Sophoan Sorn

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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. In 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” including that “[s]ignificantly more progress was made throughout the Clinton administration than during any of the 3 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 this kind of as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that have not been proved to have stopped even a single abortion, the Democrats oversaw meaningful reductions,” based on 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 may well be made illegal if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned someday,” they write. The real “heart of some with the bishops’ concerns” was that they “wanted the Republican to win,” they continue, incorporating, “But Catholics care about many issues: torture, war and peace, wellness care, immigration — as effectively as how to be a good neighbor, how to care for your least among us and how best to work for the common good.” They continue, “We hope that within the training 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 well being care and otherwise helping Americans in need.” Reilly says that although “[l]eft-leaning academics are nothing new towards 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 that bishops and the Vatican, capitulation to the ‘Sexual Revolution,’ and imitation of elite universities and their glorification of academic flexibility and cafeteria-style curricula produce graduates from Catholic colleges that are far less committed to the ethical, 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 within 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 all 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 legal rights (washingtonpost.com, 11/16).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. It is possible to look at the entire Everyday Women’s Health Coverage Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Everyday Women’s Well being Coverage Report is really a cost-free support with the Nationwide Partnership for Ladies & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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