Posted on 11/16/2004 3:41:58 AM PST by tcg
Post Election Reflections of a Catholic Activist
By Keith A. Fournier Citizen Activist (c)Third Millennium, LLC
Catholics had a true effect on the election and may be poised as a new force for change. ____________________________________________________
First, allow me to make all of the necessary disclaimers. I am writing this article on my own. I am not writing it as a part of any group. I am not writing it officially as a Deacon of my Church. I am not writing it as a member of any political party. Nor am I writing it as a leader or participant in any group or any business concern with which I am affiliated.
I am expressing the opinions of former a “kid from Dorchester, Massachusetts”, soon to turn fifty years old, living in Virginia. I am writing it as man with no real political home, uncomfortable as a Republican yet unable to be a Democrat. I was raised in a blue collar, Irish, French, Catholic and Democratic family, believing that that once great Party championed the poor. That belief has formed me at a foundational level that, to this day, still leads me as I seek to fully participate in the culture on every front, including my own political participation. I have written extensively on this subject.
Over many years, as a convinced and faithful Catholic, I have been an activist for the causes that I know lay at the heart of building a truly just society and serving the common good. I have grouped those causes around what I have called four pillars of participation, life, family, freedom and solidarity with the poor. I have participated in numerous efforts to help my fellow Catholics inform their social participation in accordance with their faith and to take the wonderful social teaching of the Catholic Church into the public arena. That “Social teaching” is not simply for religious people. It is neither liberal nor conservative, right nor left, Democrat nor Republican. It is a treasure, meant for all persons, hidden in a field for too long.
I have been frustrated by my fellow American Catholics and their voting patterns. Though, I understand them well. Our place has not been clear in either major political party for quite some time. We believe that that there is a “hierarchy” of values which must inform our participation. For example, without the right to life, there are no other rights. Without the freedom to be born, there are no other freedoms. Yet, we also know that economic justice and concern for the poor are foundational to a truly just society, one that really serves the common good.
We are not “anti-government”, rather we want to participate in building a model of governance that respects both our obligations in solidarity (we are “our brothers’ keeper”) and the application of the principle of subsidiarity that stands for the truth that governing is best accomplished when it is closest to those being governed. We have real concerns about the just nature of any war and, most of us, though profoundly and deeply patriotic, are very hesitant about the notion of “pre-emption” or “prevention” in justifying war. I could go on, but it is not really the point of this article, just meant to form a framework for what is to come.
Increasingly, we Catholics have felt like a group with no real home in either major party. Yet, we are hesitant about helping to launch a “third party”, concerned about marginalizing our ability to truly effect much needed change. I have seriously considered helping to form such a party, one that truly hears the cry of the poor, at every age and stage in life, affirms marriage and the family founded upon it as the first vital cell of any just society, respects authentic freedom, including religious freedom, as a fundamental human right and aims to serve the Common Good. That consideration still captures my politically restless heart.
Yet, there is no doubt that the atmosphere has changed in our beloved country and we who are Catholic have an opportunity to effect true and lasting change, in both major parties and beyond.
Finally, we are deeply worried about a rise in anti-Catholicism. There is a growing anti-Catholic sentiment in this Nation we love. We are witnessing a new “No-Name” movement at work in this land. The “No-Name” party was an anti-Catholic nativist party that once harassed our forbears. Something is clearly afoot when faithful Catholics are told, literally and figuratively they “need not apply” for positions of public service, such as sitting on the judicial bench.
Yet, for the most part, statistics have shown that we have voted mostly along party lines. Catholics who were Republicans, voted Republican and Catholics who were Democrats, voted Democratic. However, an increasing number of Catholics have tried to vote in accordance with a real effort to apply the hierarchy of values which our Church proposes. There is no doubt that our concern for our first neighbors in the first home of the whole human race, children in the womb, has been the first among many priorities because they have no way of raising their own voice. They are, as our beloved Teresa of Calcutta reminded the whole political establishment, the “poorest of the poor.”
Well, something of historic magnitude happened in this last election cycle. It may prove to be a defining moment in American political history. At least I hope so. As the prognosticators and pundits seek to parse the statistics from this last election, very few are “getting it”, or even making the vital connection. Catholics finally began to unite as Catholics, not first as Republicans or Democrats. They put solidarity with their faith, their Church and the great values informed by their faith such as a respect for life, defending marriage, authentic human freedom … ahead of party affiliation or ideology. These energized, increasingly active Catholics may form the nucleus of a tectonic plate shift that will affect both major parties and the future of American politics.
It is extraordinary for example that 17 % of Catholics who are Democrats in my home State of Massachusetts, did not vote their party at the top of the ticket. Other States such as Ohio, where I lived for 17 years, tell a similar story. There is a strong move afoot, one which I most definitely support, within that party, to take it back for the unborn, the elderly, working men and women and all those who once formed its strong backbone. That will involve wresting it from the hands of a few who have held it in a strong grip. But those hands grow tired as they reel from the sting of loss.
I am not saying that this shift portends a move toward the other major party by Catholics, though some have moved that way. Rather, I am saying that the “lock” has been opened and change is in the “Catholic air”. A very potent force has been unleashed in American Politics. Though I have long opined that there is no “Catholic vote”, I have also sought, with all my heart, to join with others and help to form one, around the pillars of a truly just society, life, family, freedom and solidarity with the poor and needy.
I will be fifty in two weeks.
Maybe the time has finally come. ________________________________________________________ Keith A. Fournier is a human rights lawyer, writer and policy activist.
