Providence Journal: R.I. Catholic leaders quietly
steering voters |
Site last published: 01/06/10
Providence Journal: R.I. Catholic leaders quietly steering voters
October 30,2004
By: SCOTT
MacKAY, Journal Staff Writer
A pamphlet outlining the church's stand against abortion and stem cell research makes its choice for president clear.
* * *
PROVIDENCE - When Rhode Island Roman Catholics attend Mass this weekend, they will receive no special political instruction from priests or Bishop Robert E. Mulvee, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence said yesterday.
Catholics have been informed of the church's position on issues through a pamphlet issued to the 152 parishes in the diocese and in articles in the diocesan newspaper, the Providence Visitor, said Karen Davis, spokeswoman for the diocese.
Priests have been instructed that "they cannot endorse any politicians," said Davis. But Bishop Mulvee has made church doctrine clear on such issues as abortion and stem cell research through the pamphlet and a candidate survey in the Oct. 21 edition of the Visitor.
Bishop Mulvee's position is in contrast to some other bishops, who have been more openly critical of the stances of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, a Roman Catholic, on abortion rights and stem-cell research.
In New Hampshire, where public opinion surveys show a tight presidential race, the Catholic Church is distributing today and tomorrow 40,000 copies of a pamphlet that says abortion, the destruction of human embryos for research and assisted suicide are wrong, and that marriage must be defined as a union of a man and a woman.
"My role is . . . not to tell anyone to vote for any particular candidate," Bishop John B. McCormack, of Manchester, N.H., said in a statement this week. Yet, he said, Catholics have a responsibility to make decisions that "mirror our desire to be faithful Roman Catholics and good citizens."
And Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate in Colorado, says that faithful Catholics must vote for President Bush. Archbishop Chaput said in a recent New York Times interview that a vote for a candidate like Kerry -- who supports abortion rights -- would be a sin that must be confessed before receiving Communion.
It is one of the ironies of the 2004 election that Kerry, the first Roman Catholic nominated for president by a major party since 1960, finds himself on the other side of church teachings on abortion and stem-cell research.
Democrats have nominated three Roman Catholic presidential candidates -- Alfred E. Smith, who lost, in 1928; John F. Kennedy, who in 1960 became the first president of his faith; and Kerry. Republicans have never nominated a Catholic presidential candidate.
Kennedy faced many questions about his religion; some Protestant leaders objected to his candidacy on grounds that he would be beholden to the Vatican.
Four decades ago, the religious divide in the United States was clearly Catholic-Protestant, with Catholics among the most loyal of Democratic constituencies. Experts trace Catholic solidarity to Smith's path-clearing candidacy at a time when anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment was widespread.
In 1960, 78 percent of Catholic voters supported Kennedy, while just 22 percent supported Republican Richard Nixon, according to Gallup Poll data.
Those numbers held in Democrat Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide over Barry Goldwater, the GOP nominee, when Johnson got 76 percent of the Catholic vote and Goldwater received 24 percent.
But by 1972, a majority of Catholics voted Republican for president, supporting Richard Nixon over Democrat George McGovern.
Nowadays, most scholars and political professionals believe there is no monolithic "Catholic" vote. That has been the case since the 1980s, when Catholics supported Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and then switched to Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1990s, according to voter exit polls.
As was the case with other voters, Catholics split almost evenly in the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore.
"Once Kennedy is elected and breaks the religious barrier, Catholics no longer feel they are excluded from the mainstream of American life," says Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont who studies New England politics.
Other topics have realigned Catholic voters since 1960. The rise of social issues in the 1960s and 1970s -- particularly the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized most abortions -- led some Catholics out of a Democratic Party whose leadership embraced abortion rights.
And the recent increase in activism on behalf of gay marriage -- opposed by Catholic leaders -- has further alienated some Catholics from the Democratic Party, experts say.
The differences between Catholic and Protestants have been eclipsed by a new border in American politics -- the line between the devout and the less devout, says John Kenneth White, a Warwick native and political science professor at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C.
"The new divide is between those who attend church regularly and those who don't, regardless of denomination," White says. "It is between people who pay close attention to what organized church leaders have to say and those who do not."
For example, White says, evangelical Protestants nowadays probably have more in common with Catholics who follow church teachings on such subjects as opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage.
"On one side, the presidency is viewed as a moral office, and the other views the presidency more as a policymaker and civil leader," White says.
While abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research garner the headlines and opponents support the Republican Party position, the nation's Catholic bishops actually have positions on other issues more in line with traditional Democratic doctrine.
For example, the bishops support increasing health care for the poor, "safe and affordable housing" and the "right of workers to choose to organize, join a union, bargain collectively and exercise these rights without reprisal."
The bishops also oppose the death penalty and support making it easier for undocumented aliens to become U.S. citizens.
Rhode Island and Massachusetts are the two states with the highest proportion of Catholic voters -- more than 60 percent in Rhode Island and more than 50 percent in Massachusetts. Both are solidly in the Kerry camp, according to public opinion surveys.
While there have not been many religious appeals in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, religious and social issues are matters of constant discussion in such battleground states as Ohio, says John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron.
For example, Ohio has a referendum banning gay marriage on the ballot Tuesday. "On balance, this will probably help Bush by bringing out conservative Christians -- Protestants and Catholics -- who don't care much about politics but are engaged by moral issues," Green said.
