Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Catholyc Vote Attacks!

Catholyc Vote Attacks!

Last updated on: February 7, 2011 at 4:28 pm by Morning's Minion

Catholyc Vote Attacks! 2011-02-07T16:28:12-05:00 Morning's Minion

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As noted by MZ, we have attracted attention from a rather dubious group. Young Thomas Peters named Vox Nova as one member of the “progressive Catholic blogosphere” who remained silent over videos made by a pro-life group at Planned Parenthood. Apparently, he did not think my post about Mike Huckabee supporting wholesale population transfers to make living space for Israeli settlers on Palestinian land was an important topic! At least he was (relatively) polite. His co-conspirator, Matthew Bowman, was less inhibited – we are all “not-so-cryptic abortion supporters” who “pick and choose magisterial authority”. Given the history Catholic Vote’s positions, this allegation strikes me as chutzpah on an epic scale.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. Bowman seems stuck in the battles of the late 1960s and 1970s (I don’t know how old he is), but I find these old battles both tedious and irrelevant. The teachings of Humanae Vitae are an important part of Catholic social teaching, as are the economic teachings of Pius XI and John XXIII, which Catholic Vote doesn’t seem to worry about too much. Bowman should listen more to the current pope, who has stressed time and again that there is no dichotomy between life and social justice, between sexual teachings and economic teachings.

To the issue at hand: The allegation is that Planned Parenthood is engaging in nefarious activity. I have no problem believing that. I have no respect for Planned Parenthood whatsoever. I would to happy to see them defunded. But I also know that the group that planned this alleged “sting” operation is associated with people like Andrew Breitbart and James O’Keeffe, hard-core activists who have taken Alinsky’s teachings on social action and turned them to the dark side. These activists have shown complete and utter disdain for truth. I recall it was O’Keeffe who used lies and doctored videos to smear ACORN, an organization that (in accord with true subsidiarity) seeks to empower people at the local level. And yet, thanks to these lies, it has been practically destroyed – all because the forces of the right declared it the “enemy” during the 2008 election. So, the current videos might be true, but I’m reserving judgment. That seems to be the prudent thing to do.

If Peters believes this is the most important topic in Catholicism today, let him believe it. I think it’s an incredibly blinkered view. I could turn it around and ask why he is not talking about the topics of my blogs! This is already too great a tendency to focus on Americans concerns that are ultimately trivial in the global Catholic context.

Peters invokes crickets. OK then, let’s do this.

When faced with the teaching that the Church regards access to affordable health as a basic right, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets. (OK, they said something about it not being the right of government to provide – correct, the Affordable Care Act operates mainly through the private sector).

When evidence showed that lack of health insurance would kill nearly half a million over the next decade, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

When Arizona started implementing real life “death panels” to ration care, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

When the Affordable Care Act mandated maternity care as part of a basic insurance package, thus never forcing a woman to choose between $20,000 in maternity costs and a $450 abortion, where was Catholic Vote? Actually, no crickets here – they were endorsing candidates like Sharan Angle, who made a point of opposing and mocking this maternity coverage.

When the Affordable Care Act allowed states to ban any insurance plan that offers abortion from state exchanges, even for people with no federal subsidies, and thus represents the first attempt at the federal level to regulate the ability of private insurance to offer abortion, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

With the inability of the average person in employer-based insurance to choose an option that does not fund abortion, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

With federal subsidization of private abortion coverage through huge tax credits, Medicare Advantage, FSA FEDS, and the COBRA extension in the stimulus, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

When faced with evidence that the Republican health care plans (tax credits, competition across state lines), would lead to a huge tilt toward funding abortion? Crickets.

When faced it overwhelming evidence that abortion is related to underlying economic circumstances, and that poverty and uninsurance rose dramatically under Bush, even before the financial crisis? Crickets.

When faced with over 30,000 people in the United States killed every year by gun violence, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

When faced with commentators on EWTN defending torture and displaying a Pelosi-esque understanding of Catholic morality, where was Catholic Vote? Crickets.

I focus mainly on health care because Catholic Vote has spearheaded opposition to the Affordable Care Act. They did so by focusing on its supposed abortion funding, while intertwining their opposition with a somewhat less-Catholic opposition to the regulatory overhauls on grounds of economic liberty. Remember, the notion that this reform amounted to a “government take-over of health care” has been named as the “lie of the year” – pretty impressive in the current culture of political slime. I would assume that “bearing false witness” is something that a purported Catholic group takes seriously. Catholic Vote also joined in the shameless attacks on the pro-life Democrats who supported the Affordable Care Act, on the grounds that they were supporting “taxpayer-funded” abortion (see the many crickets above). They led even more shameless and vindictive attacks on Sr. Carol Keehan, accusing her of wounding Catholic unity when that is exactly what they themselves were doing through their tone.

