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Will the Church Split Along Red and Blue Lines? by Deal W. Hudson 10/09/08 An Obama victory on November 4 is far from certain, but the momentum behind his campaign prompts me to wonder: What impact could an Obama administration have on the Catholic Church? The Bush victories in 2000 and 2004 brought a flood of commentary on the so-called red and blue states. If Obama wins in 2008, I would not be surprised to see the emergence of a similar division among Catholics. Many will finally realize, and admit to, the power of the political Left in their Church....

By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News wslater@dallasnews.com AUSTIN – In a significant shift in party support from four years ago, monthly churchgoers are backing Democrat Barack Obama in this year’s presidential race, according to a new poll. Mr. Obama, who has tried to tap faith-based voters, has the support 60 percent of Americans who attend religious services once or twice a month, according to the survey for the nonpartisan group Faith in Public Life. Also Online Evangelical right slow to support McCain Democrat John Kerry lost that group in 2004. At the same time, Mr. Obama has made...

Please take the time to check Prof. Kmiec's website and respond to him at the address at the bottom of the post if you desire. I ask that you keep your correspondence polite and reasoned... If I receive a response I will post it.Prof. Kmiec, I could not help but send you a message concerning your support of Senator Obama's "Pro-Life" stance. I assure you I have no desire to attack you for your stance; I just want to understand something more of your motives. What I seek is further clarification of exactly what pro-life means, in your opinion. I...

Don Wheatley is standing outside an abortion clinic in Hartford, his rosary beads trailing through his 73-year-old fingers, talking about why he supports John McCain for president. Part of the reason, he says, is the presence of pro-life candidate Sarah Palin on the ticket. Wheatley is Catholic, and avidly pro-life; he comes out here to pray for an end to abortion every week, he says. But it's more complicated than that, of course. There's also his late wife, Lana Sue. Wheatley begins to talk about Lana Sue, and his focus seems to drift away slowly, until his voice falters, and...

As the Roman Catholic Church observes its annual “respect life” Sunday in this heated presidential election season, the unusually pitched competition for Catholic voters is setting off a round of skirmishes over how to apply the church’s teachings not only on abortion but also on the war in Iraq, immigration and racism. ... “Being ‘right’ on taxes, education, health care, immigration and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life,” the bishop wrote. “It is a tragic irony that ‘pro-choice’ candidates have come to support homicide — the gravest injustice a...

As the Roman Catholic Church observes its annual “respect life” Sunday in this heated presidential election season, the unusually pitched competition for Catholic voters is setting off a round of skirmishes over how to apply the church’s teachings not only on abortion but also on the war in Iraq, immigration and racism. ... The escalating efforts by more-liberal Catholics are provoking a vigorous backlash from some bishops and the right. In Scranton, Pa., every Catholic attending Mass this weekend will hear a special homily about the election next month: Bishop Joseph Martino has ordered every priest in the diocese to...

A Humble Plea

US Bishop Clarifies Reasoning of Pro-life Ballot SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, OCT. 3, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Issues beside abortion should be taken into account when voting, but should not be given the same relevance unless they carry the same level of moral gravity, says the bishop of Scranton. In a letter to be read at all Masses this weekend in the diocese, Bishop Joseph Martino considers the argument: "As wrong as abortion is, I don't think it is the only relevant 'life' issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote." The prelate clarifies: "This reasoning is sound only if...

It is impossible for me to answer all of the objections to the Church’s teaching on life that we hear every day in the media. Nevertheless, let me address a few. To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others. With regard to the first, reason and science have answered the question. The...

-SNIP-Those who accuse presidential aspirant Sen. Barack Obama of empty rhetoric must have missed his speech last July, recently made public, to the benefactors of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. At that festive event, he was as sharp and specific as a scalpel. "The first thing I'd do as president," he told a cheering audience, "is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." The audience cheered enthusiastically. And well they might. As NARAL enthuses on its website, this act would "codify Roe v. Wade's protections and guarantee the right to choose for future generations...

In this third and final article in our series, we go in search of the likely practical consequences of an Obama and a McCain presidency. With regard to the protection of the lives of unborn children, who can really lay claim to the title of the most trustworthy “Lifesaver” of the unborn? Catholic Obama supporters like Doug Kmiec contend that their man, although stridently in favor of a woman’s "right" to have an abortion, would do no worse than McCain in this regard, and probably even better. Let’s examine their main arguments...

Video at link

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America Because John Mashek is apparently so utterly unfamiliar with it, I'm setting out the text of the First Amendment for his ease of reference. According to his column in U.S. News, the Roman Catholic bishop of Scranton, PA violates the First Amendment by...

Doug is being used by the supporters of Barrack Obama, a candidate who I labeled in my last article as an “Abortion Hawk” because of his unrelenting support of the undeclared war on the occupants of the once safe first home of the whole human race (the womb), precisely to make a theological, philosophical and allegedly “moral” argument for voting for Obama. Doug is the intelligent “Catholic scholar” they hope will help them to win more Catholics to the Obama candidacy. They have a serious “Catholic problem” because their candidate has absolutely promised to sign the so called “Freedom of...

SCRANTON, Pa. — Until recently, Matthew Figured, a Sunday school teacher at the Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church here, could not decide which candidate to vote for in the presidential election. He had watched progressive Catholics work with the Democratic Party over the last four years to remind the faithful of the party’s support for Catholic teaching on the Iraq war, immigration, health care and even reducing abortion rates. But then his local bishop plunged into the fray, barring Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, from receiving communion in the area because of his support...

The case for Barack Obama made by his Catholic supporters usually begins with the attempt to dispute Sen. McCain's Pro-Life credentials. Next, they hunt for an "intrinsic evil" supported by McCain that could count as "proportionate" to Obama's strong support for abortion rights, thus at least balancing the moral scales between the two, and making a vote for Obama morally permissible.Let's walk through these arguments one at a time, and see if they stand up to close scrutiny....

You can see the video version of the Voters Guide for Serious Catholics from Catholic Answers Actions at YouTube. Video at link

http://www.catholicvote.com/

According to the mid-summer polls, Americans are primarily concerned about the U.S. economy as the country enters the last lap of the 2008 election cycle. No visitor to the gas pumps, and no investor, can doubt why. Yet we also live in a globalized world in which the tectonic plates that shape international politics are shifting, often dangerously. What does a Catholic optic on world politics suggest about these circumstances? What questions might thoughtful Catholic voters put to the principal presidential candidates about U.S. foreign policy? Some suggestions follow; Iraq will be addressed in a separate column.

Can anyone doubt that for those who understand the Church’s Social Teaching (and not many U.S. Catholics did at the time) the morally right thing to do was to choose the lesser of evils and vote for Lincoln? Can anyone doubt that a Douglas victory would have resulted in the continuation and probable extension of the evil institution of slavery on the American continent for at least another generation? This election was a turning point in American history. But what would you say if there were sincere, well intended people at the time who argued: “Look, like it or not...

A must view!! Enjoy http://www.catholicvote.com/

Lynchburg, VA (LifeNews.com) -- For the new Barack Obama "faith tour" to have any success, it needs to be able to draw young and evangelical voters. Yet, at its first stop in the Virginia back yard of well-known pastor Jerry Falwell, just 15 people showed up for the event.The Obama campaign has signed up evangelical author Donald Miller, Pepperdine University professor Doug Kmiec and former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer, for the "Barack Obama: Faith, Family and Values Tour."The trio made a stop at Liberty University, which is home to over 10,000 evangelical students from across the county and a...

In a prior post, I asked readers to guess the one Catholic ever named to a national Republican ticket. The answer was William Miller, running mate to the great Barry Goldwater in the 1964 race.   Here's another political trivia question with a religious link. Name the contender in this year's race who is technically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.ANSWER: According to the website of the Global Catholic Network the answer seems to be Palin. The site states that "once a person willingly repudiates Christ, embraces a heresy, knowing it to be contrary to divine and Catholic faith, or refuses submission...

The pro-life group Knights of Columbus is running newspaper ads in several leading paper saying Obama running mate Joe Biden is out of step with the Catholic Church on abortion. Biden, who is Catholic, has a long pro-abortion voting record and came under fire for some recent statements. In a recent interview, Biden said he personally believes that human life begins at conception but wouldn't make public policy protecting unborn children from abortion based on those views. Several Catholic bishops corrected Biden saying he misrepresented Church teaching. The ads will run in such leading newspapers as USA Today, the Washington...

Pew Research Center and backup polls report that devout Roman Catholics have found a friend in Sarah Palin. What is not known to many is that Sarah Palin was as an infant baptized Roman Catholic. Then her parents turned to Pentecostalism, specifically the Assembly of God. Consequently, she was reared in evangelical Protestantism. What evangelicals and devout Catholics have in common is high regard for the Bible as divine revelation, believing Christ as Savior God, and the biblical moral base. They both also hold that each human being is accountable to the God of the Bible at the Judgment Seat...

Observant Catholics are returning to the Republican fold now that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has joined the GOP ticket - a shift that looks to be more enduring than a postconvention bounce. If the trend sticks, it will mark a partial setback for Democrats and the Obama campaign, who have vied vigorously for the pivotal votes of Roman Catholics. Before the national political conventions, presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain were about splitting the votes of white Catholics who attend church weekly. That was a weak showing for the GOP's Senator McCain; in 2004, President Bush carried this group...

Joe Biden racks up two more entities he's affronted: the Knights of Columbus and the state of Ohio. As to the former, they send him this letter objecting to his comments on Church abortion doctrine. As to the latter, he's insulted Ohio State's Buckeyes football team which is akin (or worse than) calling the Green Bay Packers' home turf "Lombard Field." Isn't he living proof that time spent in the Senate has no relationship to common sense, street smarts, or the ability to stay out of trouble? If you were trying to disprove the notion that wisdom comes from experience,...

For months, a prominent theme in the mainstream press was Senator John McCain’s alleged difficulty attracting evangelical support. After years of watching helplessly as conservative Christians handed political victories to conservative candidates, Big Media thought it had discovered a new type of evangelical voter, one for whom “fetus fatigue” had set in. This new type of believer, we were told, was tired of debates over abortion and marriage and wanted instead to discuss issues like AIDS and universal health care. But as quickly as this narrative was picked up by the media, it has been abandoned -- and for good...

On Wednesday I received a personal copy of my friend Doug Kmiec’s latest book entitled “Can a Catholic Support Him?” The book is subtitled “Asking the Big Question about Barrack Obama”. I appreciate being mentioned in his Acknowledgement of the book with these words “Deacon Keith Fournier’s writing and editing of Catholic Online is courageous and wise”. So, I write this review to be faithful, to a friendship I value, to the claim in the acknowledgment of this book and to the truth. Doug asks the wrong question. The proper question is not “can” but “should”. The word “can” addresses...

John C. Green, the University of Akron political scientist who is the nation's most prominent scholar of how religious affiliation affects voting behavior, is just releasing new survey data showing that, even before John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, Barack Obama was failing to move evangelicals into his camp. Green, releasing initial results of his quadrennial survey of religion and politics at the annual convention of the Religion Newswriters Association, said the most surprising result of his survey was how little had changed since 2004. "The divisions based on religious affiliation are very deep-seated in the United...

