St. Pete Times "Sorting through the Catholic Vote"

[DemBones DemBones]

This fine article, published October 16, 2004, looks at differences between what it calls "traditional Catholics" and "liberal Catholics." I'd quibble a bit with that distinction and probably would have said straight out "Bush* Catholics" and "Kerry Catholics" because I think that is the real difference here. I am proud to say that I'm a Kerry Catholic, and irritated with Bush Catholics in general and most of the media in particular, plus a few American bishops.

Some Bush Catholics are making a lot of noise about abortion this year, trying to pressure all Catholics into voting against a fellow Catholic who personally opposes abortion but professionally recognizes Roe v. Wade. It's a confusing issue, but the right wingers are exploiting the confusion rather than addressing the issues. I salute St. Pete Times staff writer Sharon Tubbs for her efforts to explain what Kerry Catholics are saying in response to the statements Bush Catholics are making.

Here are a few of the paragraphs I'd underline if I sent this to some Bush Catholics I know:


The Catholic Voting Project and other liberal groups speak of themes raised by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In September 2003, the bishops released "Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility," a party-neutral document that touches on dozens of topics for Catholics to think about. The range stretches from the predictable - abortion and euthanasia - to relatively obscure issues such as "anti-personnel land mines" and "food security for all."

"A Catholic moral framework does not easily fit the ideologies of "right' or "left,' nor the platforms of any party," the document reads.

<snip>

Catholics studying the bishops' document would have a hard time deciding who should be president. For instance, President Bush agrees with the bishops on some traditionally conservative issues, including abortion and euthanasia. Yet, his reputation for quick executions as governor of Texas goes against their opposition to the death penalty. Also, the bishops want America to sign a treaty that bans certain land mines. Bush did not sign the treaty. Kerry, however, co-sponsored a land mine elimination act in 2001.

At www.votingcatholic.org Korzen's group separates the issues in "Faithful Citizen," giving the bishops' stances on each and summaries of the Bush and Kerry positions side-by-side. The site also features an interactive quiz, so people can see how their views line up with the bishops and the candidates.

A Catholic advocacy group, Pax Christi USA, launched a "Life does not end at birth" campaign, emphasizing that there are other quality-of-life issues besides abortion. The organization ran full-page ads in newspapers across the country and distributed 1-million leaflets.


I highly recommend VotingCatholic.org to anyone, Catholic or not, who is interested in social issues. It has a lot of good information, including a down loadable voting guide you can print, which is new this week.

[burrowowl]

1. KICK!