Catholic Democrats
Catholic Democrats is an American not-for-profit organization of
The organization was founded in response to the
The group was angered as well by what it perceived as manipulation of Church teaching to the advantage of conservative and Republican interests: "Conservatives have increasingly used Catholic language and Catholic congregations to advance their economic agenda and political interests," particularly its insistence on “a consistent moral framework anchored in the scriptures and expressed in the teachings of the Church.” The group specifies the bishops' call[2] for a new commitment to advancing public policies that work in the interest of the common good.
Catholic Democrats support
History
Involvement with 2008 presidential election
During the 2008 presidential election, the organization launched the Catholics for Barack Obama website,[3] which included a petition of endorsement for Catholics to sign in support of Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama's candidacy, the Catholic questions and answers on abortion,[4] and a welcome by Catholic actor Martin Sheen. Additionally, the Web site included links to the book, written by Catholic Democrats President Patrick Whelan with a preface by Victoria Reggie Kennedy, entitled The Catholic Case for Obama.[5] The group helped articulate a new approach to the abortion problem, also championed by the Obama Campaign, that focused on reduction strategies and emphasized finding common ground solutions.[6]
Obama's first term
In 2009 the group applauded efforts by the
In the summer of 2009, Catholic Democrats launched the website, "Pope Greets Hope"
In September 2009, the leadership of Catholic Democrats met with the
Health care reform
In 2010, Catholic Democrats president Dr. Patrick Whelan published a study. Additionally, the organization asked Catholics to sign a petition that called on Congress to pass health care reform.
Activism on poverty and wealth disparity
For the 2010 midterm elections, Catholic Democrats issued A Catholic Pledge to America,
In the fall of 2011 as the presidential primaries approached, Catholic Democrats sent a letter
In part because all the Republican presidential candidates opposed the administration's job creation and anti-poverty proposals, and chose to attack expanded healthcare access, Catholic Democrats became deeply involved in the 2012 presidential election. According to Archbishop
That campaign focused on gay marriage, and later on whether employees of Catholic hospitals and universities should have insurance coverage for contraception. In a February 2012 interview on C-SPAN,[25] Catholic Democrats Board member Kathleen Kennedy Townsend strongly supported the administration's efforts to provide wider access to contraceptives, with their potential for decreasing the number of abortions. But in an opinion piece the same week in the Philadelphia Inquirer,[26] Archbishop Chaput said that the administration was motivated by “a seemingly deep distrust of the formative role religious faith has on personal and social conduct, and a deep distaste for religion's moral influence on public affairs.” The Inquirer subsequently interviewed Catholic Democrats’ president Steve Krueger, and reported this exchange of views with Archbishop Chaput:[27] “While there's nothing wrong with a Catholic bishop being a Republican or a Democrat,” Krueger said, “there's something eerily unsettling when the archbishop's political affiliation and the teaching authority he rightfully claims conflate, so that he becomes more of a partisan political figure than a shepherd." Told of Krueger's criticism, Chaput became visibly annoyed and leaned forward in his chair. "Can a group that calls itself 'Catholic Democrats' talk about politicizing things? That's absolutely ridiculous." Asked if he had a preferred candidate in the presidential elections, Chaput allowed a small smile and shook his head. "I don't talk about candidates," he said. "I just talk about the issues.”
Catholic Democrats took to the air on Public Radio, syndicated Spanish-language radio, and the mainstream print media to support the United States Department of Health and Human Services decision to provide broader access to contraception. Columnist Bill Press, citing Catholic Democrats’ concerns about the bishops’ neglect for poverty-related issues,[28] wrote in April 2012, “When I was growing up a Catholic, the nuns had a phrase for those who obeyed some tenets of the Church but not others: ‘Cafeteria Catholics.’ Today, the biggest ‘Cafeteria Catholics’ are Catholic bishops.”
Catholic Democrats opposed the use of churches to support the Republican presidential ticket. In a study of the matter, Catholic Democrats estimated that the commercial communications value of the USCCB's unprecedented "religious liberty" campaign in 2012 was likely to fall between $60 million and $100 million, based on the estimated percentage of partisan homilies heard by the 26 million Catholics attending mass each week. “If the USCCB were a Super PAC, the value of its campaign would likely top the list of independent expenditure organizations,” said Mr. Krueger in the Huffington Post.[29]
Also in 2012, Catholic Democrats opposed efforts to politicize Catholic parishes by reaching out directly to all the parishes in Governor Romney's home state of Massachusetts and in the battleground state of Virginia, outlining for pastors the USCCB's own guidelines forbidding electioneering by political parties in Catholic parishes.