Of course, this is broader than health care. Catholic Vote has never displayed any interest in other key areas of Catholic social teaching – the preferential option for the poor, the absolute prohibition on torture, the need for gun control, the call for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the importance of labor unions, the call to support and welcome immigrants, the need to mitigate the effects of climate change, the importance of social safety nets etc. Indeed, it has mocked many of these concerns in the past, and has certainly not lived up to the pope’s call for unity among the many strands of Catholic social teaching. In Mr. Bowman’s words, this seems an exercise in “picking and choosing magisterial authority”. Of course, there is always the “prudential fall back”, such as Mr. Peters’ Cartesian mental contortions about how he is free to oppose the Affordable Care Act simply because he doesn’t think it will help anybody. Peters, of course, does double-duty with the American Principles Project, an outfit devoted to undiluted laissez-faire liberalism.

Indeed, one of the greatest distortions to come from Catholic Vote is its identification of the very Catholic principle of subsidiarity with the not-very-Catholic laissez-faire principles of the tea-party movement. Fundamentally, subsidiarity is all about letting human dignity flourish by creating the space for social relations to take place at the most personal level. Properly understood, it provides a bulwark against both the centralizing tendencies of socialist collectivism and the decentralizing tendencies of the free market. It is also meaningless when stripped away from solidarity. Remember, in the economic sphere, solidarity calls for government intervention in certain core areas (such as determining working conditions and support for the unemployed), while subsidiarity calls for the government to create enabling conditions for the common good to flourish (John Paul II, Centesimus Annus). It is far removed from the laissez-faire liberal calls for low taxes and small government, based on the supremacy of individual freedom or liberty. As Pius XI put it, the “economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces” – this is the “poisoned spring” of the “evil individualistic spirit”. This is a spirit that Catholic Vote seems to support.

I could go on endlessly, but I’ll stop here. Before I conclude, I want to address the topic of civility. I debated whether I should even write this post. I knew that I would be tempted to ramp up the snark, and lash out against Peters and Bowman. In this kind of tit-for-tat, you always tend to score more by sinning more. In criticizing these guys for ripping Catholic unity asunder, I knew I would open myself to the same allegations. So be it. In the end, though, I decided to write it, as this kind of response needs to be written. These allegations cannot go unanswered. But despite the snark, and the despite the title (a piece of fun I simply could not resist!), and despite my belief that these people are gravely mistaken in their interpretation of Catholic social teaching, I will draw the line – I will not call them “dissident” Catholics or dare to tell them that they are less qualified to receive the Eucharist than those on my side. I have no right to make that call. And neither have they. I look forward to a time when we can have these debates without the threat of a mini-magisterium dangling over our collective heads.