September 19, 2008 Dear Senator Biden: I write to you today as a fellow Catholic layman, on a subject that has become a major topic of concern in this year's presidential campaign. The bishops who have taken public issue with your remarks on the Church's historical position on abortion are far from alone. Senator Obama stressed your Catholic identity repeatedly when he introduced you as his running mate, and so your statements carry considerable weight, whether they are correct or not. You now have a unique responsibility when you make public statements about Catholic teaching. On NBC's Meet the...

For the second time in two weeks, a Catholic leader is criticizing Joe Biden for his comments on abortion and the way it is viewed in the Catholic Church. The head of the Knights of Columbus, writing on behalf of the organization’s 1.28 million members and their families, published an “open letter” to Barack Obama’s running mate Friday on the group’s Web site, criticizing Biden for remarks he made Sept. 7 on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The following open letter from the head of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson, to Senator Joseph Biden was published in major newspapers on Friday, September 19, 2008, including USA Today, the Washington Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN Dear Senator Biden: I write to you today as a fellow Catholic layman, on a subject that has become a major topic of concern in this year's presidential campaign. The bishops who have taken public issue with your remarks on the Church's historical position on abortion are far...

This is an excellent, powerful pro-life, pro-faith video directed at Catholic voters. I think non-Catholics of faith will also be interested in it.

More, as promised, on Senator Joe Biden (why should Sarah Palin get all the coverage?). Remember, you read it here first: on September 11 this blog reported a mounting backlash from Catholic bishops against Biden, Barack Obama's "Catholic" pro-abortion running mate. At that time I estimated eight bishops had come out to denounce Biden; the total is now 55. Beyond that, Biden is being trashed across every state of the Union by Catholic newspapers, TV and radio stations, and blogs. It is a tsunami of rejection. Joe Biden has really put his foot in it with the Catholics The story...

The McCain-Palin ticket may be locking its huge lead on a crucial voting bloc: church-going Catholics. The development — contained Thursday in a poll by the Pew Research Center and backed by other polls — could be crucial to victory in November. Why? Catholics are the ultimate swing voters and make up as much as one-third the population of battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Moreover, some 40 percent of U.S. Catholics have no affiliation with either party. Republican presidential candidate John McCain now has opened a 16-percentage-point lead over Democratic rival Barack Obama among observant Catholics, according to...

The Duplicity of Catholics United Posted on September 18, 2008, 7:48 AM | Deal W. Hudson Catholics United is running a TV ad in a few small markets arguing John McCain is not really pro-life because he failed to vote for an expansion of government-funded health care (SCHIP). When I saw this story, I thought of the word "duplicity " -- "a contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action." Catholics United pretends to care about the pro-life issue but fails to criticize, or even mention, the abortion extremism of Barack Obama. Obama's position on the life issue has already been...

September 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a Radio Vatican interview yesterday, Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, a US based faith and culture magazine, stated that despite the rickety economy, Americans consider the "culture of life issues" to "cut the deepest" when it comes to voting considerations. A former Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest, Father Neuhaus, 72, has been referenced congenially by President George Bush, who explained that Father Richard "helps me to articulate these [religious] things".Father Neuhaus stated that life issues are considered to be of "paramount importance" not only by Catholic voters, but also by...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Catholic attorney Douglas Kmiec, who claims to be pro-life, is continuing his defense of presidential candidate Barack Obama's pro-abortion position. In a new piece, Kmiec says he would have voted for a bill to protect newborns who survive botched abortions, but he can understand why Obama didn't. The debate comes on the heels of a new television ad running in battleground states that features a woman who survived a late-term abortion criticizing Obama for opposing the bill for medical care for infants who survive like her. In the article, Kmiec says he would have voted for...

Could a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports legalized abortion when there is a choice of another candidate who does not support abortion or any other intrinsically evil policy? Could a voter’s preference for the candidate’s positions on the pursuit of peace, economic policies benefiting the poor, support for universal health care, a more just immigration policy, etc. overcome a candidate’s support for legalized abortion? In such a case, the Catholic voter must ask and answer the question: What could possibly be a proportionate reason for the more than 45 million children killed by abortion in...

