Catholic Theology and Public Policy

Dear CIOT Participants,

Each month I complain about something: there’s too much material out there, I’m out of my league on this topic, etc. Well, in the case of Catholic Theology and Public Policy, there’s no question about either the quantity of material or the fact that no one can claim to be an expert on everything political.

So I’ve done my best. This month, I’ll be out of town October 21-30, so I’ve had to prepare the materials earlier than usual. I find this especially troubling since many good articles appear more frequently as any election draws near. For this reason, I urge you to surf some of the websites that contain the articles mentioned below. We would all profit from anything you might find and share with us on November 6. Immediately below are some of the Catholic websites that I’ve found useful (and it goes without saying: some would be characterized as more liberal, others as more conservative). Thereafter are two Catholic Voting Guides and some selected articles.

With warm wishes, John

Useful Websites:

• The Catholic Educator’s Resource - A very useful website with accurate and simple presentations of Catholic teaching, as well as stimulating essays. See especially the links to “Core Subjects” and “Current Issues” on the left column of the home page.
• U.S. Catholic Magazine
• Catholic Answers Action
• Catholic Media Report
• Catholic Alliance for the Common Good
• America: The National Catholic Weekly
• The National Catholic Reporter

Two Catholic Voting Guides (each with a different flavor…):

• Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics
• Voting for the Common Good

Also, there is a recent article about such voting guides by Nancy Frazier O’Brien, “What’s a Voter to Do? Elections Guides Offer Different Answers.” Catholic News Service, 29 Sept. 2006.

Articles of Interest:

What’s a Catholic to do? An accomplished moral theologian insists that Catholics cannot automatically affiliate with either of the major political parties (see: The Man with a Ladder). Kopftensteiner approaches this question formally, as a moral theologian, but his point was supported exactly by Ratzinger as head of Congregation.

For a summary of the article by Catholic News Service, see: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0405868.htm

A historical perspective. Joseph Bottom, in “Alito and the Catholics” [Weekly Standard (January 2006)] discusses the shift since the late 60s of traditional Catholic “ethnic” voters from unquestionably Democrat to the mix that it now is. He allso addresses how the collapse of mainstream Protestantism helped form a nontraditional union, i.e., of evangelicals and Catholics, with the latter providing the intellectual power.

What about the values vote? Father Kavanaugh, editor of America, gives an evalutation of the “values vote” in 2004 and shows why republicans and democrats are both hypocrites in terms of values and pro-life.

Is there more than one “Catholic” side to the abortion issue? Vincent Grangnani asks if the two sides might accomplish something together: “A little less confrontation, a little more action.” U.S. Catholic 71, 9 (Sept. 2006), 12-17.

We’ve discussed stem cell research, but what else is contained in the realm of bio-ethics? There is an interesting and thorough argument by a Catholic theology professor Lisa Sohle Cahill on the need for Catholics to rethink and re-align their priorities in the realm of bioethics, i.e., not just abortion and stem-cell research but world disease, medical care, etc.

Some other recent Catholic perspectives:

Is America really at risk because of so-called growing economic inequality? It’s not just liberal hysteria. Read what James Curth, a highly respected conservative economist, has written for a recent edition of The American Conservative (Patrick Buchanan’s anything-but-left-wing-bomb-throwing-weekly): “The Rich Get Richer:  Growing Income Disparity Doesen’t Presage a New Labor Movement at Home—But it may Signal more Terrorism for us Abroad.” 25 September 2006.

What does one Catholic think about privatizing social security?

What about foreigners and illegal immigrants from a Catholic perspective?

Does the new US federal budget reflect our Catholic values?

So much for the smorgasboard. Hope to see you on Monday 6 November!