A more appropriate title would be "Catholics United Targets so-called 'Pro-Lifers' who vote against S-chip"

It is long overdue for Catholics to speak out in support of universal health care and progressive measures like unemployment insurance, minimum wage, earned income tax credits, etc. to protect families from the health, social and economic ills of our society.

dating back to the late 1800s in support of many such programs.  The minimum wage, child labor laws, trade unions, unemployment compensation, health insurance for children, etc., have all been heavily supported from the get-go by Catholics and their bishops.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, an organization dating to 1966, has a history of supporting all of the above.  Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, who's been dead for years, gave many eloquent speeches in support of a philosophy of social justice.  Much of Catholic social teaching is based on the line of papal encyclicals stretching back to Pope Leo XIII, who wrote Rerum Novarum in 1891, in support of the rights of workers and the equality of mankind.  The Catholic Church has traditionally supported the rights of workers to universal health care and to organize in trade unions.  More recently Pope John XXIII wrote two encyclicals in the early 60s embracing the concepts of human rights and of equal justice for all, advocated disarmament, and addressed the need to remedy the disparity between rich and poor nations.

If you review the publications and position papers of the USCCB, you will find papers going back decades in support of progressive measures. 

And we should not discount the historical tendency of Catholics to support the Democratic Party.  It wasn't until the issue of abortion divided Catholics that we saw a significant portion head over to the GOP.  Now we have right-wing Catholics who are trying to deny that these positions (on unions, living wage, etc...) are even Catholic!

As a Catholic, I am proud of the Church's understanding of social justice issues, and quality of life issues, as well as the preferential option for the poor. 

And I'm also glad to see that they are taking so-called pro-life congresscritters to task for voting against these issues.  You want to stand on principle as opposing the expansion of government, fine.  But don't try it on kids!

Matusleo
Ut Prosim

Cardinal Bernardin often chastised the rabid pro-life right for being so focused on abortion to the exclusion of many other life issues.  He argued for a "consistent ethic of life" which included opposition not only to abortion, but to the death penalty, euthanasia, modern warfare, and nuclear proliferation.  He established ecumenical outreach, set up the first Catholic agency for the relief of AIDS sufferers and promoted organizations such as Dignity for gay Catholics, and supported social justice in many forms from workers' rights to universal health care to provision of adequate housing for the poor. He was an early voice for the Church to take responsibility for the clergy sex abuse crisis and advocated  compensation for and reconciliation with sexual assault victims.  It's too bad he died at the early age of 68.  He was a great counter-balance to the conservatives within the Church. 

I was just weary of having a title longer than the story.

... and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Fifth Congressional District and is very interested in mobilizing the faith community around the notion that life does not end at birth.

There are two others who have expressed an interest in running -- Dave Shreve and Brydon Jackson.  Dave has registered with the FEC; Brydon has not.  I have no position on this nomination fight, but I would be delighted if Catholics United and other similar groups would take an active role in mobilizing people of faith to support a candidate who believes in Matthew 25, not just Leviticus.

I would suspect that if Tom were the nominee it wouldn't be too hard to get them to stay involved. If anything, they may serve as a continual non-partisan voice against Virgil, even if they do not endorse one of his opponents.

Hi, Mike!

Love the illustration!

I love Blacksburg (VT c/o '06) but I cannot take sole credit for the image. That would go to the uber-talented Brian Patton.

I had the opportunity to take a look at the Virginia Conference of Bishops (there are two) form for GA candidates seeking the good graces of the Catholic Church.

For fun, I decided to answer all 17 questions on a strictly partisan basis.  If you do that, the results are:

12 Democrat (aid to the poor, anti-death penalty, minimum wage increase, anti-payday lending, etc).

5 Republican (3 anti-abortion, 2 anti-stem cell research).

So the Catholic Church in Virginia, by it's own documents, is 70% Democrat, 30% Republican.