By Keith A. Fournier Citizen Activist (c)Third Millennium, LLC
Catholics had a true effect on the election and may be poised as a new force for change. ____________________________________________________
First, allow me to make all of the necessary disclaimers. I am writing this article on my own. I am not writing it as a part of any group. I am not writing it officially as a Deacon of my Church. I am not writing it as a member of any political party. Nor am I writing it as a leader or participant in any group or any business concern with which I am affiliated.
I am expressing the opinions of former a “kid from Dorchester, Massachusetts”, soon to turn fifty years old, living in Virginia. I am writing it as man with no real political home, uncomfortable as a Republican yet unable to be a Democrat. I was raised in a blue collar, Irish, French, Catholic and Democratic family, believing that that once great Party championed the poor. That belief has formed me at a foundational level that, to this day, still leads me as I seek to fully participate in the culture on every front, including my own political participation. I have written extensively on this subject.
Over many years, as a convinced and faithful Catholic, I have been an activist for the causes that I know lay at the heart of building a truly just society and serving the common good. I have grouped those causes around what I have called four pillars of participation, life, family, freedom and solidarity with the poor. I have participated in numerous efforts to help my fellow Catholics inform their social participation in accordance with their faith and to take the wonderful social teaching of the Catholic Church into the public arena. That “Social teaching” is not simply for religious people. It is neither liberal nor conservative, right nor left, Democrat nor Republican. It is a treasure, meant for all persons, hidden in a field for too long.
I have been frustrated by my fellow American Catholics and their voting patterns. Though, I understand them well. Our place has not been clear in either major political party for quite some time. We believe that that there is a “hierarchy” of values which must inform our participation. For example, without the right to life, there are no other rights. Without the freedom to be born, there are no other freedoms. Yet, we also know that economic justice and concern for the poor are foundational to a truly just society, one that really serves the common good.
We are not “anti-government”, rather we want to participate in building a model of governance that respects both our obligations in solidarity (we are “our brothers’ keeper”) and the application of the principle of subsidiarity that stands for the truth that governing is best accomplished when it is closest to those being governed. We have real concerns about the just nature of any war and, most of us, though profoundly and deeply patriotic, are very hesitant about the notion of “pre-emption” or “prevention” in justifying war. I could go on, but it is not really the point of this article, just meant to form a framework for what is to come.
Increasingly, we Catholics have felt like a group with no real home in either major party. Yet, we are hesitant about helping to launch a “third party”, concerned about marginalizing our ability to truly effect much needed change. I have seriously considered helping to form such a party, one that truly hears the cry of the poor, at every age and stage in life, affirms marriage and the family founded upon it as the first vital cell of any just society, respects authentic freedom, including religious freedom, as a fundamental human right and aims to serve the Common Good. That consideration still captures my politically restless heart.
Yet, there is no doubt that the atmosphere has changed in our beloved country and we who are Catholic have an opportunity to effect true and lasting change, in both major parties and beyond.
Finally, we are deeply worried about a rise in anti-Catholicism. There is a growing anti-Catholic sentiment in this Nation we love. We are witnessing a new “No-Name” movement at work in this land. The “No-Name” party was an anti-Catholic nativist party that once harassed our forbears. Something is clearly afoot when faithful Catholics are told, literally and figuratively they “need not apply” for positions of public service, such as sitting on the judicial bench.
Yet, for the most part, statistics have shown that we have voted mostly along party lines. Catholics who were Republicans, voted Republican and Catholics who were Democrats, voted Democratic. However, an increasing number of Catholics have tried to vote in accordance with a real effort to apply the hierarchy of values which our Church proposes. There is no doubt that our concern for our first neighbors in the first home of the whole human race, children in the womb, has been the first among many priorities because they have no way of raising their own voice. They are, as our beloved Teresa of Calcutta reminded the whole political establishment, the “poorest of the poor.”
Well, something of historic magnitude happened in this last election cycle. It may prove to be a defining moment in American political history. At least I hope so. As the prognosticators and pundits seek to parse the statistics from this last election, very few are “getting it”, or even making the vital connection. Catholics finally began to unite as Catholics, not first as Republicans or Democrats. They put solidarity with their faith, their Church and the great values informed by their faith such as a respect for life, defending marriage, authentic human freedom … ahead of party affiliation or ideology. These energized, increasingly active Catholics may form the nucleus of a tectonic plate shift that will affect both major parties and the future of American politics.
It is extraordinary for example that 17 % of Catholics who are Democrats in my home State of Massachusetts, did not vote their party at the top of the ticket. Other States such as Ohio, where I lived for 17 years, tell a similar story. There is a strong move afoot, one which I most definitely support, within that party, to take it back for the unborn, the elderly, working men and women and all those who once formed its strong backbone. That will involve wresting it from the hands of a few who have held it in a strong grip. But those hands grow tired as they reel from the sting of loss.
I am not saying that this shift portends a move toward the other major party by Catholics, though some have moved that way. Rather, I am saying that the “lock” has been opened and change is in the “Catholic air”. A very potent force has been unleashed in American Politics. Though I have long opined that there is no “Catholic vote”, I have also sought, with all my heart, to join with others and help to form one, around the pillars of a truly just society, life, family, freedom and solidarity with the poor and needy.
I will be fifty in two weeks.
Maybe the time has finally come. ________________________________________________________ Keith A. Fournier is a human rights lawyer, writer and policy activist.
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