Gov. Romney chose U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as his running mate in August 2012. Catholic Democrats pointed out the inconsistencies between Rep Ryan's previous budget proposals and the Catholic “preferential option for the poor,”
When Rep. Ryan met Vice President
“America Undecided: Catholic, Independent and Social Justice Perspectives on Election 2012"
In the fall of 2012, Dr. Whelan joined forces with two former University of Notre Dame law professors and law school deans, Douglas Kmiec and Ed Gaffney, to write the book “America Undecided: Catholic, Independent and Social Justice Perspectives on Election 2012.”[34] Prof Gaffney is a religious liberty scholar and Prof Kmiec a nationally known constitutional law expert. They argued that there was no merit to the idea that the Obama administration was opposed to religious liberty or hostile to Catholicism. The book begins by chronicling the Catholic influence on the early life of President Barack Obama, who attended Catholic school in Jakarta Indonesia as a child. His mother, Ann Dunham, worked collaboratively for 20 years with a Dutch Jesuit in a Catholic vocational school in Jakarta, trying to advance the economic prospects of a population emerging there from colonialism. Dr. Whelan interviewed a group of Catholic priests who had hired Mr. Obama in 1985 to work in Chicago Catholic parishes as a community organizer.
The book goes on to explore the details of the
A subsequent opinion piece in October 2012 by Dr. Whelan and Catholic Democrats Board member Kathleen Kennedy Townsend explored Governor Romney's opposition to providing healthcare coverage for all Americans.[35]
President Obama and Vice-President Biden prevailed over Gov Romney and Rep Ryan, 51-47%, in the general popular vote. Catholics were as likely as the general population to vote for President Obama, with exit polling showing 51% supporting the Democrats and 48% for the Republican ticket.[36] The Catholic majority for Obama was heavily dependent on Latino Catholics, who supported Obama 76-23%. Romney won among non-Hispanic white Catholics 56 to 43%. This contrasted with non-Hispanic white Protestants who favored Romney 69-29%. By comparison,[37] Obama won the 2008 election with 53% of the general vote, compared with 46% for Senator John McCain. Catholics voted for Obama 54 to 45%, with non-Hispanic white Catholics favoring McCain 52 to 47% and Latino Catholic favoring Obama 72 – 26%. Exit polls have shown a progressive drop in non-Hispanic white Catholics over each of the last four elections as a percentage of those who voted, though the overall percentage of Catholics among voters has held constant at 27%.
Obama's second term
Racial justice efforts
In August 2013, Catholic Democrats teamed up
2014 midterm elections
In 2014, Catholic Democrats conducted a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaign asking Catholic voters to consider the moral messages of Pope Francis, and his focus on poverty, as they were preparing to vote in the 2014 midterm elections. The organization produced radio advertisements featuring James Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Sheen. The radio ads were played on Pandora Internet radio in the states of Kentucky and New Hampshire. The radio ads were a part of Catholic Democrats' 2014 "Be Connected" campaign.[42] Pandora rated these advertisements as among the highest rated political ads for 2014 in terms of listener engagement.
2015 conference call
Catholic Democrats hosted a national conference call on the eve of Pope Francis's visit to the United States in September 2015, featuring Sr. Mary Johnson, SND, PhD, Distinguished Prof. of Sociology and Religious Studies at Trinity Washington University, and Fr. Tom Reese SJ, of the National Catholic Reporter. The group launched a prayer petition for the pope,[43] and President Steve Krueger represented the organization at the White House reception for Pope Francis.
2016 presidential election
In 2016 Catholic Democrats supported the candidacy of Secretary Hillary Clinton for president. Although she appears to have won the overall Catholic vote, according to a research center at Georgetown University,[44] she ended up losing the non-Hispanic white Catholic vote—which may have played a pivotal role in the loss of traditional Democratic Midwestern states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania that have large and older Catholic populations. Catholics tend to vote in higher numbers than the general population, which may have contributed to an outsized effect of the white Catholic preference for Donald Trump. Professor Thomas Groome of Boston College published an opinion piece in The New York Times[45] arguing that the Democrats need to reach out to people of faith on the abortion issue by championing their successful efforts to decrease abortions dramatically through the eight years of the Obama presidency. His essay inspired more than 2500 comments, and the Times published a Q&A with responses by Professor Groome and Steven Krueger, president of Catholic Democrats.[46]
During the Trump presidency
Further health care efforts
Because Catholic Democrats has long championed greater access to health care as a right advocated by Pope Francis and the Catholic
2017 special Senate election in Alabama
Responding to the child abuse allegations made against Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, Catholic Democrats undertook an advertising campaign appealing to Catholics in Alabama to respond forcefully to the lessons learned from the Catholic clergy abuse crisis, and to support Moore's opponent Democrat Doug Jones. On December 12, 2017, former US Attorney Doug Jones won an upset victory over Moore in the special election to fill the seat vacated by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. [citation needed]
2020 presidential election
In 2020, Catholic Democrats launched a campaign in support of Joe Biden after he won the Democratic nomination, publishing The Catholic Case for Joe Biden[48] and working with theologians around the country to infuse local and national Democratic election efforts with the spirit of the Catholic Social Justice Tradition. Catholic voters were evenly split between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, though Trump's backing by white Catholics dropped compared to 2016 from 64% to 57% -- and 67% of Latino Catholics voted for Biden.[49]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Catholic Democrats: About". www.catholicdemocrats.org.
- ^ "The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-08-19.
- ^ "Catholics for Obama Web site".
