Catholic Democrat - a Dichotomy?

It is estimated that 54% of U.S. Catholics cast their vote for Obama/Biden and a host of other pro-abortion Democrat candidates in the 2008 election. This, in spite of the fact that dozens of Catholic bishops issued statements over the predceeding few weeks reminding communicant Catholics of the Church's pro-life teaching and asserting that abortion should be the watershed issue for all Catholic voters. It appears that a majority of Catholic voters decided that the economy, the Iraq war, race, and even the hope that someone else will pay their medical bills trumped the life or death issue of abortion this election season. It begs the question: Can Catholics in good conscience be Democrats, too?

The Catholic who votes Democrat seems to be a dichotomy. The label binds together what orthodox Catholics (and the Church) see as two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups. Especially when it comes to issues such as abortion, assisted suicide, same gender sex and marriage, the contradiction is evident. Catholics are taught to regard these as moral issues prohibited by God's law, while most Democrats regard them as social justice issues that are (or should be) permitted under man's law. If there were no other political/social issues but these, one might presume that most Catholics would reject Democrat Party ideals and candidates. Clearly, these aren't the only issues important to Catholics and many will say they must strike a balance in choosing a political party or candidate with which they most closely agree on a majority of issues they care about - not just the single issue of abortion.

In a 2004 memo, Pope Benedict (then Cardinal Ratzinger) wrote: "When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons." Catholics point to this memo as an informal absolution for supporting pro-abortion Democrat candidates like Barack Obama and Joe Biden. They cite as "proportionate reasons" the Democrat philosophy on economics, health care, social justice and welfare that they believe serves the greater common good. Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com recently wrote, "Catholics' views on abortion are nuanced." And, indeed, they seem to be.

Waldman's article asserts that Catholics have serious moral concerns about abortion, but that the majority believes abortion should be legal. He notes a Beliefnet survey in which two-thirds of Catholics said the best way to reduce abortion was by "changing the culture through education and other means" compared with 29% who said abortion should be illegal.

In post-election analysis, political pundits are saying that the September 2008 economic freefall emerged as the watershed issue for a majority of voters and easily trumped the single "nuanced" issue of abortion for a majority of Catholic voters.

Are Catholic Democrats a dichotomy? Maybe, not. Catholics, like all other people, cannot be defined by that single identity. They are also Black, White, Asian and Latino; from widely diverse ethnicities and cultures; rich, poor and middle class; young and old; politically conservative, liberal, and middle-of-the-road. The single common thread is that they share a form of worship, which informs a collective moral conscience, but which is freely subjected to "nuance" to fit the individual. And, that is a very fine thread, indeed.