There are many who never learned or lived their Catholic faith (like you), but as stated by Archbishop Charles Chaput: "But when we hear that 54 percent of American Catholics voted for President Obama last November, and that this somehow shows a sea change in their social thinking, we can reasonably ask: How many of them practice their faith on a regular basis? And when we do that, we learn that most practicing Catholics actually voted for Senator McCain."
How would that show a sea change, Catholics have been voting liberal since they started arriving in the 1830s and 1840s.
Gore got their vote in 2000. Obama in 2008, Clinton cleaned up with them of course.
Ah, the key word being “practicing”.