Posted on 11/06/2008 6:36:40 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Yesterday, according to the exit polls, between 53 and 54% of American Catholic voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama, despite the Democratic candidate's enthusiastic support for unrestricted legal abortion.
Nationwide, Protestant voters supported John McCain, by a solid 54- 45% margin. But the Catholic vote broke for Obama. Why?
Earlier this week the US Conference of Catholic Bishops released a helpful listing of the 50 American states, with the proportion of population in each state. In 7 states, Catholics make up more than 30% of the population. Obama captured all 7 of those states on Election Day. In 8 states, Catholics account for less than 5% of the population. Seven of those states swung for McCain, and the 8th, North Carolina, is still listed as "too close to call" as I write this analysis.
To be sure, America's Catholic population is heavily concentrated in states that have a liberal political tilt. But is that a coincidence? Are those states hotbeds of liberalism despite the heavy Catholic presence, or because of it?
Yes, Catholics have traditionally leaned toward the Democratic Party for historical reasons. But why have Catholic voters remained doggedly loyal to a party that has come, in the early 21st century, to be wholly allied with the "culture of death" on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem-cell research?
The support that Obama won among Catholic voters is noteworthy because in the last presidential contest, in 2004, President Bush won 52% of the Catholic vote while his opponent John Kerry-- himself a Catholic!-- managed only 46%. Catholic support for the Democratic candidate rose markedly in this campaign, even though the Democratic contender was the most militantly pro-abortion candidate ever to win a major party's presidential nomination.
This trend is all the more remarkable because over the course of the past several weeks, dozens of American bishops issued strong public statements reminding their people of their moral obligation to vote in defense of human life. Those statements varied in candor and in quality, but their overall impact was remarkable. The 2008 campaign produced a seismic change in the attitude of the American hierarchy; the bishops as a group were far more outspoken, far more explicit, than in any previous election.
And still most Catholics voted for Obama. Again: why?
Before answering that question, let me cite one more vitally important piece of polling information: Among Catholic voters who attend Mass weekly, McCain won majority support: 54- 45%. Among those who do not attend weekly Mass, the margin for Obama was an overwhelming 61- 37%. Thus Obama drew his support from inactive Catholics. And unfortunately, most American Catholics are inactive.
In an interview recorded just before Election Day, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver explained that he had decided to take a prominent public stand on the obligations of Catholic voters because the "quieter approach to these things has not been effective." How right he was! He and many other prelates deserve the gratitude of loyal Catholics for their willingness to take a more energetic approach. This year, at last, the American bishops were clear and forthright in their teaching. Yet on Election Day it became evident that millions of American Catholics weren't listening.
Should we be surprised if Catholics ignore directives from the hierarchy? Should we be surprised that Catholics who do not attend Mass regularly-- thereby violating a precept of the Church-- ignore Church teachings on other issues as well? No, this result was predictable.
An entire generation of American Catholics has grown accustomed to dissent from Church teaching, and grown accustomed to seeing their bishops tolerate that dissent. In the 35 years since Roe v. Wade, Catholics have watched their Church leaders handle pro-abortion Catholic politicians with kid gloves, treating their moral treason as a minor annoyance rather than a public scandal. Yes, the bishops routinely denounced abortion; but at the same time they treated the public supporters of taxpayer-funded abortion with jovial deference. Puzzled lay Catholics concluded that the bishops didn't really take the issue too seriously, and the laity in turn stopped taking their bishops seriously. A few dozen statements from brave orthodox bishops in the autumn of 2008-- however clear, however compelling-- were not enough to undo a generation of damage.
Abortion is not an isolated issue. Lackadaisical American Catholics are not ignoring Church leadering on this issue alone, but on the entire range of Catholic teaching. Most Catholics skip Sunday Mass regularly. Most Catholics rarely if ever go to Confession. Most Catholics use contraceptives. Most Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence. Most Catholics no longer accept Church authority on any issue. Why should we be surprised, then, if on Election Day most Catholics ignore Church teachings on their moral obligation to vote in defense of human life?
