Free Republic

Party loyalty runs so deep -- and is connected to so many past battles -- voters struggle with an identity crisis when confronted with the reality that the Democratic Party has long left Mass-attending Catholic workers behind. EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA — Religion runs deep in eastern Pennsylvania. Through mountains and valleys, in once-thriving mining and factory towns, Catholic steeples dot low skylines. In smoky pool halls, Monday afternoon drinkers would rather talk about the Knights of Columbus than national politics. Man for man, they’re lifelong Democrats — or once thought so. It’s common for American families to transmit political values from...

So much that you need to know about the Catholic Church’s social policy problems can be summed up in one word: Chicago. On race, abortion, guns, immigration and “community organizing,” Catholic Church officials in the Windy City have forged unholy alliances with radical left-wingers and enablers who undermine the faith—and the faithful. Exhibit A: the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice and one of its most notorious priests, the Rev. Michael Pfleger. This week, Chicago Cardinal Francis George—who also happens to be president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—presided over a gala ceremony honoring Pfleger with a “lifetime...

A group of American Catholic bishops meeting with Jewish rabbis have slammed Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," saying the film was anti-Jewish. In their joint report on the meeting, which brought together representatives from the National Council of Synagogues and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Gibson's fellow Catholics claimed the movie "was in reality a modern version of the notorious medieval Passion Plays which so often over the centuries have triggered riots against the Jews of Europe." The report noted the film caused "deep and understandable concern within Jewish community world-wide." Admitting the movie prompted none of...