- ^ "Catholics for Obama: Catholic Questions and Answers on Abortion". www.catholicdemocrats.org.
- ^ "Catholics for Obama: The Catholic Case for Obama". www.catholicdemocrats.org.
- ^ Townsend, Patrick Whelan and Kathleen Kennedy (16 November 2008). "Catholic voters' shift". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- ^ a b "Countdown to Sunday: Notre Dame made right decision to invite Obama". Chicago Tribune. May 15, 2009. Archived from the original on May 18, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
- ^ "Notre Dame History Professor speaks at campus rally, praises hard work of students". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
- ^ "Author, panel debate controversial book about Notre Dame's Fr. Hesburgh". National Catholic Reporter. 2019-05-11. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
- ^ "Catholic Democrats: Petition to support Notre Dame Welcoming Obama". www.catholicdemocrats.org.
- ^ "Catholics For Notre Dame". Archived from the original on 2009-05-20.
- ^ "Catholic in America". YouTube. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ "Priests come to Obama's defense, Chicago Sun-Times, May 15, 2009". Archived from the original on 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
- ^ "'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Friday, May 15". msnbc.com. 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
- ^ "Pope and President". Archived from the original on 2009-09-03.
- ^ Whelan, Patrick; Kennedy Townsend, Kathleen (August 30, 2009). "Guided By His Faith". The Baltimore Sun.
- ^ "Sargent Shriver: Living the faith". 23 January 2011.
- ^ "Chicago priest, hired Barack Obama as organizer, dies at 70". 28 February 2011.
- S2CID 26409574.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-06. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-03. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "October 29, 2010 ~ Democrats and Faith Voters - October 29, 2010 - Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly - PBS". PBS. 29 October 2010.
- ^ http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/BishopsandPoverty.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/Dolanletter.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Contraception Proposal, Feb 13 2012". C-SPAN.org.
- ^ "Archives - Philly.com". articles.philly.com.
- ^ "Archives - Philly.com". articles.philly.com.
- ^ "The Marietta Daily Journal - Bill Press Catholic bishops silent on issues affecting poor". Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
- ^ Krueger, Steven A. (28 August 2012). "Cardinal Dolan Should Keep His Distance From Tampa and Charlotte". HuffPost.
- ^ "Catholic Democrats Calls on Mitt Romney and Running Mate Paul Ryan to Justify the Indefensible Romney/Ryan Social Darwinist Budget". Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
- ^ "Catholic Academics Challenge Boehner". 11 May 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Paul Ryan's Catholicism—UPDATED". 11 August 2012.
- ^ http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/cfo/au.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Townsend, Patrick Whelan and Kathleen Kennedy. "Health security is national security".
- ^ "How the Faithful Voted: 2012 Preliminary Analysis". 7 November 2012.
- ^ "How the Faithful Voted". 5 November 2008.
- ^ paxchristiusa (29 August 2013). "PRESS RELEASE: Catholics call for national conversation on racial justice".
- ^ "Catholic News Herald - Catholic News Herald". catholicnewsherald.com. 16 January 2019.
- ^ "Remembering the March on Washington and M.L.K.'s 'Dream'". 10 September 2013.
- ^ "Panel: Catholics must make better connections between militarism, racism, poverty". 28 August 2013.
- ^ "2014 Midterm Voting Pledge & Radio Ads - Pope Francis - Catholic Democrats". Be Connected 2014.
- ^ "Welcome & Pray for Pope Francis - Catholic Social Justice Tradition". Honor the Pope is a project of Catholic Democrats.
- ^ "New data suggest Clinton, not Trump, won Catholic vote". 6 April 2017.
- ^ Groome, Thomas (27 March 2017). "To Win Again, Democrats Must Stop Being the Abortion Party". The New York Times.
- ^ Groome, Thomas; Krueger, Steven A. (11 April 2017). "Q&A: How Democrats Can Stop Being Perceived as the Abortion Party". The New York Times.
- ^ "ACTION ALERT: Ryan-Trump Health Care Act vote is TODAY! Call Congress NOW and protect the vulnerable". campaign.r20.constantcontact.com.
- ^ Whelan, Patrick (15 September 2020). "The Catholic Case for Joe Biden". Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
- ^ Grzeszczak, Jocelyn (7 November 2020). "Catholics helped elect Joe Biden as more voters shrugged off abortion issues, hostile clergy". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2020-11-07. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
External links
- Catholic Democrats
- Origins of the Catholic Democrats[permanent dead link]
- Faith-related events at the 2008 Democratic Convention[permanent dead link]
- Activities around 2008 Republican Convention[permanent dead link]
- On the relationship between Catholicism and community organizing
- Catholic voters' shift: Why the flock disregarded some bishops' advice and helped sweep Barack Obama into office, Baltimore Sun, Patrick Whelan and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, November 16, 2008
- Catholics for Obama
- Catholic Democrats Statement of Support for Notre Dame
- Catholics for Notre Dame
- Catholic in America video
- "Pope Greets Hope"
- Now is the time to pass health care
- A Catholic Pledge to America