For most of my life I have lived in Massachusetts, a state whose political culture was once thoroughly dominated by active Catholics. In my book The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture I explain how that Catholic culture deteriorated, as the faithful drifted away from the Church, until today the political scene in Massachusetts is dominated not by Catholics but by ex-Catholics, thoroughly hostile to the teachings of the Church.
Are Catholics in other states following the same trend? Will the next presidential election see even strong support for the "culture of death" among voters who identify themselves-- inaccurately-- as believing Catholics? Regrettably, I see the same forces that corrupted Catholicism in my native state now active all across the nation.
To repair the damage, we must recognize that the problem is not restricted to abortion, nor to defense-of-life issues. Indeed it is not, strictly speaking, a political problem. To restore the integrity of the Catholic vote, we must first restore the integrity of the Catholic faith, and rebuild the foundations of a Catholic culture.
That will be my goal-- my crusade-- in coming years. I hope and pray you'll join me.
Or make the crazy ones compromise.
Because anyone can CALL THEMSELVES Catholic, that’s the problem. i constantly tell people you can say you were raised Catholic, you can say you attend a Catholic Church, but you cannot say you ARE CATHOLIC if you do not accept and hold to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
So, are you saying if we would have just ran your pro-abortion candidate we would have won? Yeah, right.
exactly!
By concentrating on our common beliefs and values. Papists and proddies are more alike than many care to admit.
“Seduced by the Spirit of the Age (C.S. Lewis’s trenchant translation of the German Zeitgeist), the liberal American bishops have for far too long ignored their duty to teach and lead.”
You nailed it. It is like a parent that never teaches or disciplines their children and suddenly can’t understand why their teenager is out of control and won’t listen.
The Bishops need to start over and teach and lead or this won’t change.
In Washington/Versailles, we have Democans and Replicats. So too, we have in America Catholants and Protestics.
Until Catholic bishops start kicking the Catholants out,PUBLICLY, this will continue. I am fed up with this “ipso facto” excommunication. Put up public notices that those who support sucking the brains out of babies skulls are heretics.
You don’t think an article called “What’s WRONG with Catholic Voters” isn’t Catholic bashing? I disagree. We get this every cr@p every single election, as the media lumps religious Catholics with those who use the church for baptism, marriage and burial only, yet tell pollsters they’re “catholic.”
Let me restate my argument. Lump blacks with every American who was ever baptized in a Protestant church and put those votes up against the “catholic” vote and a very similar voting pattern will emerge.
There is no Protestant vote. There is no Catholic vote. There is the religious vote and the non-religious vote. But if the media spoke in those terms they wouldn’t get to bash Catholics after every stinking election.
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I completely agree.
Another factor is the pedophilia tragedy of the last few years. Shame and embarrassment caused a lot catholics, especially the boarder line non practicing ones to turn away.
And the Church figured out the 'go back and do it again' dodge centuries ago. It's called the sin of presumption (presuming on God's mercy) and it is a mortal sin, so you just dig yourself in a deeper hole that way.
Sorry, but I’m a Papist.
Less than 50% of "Catholics" attend Mass every Sunday.
I noticed several weeks ago, during the prolife week when the homilies are to be about the pro life issues, that the church wasn’t as full as normal. I started wondering if the pro choice dem catholics stay home every year during this week. It was an excellant homily.
Something 'effective' means a articulating a way to rein in the courts, possibly threatening the SOB's with arrest for abuse of power and misappropriation of funds when they legislate from the bench.
Any "pro-life" candidate who doesn't have a plan to deal with the courts is a sham and a fraud, which I think a lot of people have finally figured out.
Someone will have to be willing to call their bluff regarding Judicial Supremacy or not. And if not, then kiss goodbye to the Republic.
Catholics aren't an ethnicity. Catholics are people in communion with the Catholic church. Thank you Alex Murphy. Your posts remind me every time why I couldn't become a Protestant.
I think this was all caused by changing the Liturgy and the "Spirit of Vatican II" - where communists/socialists/liberals used the opening of Vatican II as an excuse to cause Mass heresy. God will allow horrible things to happen in order to bring His people back to the truth.
I personally know two Southern Baptist missionary kids (40+ yr olds) who voted for Obama. Neither would respond with anything resembling logic when I asked about the abortion vs. Bible teachings issue.
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