Changing the Catholic conversation

The progressive Catholic voice was totally lost in 2004 -- drowned out by what might have been the last echoes of the Reagan culture wars.  Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee and a prominent Catholic himself, never could figure out the right way to talk about how his faith informed his thinking.

Still, by the end of that campaign, adherents in public life to the tenets of Catholic Social Teaching (a relevant primer: http://www.romancatholicsforobama.com/c.html) realized that they had some work to do.  Sure, they might never match conservative Catholics in insistence or volume -- but it might be possible to fairly remind news and opinion writers... and parishioners themselves... that there are a lot of Catholics who vote on more than a single issue.

If those were the modest, but important, goals... it worked.  Flash forward to 2008 and headlines like those below.

Lay voices reshaping conversation on abortion

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2095

The every-four-year national skirmish among Catholics over abortion politics is as predictable as a politician's smile. But this year a few "game changers," in the phrase of the season, have altered the conversation within the Catholic community and for the wider culture.

For the first time since the abortion issue began to dominate the Catholic political discussion 35 years ago, groups have organized and high-profile Catholics have gone public to insist that Catholic teaching does not prohibit a vote for a pro-choice politician.

[...]

"I think they've changed the conversation on abortion," said Peter Steinfels, long time church observer and writer of the Beliefs column for The New York Times, referring to emerging Catholic lay voices.

Referring to figures like lawyers Douglas Kmiec and Nicholas Cafardi, both of whom own unassailable pro-life credentials and have publicly endorsed Barack Obama, Steinfels said, "I think that by disconnecting their moral opposition to abortion from their political support for Republican candidates, they've actually returned emphasis to the moral question.

Theologian says one-issue bishops violate their own teaching
http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2089

Bishops who make a case for one-issue politics or openly oppose a political candidate are in violation of the guidelines set out repeatedly in their own documents on political responsibility, said noted theologian Fr. Richard McBrien in a recent talk here.

McBrien of Notre Dame University, author of a number of major works on Catholicism, including the recently published The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism, was speaking to an overflow, mostly Catholic audience of several hundred at a Unitarian Church in Kansas City, Mo.

[...]

In his talk, McBrien listed five Catholic principles, taken from Catholic teachings, that he said can be applied to the current political process.

1. Although bishops and other Catholic officials have the constitutional right to participate in public policy debates and in the political process generally, they impose certain limits upon themselves as a matter of prudence.

2. Catholic voters and their bishops should examine the positions of the candidates on the full range of issues as well as their integrity, philosophy and performance.

3. Catholic voters and their bishops must not forget the distinction between moral principles and their application in the political order. It is possible to agree on an important moral principle and yet disagree, in good conscience, on the way that principle is applied in the political order.

4. Because there is a distinction between the moral law and the civil law, Catholics and others–-Christians and non-Christians alike--cannot expect that every element of the moral law, as they understand it, can or should be translated into civil law.

5. Given the principle of sacramentality, in the final analysis the most effective way for the church and its members–-or for anyone–-to influence public policy is by force of their own example.

I'd urge any Catholic to click on the links to the full stories above and to read more about faith and the 2008 election.  A good in-the-moment source is a blog:

http://catholicsforobama.blogspot.com/

Here are some groups that are likely if not certain to exist beyond 2008:

• Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good -- http://www.catholicsinalliance.org/
  
• Catholics United -- http://www.catholics-united.org/
  
• Catholic Democrats -- http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/
  
• NETWORK, Catholic Social Justice Lobby -- http://www.networklobby.org/

One more group that's not solely Catholic but that's doing great work is the Matthew 25 Network:

http://www.matthew25.org/

Kara Vanderslice, who heads the Matthew 25 Network, was a religious outreach director for Kerry in 2004; in many respects, the seeds really were planted four years ago.

"Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." -- Matthew 25:40 (NAB)