Posted on 03/20/2016 9:51:20 AM PDT by John W
(RNS) More than 50 conservative Catholic activists and political leaders have come out in support of Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz in an effort to shore up Catholic backing for Cruz as an alternative to Donald Trump.
Among them is a priest from South Carolina who may be skirting the edges of his own church’s policies against clerics becoming involved in politics.
Trump is currently leading the three-man GOP field and has drawn strong primary support from Catholic voters despite his controversial rhetoric and past stands on key issues like abortion rights, which he once supported.
The Catholics endorsing Cruz, led by Princeton professor Robert George and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, cited Cruz’s opposition to abortion and gay marriage and his advocacy of religious freedom as the reasons for their support.
“No one has been stronger than Ted in standing up for religious liberty and other fundamental constitutional freedoms,” said George in a statement posted Friday (March 18) on Cruz’s website. “He will foster a culture, from the top down, that honors the Constitution – the one thing that, despite our differences, binds us all together as Americans.”
While Trump was not mentioned by name in the endorsement, George and some of the other signers have also been leading the charge against the New York real estate magnate.
Several of them were among dozens of Catholics who signed an appeal earlier this month in National Review that said while they understood Trump’s appeal for some Catholics, he was “manifestly unfit to be president of the United States.”
That was before Sen. Marco Rubio, who many Catholic conservatives were backing, dropped out of the race following a drubbing by Trump in his home state of Florida.
Cruz, a senator from Texas, is the son of the Cuban immigrants but he is a Southern Baptist, not a Roman Catholic. His father, Rafael Cruz, was born Catholic but became a born again Christian in the 1970s and is known for his fiery preaching.
One of the Cruz endorsements comes from Monsignor Ed Lofton, pastor at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Summerville, S.C.
“I am very pleased to give my personal endorsement to Ted Cruz for President of the United States,” Lofton said in the statement.
“The Church must not be silent as the nation chooses the leaders who will shape its future. I am personally working for the election of Ted Cruz, and I urge fellow Catholics to join me in giving Ted Cruz our support and our votes.”
But Deacon Greg Kandra, a blogger at the Catholic news site Aleteia, wrote that he was “a little surprised to see such a vocal and enthusiastic endorsement of a candidate by a Catholic priest.”
Kandra noted that the Catholic Church has strict guidelines against clerics holding office or taking “an active part in political parties.”
He also pointed to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops policies stating that church organizations and their representatives should “not endorse or oppose candidates, political parties, or groups of candidates, or take any action that reasonably could be construed as endorsement or opposition.”
Other signatories of the Cruz endorsement include Brian Brown, head of the National Organization for Marriage, Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
(David Gibson is a national reporter for RNS)
but gay marriage isn’t a priority for him.
what’s the difference.
both almost impossible to reverse completely because of supreme court rulings, which are almost never overturned by a new court.
Ted himself said gay marriage not in top three. top five maybe? six? seven?
These open border “catholics” are probably controlled by freemasons and should be excommunicated.
But does Ted have any chance to win?
As “Catholics” line up against Trump, I want to know what public positions they’ve taken over the last dozen years - particularly towards Obama, Clinton & co.
Far be it for a Trump man to come to the defense of Ted Cruz, but gay marriage isn't in my top 7 or so either.
If Trump does nothing more during his Presidency than seal the border and defeat ISIS, it will be the most successful Presidency in my lifetime, barring Reagan who ended the Cold War.
I'll take two real accomplishments over 1000 promises to "fight" any day of the year. Anything else is gravy.
Who gives a smelly obama what these groups think? Anyone who believes that Catholics are some homogeneous, universally guided group when it comes to politics are just plain ignorant.
I'm a radical Traditionalist and my wife and I support Trump for president. We're not electing a chief priest, we're electing someone to fix the collapse of this nation before it's too late.
Stay tough Lady, you are one of the best here and I enjoy your posts. Our Pope, meh, I’m ready to read a thread regarding his comments on ‘refugees’ - another bought and paid for figure head, sometimes it all gets to be too much.
All the Catholics I am friends with are Trump Supporters, except one who voted for Santorum, even though he’d already dropped out.
I know Monsignor Lofton...too bad he had to come out with his version of an official church endorsement.
Conservative Catholics? That’s an oxymoron!
From Mother Teresa:As a very conservative Catholic myself, I fully support Cruz and fear for our country if either Democrat end up winning in November. I do NOT support Trump nor do I believe he would be a good leader for our country. Across our nation however, there are Catholics who support both just as there are protestants, jews and atheists who support both.
While I have not discussed the election with many at all who we see at Mass, a majority of those I have spoken with support Cruz. Also yesterday was our county Republican convention and a majority of our delegates there were Cruz supporters as are a large majority of our delegates moving on to the State convention from our county.
I personally think anyone that wants to be president in 2016 has to have something really wrong with them. From here on out I expect only a succession of weirdo stiffs to run for president. I expect no one to really solve anything or accomplish what they say they want to do. I would love to be proven wrong on that, but I doubt it.
Cruz and his dominionist weirdness/crazy LDS prophecy support is right up there with Trump’s being on reality TV dog squeeze and pro wrestling not because had to, but just because he digs it or something.
Freegards
wrong
Are you sure about that?
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