Abortion

Catholic Social Teaching

Economics

Economy

Morning's Minion

Previous Post

February 7, 2011

On Frequent Communion

Next Post

February 8, 2011 Since You Asked: A Note for Messrs. Peters, Shea and Bowman

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2019 A Consistent Ethic of Life Aaron Weldon Abortion absurdity Abuse Scandal Academics Adoption Advent Africa agreement/disagreement with Church teaching Alexander Schmemann Alexham Alterity America Amnesty International Anarchism angels Anglicanism Animals Annual Statistics Anthony Anxietas Apocalyptic Apophatic Appalachia Aquinas Art Atheism Atonement Augustine Authority Baptism Beauty Bible biblical criticism biblical scholarship Bioethics Bishops Black Catholics Black Theology Blackadder Blogs Books Breastfeeding Brett Salkeld Buddhism Bush administration Byzantine Catholic Calvinism Canada Canon Law Capital Punishment Capitalism Caryll Houselander Catholic Blog Awards Catholic Blogging Catholic League Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Worker Movement Catholicity CFL Charity Children Chris West Christ and Culture Christian Democracy Christian Unity Christmas Christology Church Church Doctrine Church History Climate Change Cohabitation Colbert Collegiality Communion Communism Comparative Theology Competition Conferences conscience conscience rights Consequentialism Consistent Life Ethics Consumerism Contraception Contrition Conversion Converts Coptic COVID-19 Creation Critical Thinking Cross Cuba Culture Culture of Death Culture of Life Darfur David Cruz-Uribe David Wheeler-Reed Death Death Penalty Democracy Demons Desert Fathers Devil Dialogue dignity Disability Disarmament discernment Discipleship discrimination Dissent Distributism Division Doctrine Domestic Church Dorothy Day Double Effect Doubt Down syndrome Driving Early Church Easter Eastern Churches Ecclesiology Economics Economy Ecumenism Education El Salvador Election Election 2020 Ellul Embryonic Stem Cell Research Empire Energy Enlighenment Environmentalism Ephraim Radner Episcopal Church epistemology Equality Eschatology Ethics Eucharist Europe Euthanasia Evangelization Evil Evolution Excommunication F.X. Durrwell Facism Facts Fair Trade Faith Family Fashion Feddie Feminism Feminist theology Fertility Fetal Rights Fiction Film Finances First Things flags Folk Religion Food Foreign Affairs Forgiveness Frank Sheed Free Speech Freedom gay & lesbian persons Genocide George W. Bush George Weigel Gerald L. Campbell Girard/Mimetic Theory Global Warming Globalization Gnosticism Good Friday Grace Gratitude Greed Grey Cup 2009 Guadalupe Guest Post Guest Posts Gun Control Gustave Martelet Habitat for Humanity Hans Urs von Balthasar Harry Potter Hate Speech Health Health Care Healthcare Heather King Hebrew Bible Henri de Lubac Henry Karlson Herbert McCabe Heresy HHS Mandate Controversy History Holidays Holiness Holy Spirit Homiletics Homily Homosexuality Hope Hospitality How Far Can We Go? How Far Can We Go? Human Person Human Rights Humanae Vitae Humility Humor Hunger Hunting Identity Idolatry Ignacio Ellacuría Imagination Immigration In Memoriam Income Inequality Inculturation Indigenous People Individualism Inklings Intellect Interdependence Internet Interpretation Interviews Introduction Iraq War Islam Israel Jain James Alison James Martin Jazz Jesus Christ Jews Joe Biden Joe Hargrave Johann Baptist Metz John Allen John Henry Newman John Paul II John the Baptist John XXIII Jonathan Josef Pieper Joseph (the husband of Mary) Joseph Bernardin Joseph Ratzinger Josh Brumfield Journals Joy Judgment Just War Justice Kari Lundgren Karl Rahner Katerina Ivanovna Kenya Keynes Kingdom of God Kyle R. Cupp Labor Language Latin America Law Leanne Ogasawara Legion of Christ Leisure Lent Liberalism Liberation Theology Libertarianism Libya Lies Life life & dignity & responsibility of the human person Literature Little Way Liturgical music Liturgical Year Liturgy Living Simply Living Wage Local Church Lombard Lord of the Rings Louis Dupre Love M.Z. Magic Magisterium Mark DeFrancisis Mark Gordon Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Jr. Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masculinity Matt Talbot Matthew Fish Matthew Levering McCain Media Memorial Day Mennonites Mental Illness mercy Michael Iafrate Middle East militarism Miroslav Volf Mitt Romney Modesty Moral Theology Morality Mormonism Morning's Minion Mother Teresa Music Muslims Natalie Nate Wildermuth Nationalism Native Americans Nature Nazis Neuhaus New Evangelization New York City News NFP nihilism Nonviolence Not Abortion Nova's Ordo Nuclear weapons Nuns Obama Occult Old Age Opus Dei Ordination ordination of women original sin Orthodoxy Oscar Romero Other Voices Pacifism Palestine Palin Papacy Papal Peace Messages Papal Social Encyclicals Particular Affections Partisanship Patriotism Paul Paul Ryan Paul VI Peace Pentimento persecution Personalism Phantastes Philosophy PKD Planned Parenthood Pluralism Poetry Policraticus Politcal Apathy Politics Poll Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope Leo XIV Population Postcolonialsim Poverty Power Prayer Preaching Predictions Predictions for 2012 President Barack Obama priestly formation & discernment Pro-Life Progress Prophetic Witness Proportionalism Public Diplomacy Public Policy Question Quotes Rachel Maddow Racism Radical Catholic Mom Radical Catholicism Raymund Schwager Real Catholic TV Real Presence Reconciliation Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange Religion religious freedom Responsibility Ressourcement Resurrection Rick Garnett Ridiculous Crap You Never Thought You'd See Robert Barron Roe v. Wade Roman Curia Rome Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation History Sam Harris Sam Rocha Same-sex Marriage Saskatchewan Roughriders Satire School of the Americas Science Scripture Seamless Garment Second Vatican Council Seeing Sex sexual violence Sexuality Sia Sin social justice Social Security Socialism Society of Jesus Sofia Loves Wisdom Solidarity Sophia soteriology Soutenus Spirituality Sports St. Dismas St. Joseph Stanley Hauerwas Statistics Stimulus Suffering Sunday Reflections Supernatural Supreme Court Symbolism Syria Taxing Technology Terrorism The State The Tea Party The Trump Administration Theological Anthropology Theology Theotokos Thomas Merton Throwaway Culture Tim Muldoon Tim Riley Tim Tebow Time Titian Tolkien Torture Toys Trade Traditionalism Transgender Transportation Transubstantiation Trinity Truth TV U.S. Affairs Uncategorized Unions unity among people who disagree US Catholicism USCCB Usury Utilitarianism Utopia Valentine's Day Vatican Vatican II Veterans Vicarious Suffering Video Violence Virgin Mary Vocations Voluntary Associations Voluntary Poverty Voting Vox Nova vox nova blog war War and Peace War Strategy Wealth Weirdness Welfare state Women Women Priests Work Woundedness Youth

Select a Month June 2026 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 July 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 July 2023 March 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 November 2021 September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet had a vision of a rebuilt Temple with flowing water?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ezekiel Daniel Joel Micah