics in the United States (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010) wide-ranging
- Zeitz, Joshua M.White ethnic New York: Jews, Catholics, and the shaping of postwar politics (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2007)
Historiography
- Gleason, Philip. "The Historiography of American Catholicism as Reflected in The Catholic Historical Review, 1915–2015." Catholic Historical Review 101#2 (2015) pp: 156–222. online
- Thomas, J. Douglas. "A Century of American Catholic History." US Catholic Historian (1987): 25–49. in JSTOR