For my Friends, Family and Clergy, Our political party system gives the voting public a political voice and a means to implement its priorities in self-governance. The power of the political party comes from the individuals they attract: the greater the numbers, the greater the power. When we choose our party affiliation, we add our voice to the party message, give our assent to their agenda and add to their power. The party platform, then, becomes the common mission of each party member. When was the last time we actually read our political party platform to see what our party...

Washington, DC -- A so-called Catholic group that supports Barack Obama is running a new television ad in battleground states claiming Sen. John McCain is not pro-life on abortion. The ad doesn't mention any abortion-related votes but claims McCain voted against supporting pregnant women and supports troops in Iraq.

BOSTON -- America's Catholic bishops have a few thoughts on politics, and this year they want to share them directly with the candidates. For the first time in recent memory, leaders of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops have invited the two presidential candidates to meet with them before the election. Neither Republican John McCain nor Democrat Barack Obama have replied to the invitations offered last month, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the conference.A spokeswoman for the McCain campaign said the senator wants to accept, but does not yet know if such a meeting will fit into his...

The second major explanation for Clinton’s Catholic success versus Obama is Obama’s alleged elitism. During the primaries, numerous political commentators compared Obama to John Kerry, whose apparent timidity in the face of scurrilous attacks, fluency in French and taste for wind surfing marked him as a snotty wimp to some voters in the presidential campaign of 2004. Worse, perhaps, many political observers compared Obama to the alleged father of recent Democratic snobbery, Adlai Stevenson. Obama was thus seen in some quarters during the primary season, and still is seen among many, as distant, aloof, unconcerned, consumed by his own moral...

On September 11th and 12th, a group of leaders of national Catholic organizations, missions, ministries, apostolates and institutions gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina for prayer, networking, strategic planning, informational and formative talks and panel discussions. The group, called “The Catholic leadership Conference”, was begun in 1998. Its stated mission “is to encourage cooperation and collaboration among national Catholic lay apostolates while providing venues for those leaders to exchange ideas, strengthen personal relationships and take unified action as desired.” The CLC is composed of the heads of national Catholic organizations and “other known Catholics who are in a position of influence...

Here is an outstanding video put together by CatholicVote.com, which encourages Catholics to vote their values this November and vote for a culture of life. I'm not Cathoic, but I am an Evangelical Christian. I found this video to be stirring and powerful, and focusing on what millions of evangelicals will be joining Catholics in voting for this November - LIFE. . . . . (see video at link)

The Catholic Church has since the 1st century defended life from the moment of conception through natural death. Yet many criticize the Church for spending too much time defending the unborn and not enough time defending people who are already born. But the reality is the Church has a long history of helping the poor, the homeless, the sick and diseased. It is true, and more so in recent years, that the Church has emphasized the need for Catholics to stand up for life and pray for an end to abortion. The reason being is, in part, that there are...

http://www.catholicvote.com/

While Catholics can disagree about the best policies and the most effective candidates related to such issues, the bishops insisted: “Catholics have an obligation to study, reflect and pray over the relative merits of the different policy approaches proposed by candidates. Catholics have a special responsibility to be well informed regarding the guidance given by the Church pertaining to the moral dimensions of these matters.” Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn then noted what issues can never be justified, which they said included: “legalized abortion, the promotion of same-sex unions and ‘marriages,’ repression of religious liberty, as well as public policies...

When Barack Obama announced that he had chosen Joe Biden as his running mate, Catholic Democrats knew some kind of religious rumble was inevitable. (snip) Sure enough, the day after Biden's selection the archbishop of Denver declared that the Catholic senator should "refrain from presenting himself for communion." Archbishop Charles Chaput was one of the handful of Catholic leaders who had targeted Kerry in 2004, but he had become a marginalized in the bishops conference — losing key leadership elections — in part because of his extreme views about denying communion to politicians. His warning to Biden stood alone. Even...