The Catholic Political Fault Line
The Catholic vote in recent election cycles has become fascinating to study. In fact, the entire Catholic Church is an entertaining institution to observe. There is a part of it obsessed with anti abortion. Another part says the primary mission of the Catholic Church is to care for the poor.
In the recent Presidential election roughly half of all Catholics voted for each major candidate. During recent decades the majority vote among Catholics has swung back and forth between the two parties.
The link discusses the half that sees abortion as second or even further down the priority list while at the top is clearly social justice. It includes Catholics who have been arrested often for protests at nuclear sites. The interview with them takes place in a soup kitchen where such people toil with little encouragement or publicity. Their determination to see social justice be the prevailing issue of the Catholic church is every bit as strong as those who scream and shout their "prayers" outside abortion clinics.
While anti abortion Catholics tend to be chummy with corporate America and its advocacy of lower taxes and less regulation, Social Justice Catholic tend to side against those same business interests. I suspect one would find significant support for more public housing, publicly supported medical services and higher minimum wage laws.
I remember decades ago being puzzled by the animated anti abortion branch of the Catholic church and asking a young priest to explain why this was so. He was not enthusiastic about it. He said the big mission in the church was to care for the poor and expend its energies doing was Jesus did. Abortion was just one of many other smaller issues the church should oppose but not spend money and time on. I've always wondered if this young fellow stayed in the priesthood--maybe he moved to some more liberal diocese.
Just my opinion, but I think the entire Catholic Church should follow its Pope to the Social Justice side. I think it would be more popular with its own members and with the public at large.
PItting one side of the Church against the other is a typical strategy of the devil and those who enjoy tearing at the body of Christ.
ReplyDeleteThe Church reflects the mind and will of Christ in its teachings. It must. Jesus Christ teaches respect for human life, for the sanctity of marriage, for all Ten Commandments, etc. Because one is pro-life does not mean one does not believe in a just wage or healthcare for the poor. Similarly, because one is is dedicated to a life of prayer in a monastery does not mean one is shirking their faith by not being a social justice warrior or a sidewalk counselor outside a child-killing center. We are all many parts of one body.
As for voting, there is a significant portion of the Church which is not well-catechized. They tend to be 'cafeteria Catholics', that is to say they are in serious error or dispute with the teachings of the Church. They head to the feast of the Church but instead of adhering to all teachings, they reject some and think they are in communion with the Church. Joe Biden has been warned by various Bishops. Joe can clutch his rosary beads, but they will not save him from eternal judgment when the weight of his pro-abortion activities is placed on the scale.
Capitalism is not a sin. Communism is a sin. Socialism is a sin. But socialism is nuanced. North Dakota has a State bank, a feature of socialism. Is it sinful? I think not. But if the State of North Dakota ran a child-killing center, it would clearly be sinful to support.
The Democrat party has done nothing to lift people out of poverty. Trump lifted the poor out of poverty across every racial, ethnic and religious group. So, the Republican party is both the party of the poor and the rich. The Democrat party is neither.
Happy feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas.