Detroit Free Press: How nuns have become soldiers in the battle for the White House

[marmar]

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer


Their black-and-white habits stood out in the backdrop of faces seated behind Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan when the Republican presidential ticket campaigned in suburban Detroit recently. The three Catholic nuns, members of an Ann Arbor-based conservative congregation, could be seen on video applauding Romney.

It was a Catholic nun in modern dress who roused Democratic National Convention delegates Wednesday, describing the struggling Americans she encountered during a Nuns on the Bus tour that opposed GOP plans to cut federal aid to poor people. Sister Simone Campbell, who leads the Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK, defended President Barack Obama's health care plan, too.

As the Nov. 6 election looms, these nuns have come to represent the divide among American Catholics, both in the pews and in the voting booth. Both Obama and Romney are battling for the Catholic vote, a crucial slice of the electorate that represents about 1 out of 4 voters nationwide.

"The Obama campaign is going after Catholics who love nuns, who are social justice Catholics, who are concerned about the poor," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Georgetown University Jesuit priest and Catholic commentator, referring to Campbell's appearance. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20120909/NEWS15/309090102/How-nuns-have-become-soldiers-in-the-battle-for-the-White-House?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[etherealtruth]

1. This is actually very representative of the Catholic Church ...

... I grew up in. I haven't practiced Catholocism is 30 years, but i credit (my parents) and the Catholic church for instilling a very strong belief in social justice.

[ananda]

2. Same here.

I like to think well of the good in every religion.