The Catholic Vote

First of all, “the Vote.” Who votes, how, when, where is getting unprecedented attention, in my opinion as a member of the League of Women Voters since 1968. Good. May the total electorate increase.

Second, apologies to international readers. We are obsessed. Maybe you are at least interested. This week the BBC News Hour had a segment on voting in the US.

I have been saying all year that I want to focus on “the Catholic Vote,” but I could not figure out exactly how to do that. I imagined standing outside churches with the Woman-Church Convergence’s open letter to voters. This is a more combative statement than many that have come out since: “We do not need instruction from male clergy, especially from the all-male hierarchical, institutional leaders. Their claims to speak in the name of all Catholics are fiction.” A very concise list of “justice issues” follows, as well as strong opposition to any attempt at disenfranchisement.

Instead, I participated in some actions critical of Cardinal Dolan’s praise of Trump, focusing around immigration issues. I started collecting articles. Now that folder has at least a hundred opinion pieces and they are now coming fast and furious. Where do I begin?

Long and thoughtful? Kenneth Woodward in Commonweal begins with George Washington and ends with Donald Trump to trace religion and the presidency.

Nicholas Cafardi, also in Commonweal gets right down to canon law to critique attacks on Joe Biden’s faith. He also has edited an anthology that Michael Sean Winters reviews, saying it “shows us what the U.S. bishops’ quadrennial document ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship’ could be if it had been done with a view towards reflecting Catholic teaching.”

That’s a convenient way to get that link in, because so many statements, like that from W-C C, have been drafted in response to its inadequacies. Ellie Harty wrote about it here. Somewhere I must have said that more than a quarter voted against the narrow abortion priority. Heidi Schumlpf details the politics of the meeting, which is now getting played out on Twitter. Daniel Horan in NCR provides an update on what some bishops are tweeting and he looks at what Vatican II expects of Bishops. Certainly not tweets.

The most recent of those statements in my file is a sign-on from Faith in Public Life from “Catholic social justice leaders, theologians, women religious and parishioners across the country.” I signed and circulated it.

The most specifically political of these statements is the Network Policy Platform, listing “seven policy areas to mend the wealth and income gap as well as the gaps in access in our nation, while also protecting and upholding current successful federal programs and policies.” Economic justice and racial justice are at the base of these proposals. Just this week, Network announced a virtual “Nuns on the Bus,” and this time, you, too, can ride along!

Endorsements tend to be a little more nuanced. America’s surprises me most. “Yet while the right choice is not obvious, neither is it unknowable.” After summarizing both sides of every possible issue, the editors conclude: “In the election of 2020, however, Catholics face the unfortunate reality that the ostensibly pro-life presidential candidate also represents a proven threat to the constitutional order.” Law and order by another name.

NCR under executive editor Heidi Schlumpf is anything but nuanced. My original concern about “the Catholic vote” has been allayed by everything political they have published and Zoomed about. They are the voice of my vision. The link to the full series is Election 2020, and I am sure it will be frequently updated. I will only list three long articles by new national correspondent Christopher White: Four Catholic-led groups working to reelect President Donald Trump, Four Catholic-led groups working against President Donald Trump’s reelection, and the NCR exclusive update with the names of the Catholics for Biden co-chairs.

I hope those of you eligible to vote will vote. I hope you will consider all of Catholic social justice teaching. I hope you will not mind if I write more about this election. It’s so important for all the reasons discussed by the authors and organizations I’ve highlighted here.