Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The real question is... does he think they should have fired Weis?

If you're a veteran of Catholic schools or a Catholic university then you know that nothing sets off the campus quite like a pro-choicer coming to campus to talk. So when it was reviled the President Obama was going to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame this spring it was only a matter of time before this turned into a Holy War.

The Right to Lifers are out in full force, stomping their feet, and talking to anyone in the press that will listen. They're ready to protest. They're ready to denounce Obama. Oh the fun.

Of course this is a case of the minority being really freaking loud. Catholics it turns out are to the left of the nation. This shouldn't be shocking considering the emphasis that the Church places on social justice (don't tell Richard Dawkins of course... because they he wouldn't contined to put his foot in his mouth). While Catholics have somewhat trended towards the GOP in the last twenty years or so, Catholics have been strongly Democratic voters throughout much of their history here in the U.S.A.

Why don't we hear about the non-blue-in-the-face-pro-life-Catholics? Because they aren't the minority--most Catholics don't vote on abortion or the death penalty or gay marriage--those issues are considered but how a 'good' Catholic should vote is for Div students to discuss over a pitcher of beer.

So what does this have to do with policy? Over all not much. There has only been one Catholic President (JFK) but Catholics who for so long were on the outside looking in when it came to the American economic, educational, and political system have become a powerful force in Washington and across the country (for example, five of the nine Supreme Court Justices are Roman Catholic).

But as they've become more and more important in the American political system, the Catholic vote has fragmented. It is no longer strongly Democratic (though Obama won Catholics by a large margin in November). And what that means is that the financially supported, well organized groups with in the Catholic community will be the most vocal and attempt to speak for the population as a whole (unofficially of course). Considering the far left of the Catholic Church in America live on in kind donations within the poor communities of America, the right wing of the Church will always be more vocal in American.

So this 'controversy' is much to do about nothing within the Church itself. Most Catholics (myself included) feel that it's some what hypocritical to have the pro-life groups protest Obama because of his views on abortion, but not W. over his views on capital punishment and the Iraq War.

But for the Catholic Pro-Life Movement in America, two wrongs do make a right.

1 comment:

Emily said...

Interested in the Gallup link about Catholics being to the left of non-Catholics.

Check out those numbers on churchgoing Catholics vs. churchgoing non-Catholics:
53% vs. 30% accepting pre-marital sex.
48% vs. 29% accepting of babies outside marriage.
44% vs. 21% accepting of homosexual relations.


BUT, there's just a point or two of difference between non-churchgoing Catholics and non-Catholics.

Could it be that Catholics just have a lower "dropout rate?" Maybe a portion of socially liberal, more casually religious Catholics keep attending mass with their families, while their Protestant equivalents sleep in.