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story Catholics able to think for themselves, bishop
says
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Special Report Writer
The Republican Party is making a major play for the Catholic vote
in the upcoming national elections. In its mission statement, the partys
Catholic Task Force has declared that the Republican political record is
closest to Catholic teachings.
Not everyone agrees, however, that the Grand Old Party best
represents the Catholic point of view.
Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston pointed to the
statement, Faithful Citizenship: Civic Responsibility for a New
Millennium, issued last September by the administrative board of U.S.
Catholic bishops.
Our moral framework does not easily fit the categories of
right or left, Democratic or Republican, Fiorenza said. Our
responsibility is to measure every party and platform by how its agenda touches
human life and dignity. Fiorenza is president of the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops.
The bishops document noted the size and diversity of the
Catholic community, stating, We are Republicans, Democrats and
Independents. It urged Catholics to see beyond party politics, to
analyze campaign rhetoric critically and to choose their political leaders
according to principle, not simply by party affiliation or mere
self-interest.
Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., who said he sought to
refrain from the politics implied in the Catholic Task Forces
assertion, said that the group doesnt represent the Catholic
church. They speak as individuals and as Republicans.
Sullivan said he thought it unwise to tell Catholics how to vote.
We can think for ourselves, he said.
Historically the church has been closest to the Democratic Party
since the 1920s, said Marist Fr. Ted Keating, who serves as executive director
of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in Silver Spring, Md. However, this
doesnt mean that the church favors either the progressive stance of the
Democrats or the conservative agenda of Republicans, he said.
As Keating sees it: After many years both parties reflect
and do not reflect Catholic social teaching.
While Keating said that members of the task force certainly
have a right to their opinion, it is impossible to take Catholic social
teaching apart by issue for the purpose of political categorization. Such an
approach disintegrates the teaching, he said. Catholic
theology cant be broken up. It must be seen as integral.
Keating said he viewed the teaching as coming apart
when it is broken into pieces in order to match points on a party
platform. On the question of consistent respect for the human person
throughout a whole life, he noted that the Republicans might be closer to
Catholic teaching on abortion, and Democrats may be better on children
and women, but both favor capital punishment, which Catholic social
teaching opposes.
In a close reading of Faithful Citizenship, Immaculate
Heart of Mary Sr. Margaret Gannon said the bishops raised 34 issues in the
13-page statement. She lined up the bishops document alongside the
platforms of the two major parties to see where the parties reflected
bishops thinking and where the two diverged. Gannon, a professor at
Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., presented her findings to about 50
Immaculate Heart sisters July 26.
On issues of abortion and school vouchers, she found Republican
positions closer to those of the bishops. On nine other key issues, however,
the Democrats platform proved closer to church teaching than that of the
Republicans, she said.
The issues included gun control, passage of the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty, support for a living wage, Internet access for all, health care
reform, affirmative action and opposition to racial and other forms of
discrimination. On the question of taxes, Gannon said she thought the
Democratic proposals were better aligned with the bishops emphasis on
support for families, especially the less well off, than those of
Republicans.
On at least four issues, Gannon declared the platform proposals of
the two parties a draw when it came to accord with Catholic social
teaching. Both parties favored the death penalty; both had complex schemes for
Social Security and for welfare reform. On the question of international trade,
the nun said that both parties were wrong since neither gives
prominence to human rights, worker protection, care for the environment and
promotion of religious liberty, as favored by the bishops.
St. Joseph Sr. Mary Elizabeth Clark of the national Catholic
social justice lobby Network, in Washington, said she wondered whether the
Catholic Task Force of the Republican National Committee had reviewed
Networks assessment of voting records in making their claim. At the end
of each legislative session, Network analyzes the votes of Congress in the
light of gospel values and the principles of Catholic social teaching.
During the 106th Congress, Network found 11 issues on which it had
lobbied legislators -- including the federal budget, managed care protections,
the Africa trade bill, campaign finance reform, the School of the Americas,
taxes and troop reductions in Europe.
When looking at Networks voting record, we could see
where many Republicans fall short, Clark said. She pointed to votes that
she called contrary to economic justice and contrary to the
poor.
You can make your deduction from that, said Clark
whose organization works with both Republicans and Democrats on promoting
Networks goals. The organization has visited all members of the 106th
Congress who voted with Network nine, 10 or 11 times, Clark said. None
were Republicans.
Clark questioned whether, in claiming to reflect Catholic views,
Republicans are giving higher rank to certain issues than others.
She said she hoped they might begin to give more weight to issues involving
poor people and the environment and to issues related to global trade.
Poverty is an act of violence against life, Clark
said. Trade policies that will dehumanize people and the earth are life
issues as much as is abortion.
Nancy Wisdo, director of the Domestic Social Development Office of
the U.S. Catholic Conference, said that the conference could only talk about
issues, not parties. She said the larger question in her mind is, Why
arent Democrats having outreach to Catholics? They havent shown any
signs of it.
National Catholic Reporter, August 11,
2000
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