Says White, "When Kennedy ran, the issue was that he was too Catholic. With Kerry, it is maybe that he is not Catholic enough."
-- With reports from the Associated Press
A pamphlet outlining the church's stand against abortion and stem cell research makes its choice for president clear.
* * *
PROVIDENCE - When Rhode Island Roman Catholics attend Mass this weekend, they will receive no special political instruction from priests or Bishop Robert E. Mulvee, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence said yesterday.
Catholics have been informed of the church's position on issues through a pamphlet issued to the 152 parishes in the diocese and in articles in the diocesan newspaper, the Providence Visitor, said Karen Davis, spokeswoman for the diocese.
Priests have been instructed that "they cannot endorse any politicians," said Davis. But Bishop Mulvee has made church doctrine clear on such issues as abortion and stem cell research through the pamphlet and a candidate survey in the Oct. 21 edition of the Visitor.
Bishop Mulvee's position is in contrast to some other bishops, who have been more openly critical of the stances of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, a Roman Catholic, on abortion rights and stem-cell research.
In New Hampshire, where public opinion surveys show a tight presidential race, the Catholic Church is distributing today and tomorrow 40,000 copies of a pamphlet that says abortion, the destruction of human embryos for research and assisted suicide are wrong, and that marriage must be defined as a union of a man and a woman.
"My role is . . . not to tell anyone to vote for any particular candidate," Bishop John B. McCormack, of Manchester, N.H., said in a statement this week. Yet, he said, Catholics have a responsibility to make decisions that "mirror our desire to be faithful Roman Catholics and good citizens."
And Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate in Colorado, says that faithful Catholics must vote for President Bush. Archbishop Chaput said in a recent New York Times interview that a vote for a candidate like Kerry -- who supports abortion rights -- would be a sin that must be confessed before receiving Communion.
It is one of the ironies of the 2004 election that Kerry, the first Roman Catholic nominated for president by a major party since 1960, finds himself on the other side of church teachings on abortion and stem-cell research.
Democrats have nominated three Roman Catholic presidential candidates -- Alfred E. Smith, who lost, in 1928; John F. Kennedy, who in 1960 became the first president of his faith; and Kerry. Republicans have never nominated a Catholic presidential candidate.
Kennedy faced many questions about his religion; some Protestant leaders objected to his candidacy on grounds that he would be beholden to the Vatican.
Four decades ago, the religious divide in the United States was clearly Catholic-Protestant, with Catholics among the most loyal of Democratic constituencies. Experts trace Catholic solidarity to Smith's path-clearing candidacy at a time when anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment was widespread.
In 1960, 78 percent of Catholic voters supported Kennedy, while just 22 percent supported Republican Richard Nixon, according to Gallup Poll data.
Those numbers held in Democrat Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide over Barry Goldwater, the GOP nominee, when Johnson got 76 percent of the Catholic vote and Goldwater received 24 percent.
But by 1972, a majority of Catholics voted Republican for president, supporting Richard Nixon over Democrat George McGovern.
Nowadays, most scholars and political professionals believe there is no monolithic "Catholic" vote. That has been the case since the 1980s, when Catholics supported Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and then switched to Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1990s, according to voter exit polls.
As was the case with other voters, Catholics split almost evenly in the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore.
"Once Kennedy is elected and breaks the religious barrier, Catholics no longer feel they are excluded from the mainstream of American life," says Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont who studies New England politics.
Other topics have realigned Catholic voters since 1960. The rise of social issues in the 1960s and 1970s -- particularly the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized most abortions -- led some Catholics out of a Democratic Party whose leadership embraced abortion rights.
And the recent increase in activism on behalf of gay marriage -- opposed by Catholic leaders -- has further alienated some Catholics from the Democratic Party, experts say.
The differences between Catholic and Protestants have been eclipsed by a new border in American politics -- the line between the devout and the less devout, says John Kenneth White, a Warwick native and political science professor at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C.
"The new divide is between those who attend church regularly and those who don't, regardless of denomination," White says. "It is between people who pay close attention to what organized church leaders have to say and those who do not."
For example, White says, evangelical Protestants nowadays probably have more in common with Catholics who follow church teachings on such subjects as opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage.
"On one side, the presidency is viewed as a moral office, and the other views the presidency more as a policymaker and civil leader," White says.
While abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research garner the headlines and opponents support the Republican Party position, the nation's Catholic bishops actually have positions on other issues more in line with traditional Democratic doctrine.
For example, the bishops support increasing health care for the poor, "safe and affordable housing" and the "right of workers to choose to organize, join a union, bargain collectively and exercise these rights without reprisal."
The bishops also oppose the death penalty and support making it easier for undocumented aliens to become U.S. citizens.
Rhode Island and Massachusetts are the two states with the highest proportion of Catholic voters -- more than 60 percent in Rhode Island and more than 50 percent in Massachusetts. Both are solidly in the Kerry camp, according to public opinion surveys.
While there have not been many religious appeals in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, religious and social issues are matters of constant discussion in such battleground states as Ohio, says John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron.
For example, Ohio has a referendum banning gay marriage on the ballot Tuesday. "On balance, this will probably help Bush by bringing out conservative Christians -- Protestants and Catholics -- who don't care much about politics but are engaged by moral issues," Green said.
Says White, "When Kennedy ran, the issue was that he was too Catholic. With Kerry, it is maybe that he is not Catholic enough."
-- With reports from the Associated Press