Can Catholics be Democrats?

[Catholicwife32]

Hey! Welcome to the Church, where we argue about the Church teaches and condemn each other for disagreeing. LoL

Until Roe Vs Wade, Catholics WERE democrats. We were very local to the Democratic party, and the movements we supported prior to this one issue were largely social justice issues (of their day). But then Reagan came and stole a chunk of the Catholic vote from the Democratic party, and for those not completely sold on Republican Rhetoric, there is always the good old pressure to single issue vote. Indeed, the Republicans use the Pro Life movement to even get us to reject Church teachings so that we’ll be more Republican than Catholic all while living in the la la land of self-denial.

In actuality, both parties are very flawed and extreme and have been becoming so more over time. In fact, I like how Simcha Fisher put it. “I’m policaqueer.” It is not good to be a whole hearted supporter of either party. I do tend to personally vote Republican, but usually while cletching my nose and with a sick feeling in my stomach. When I voted third party this last election, for the first time in my life, I felt good about it.

So there are those who believe that the way forward is to be loyal to the Republicans. And then there are those who feel the need do work to reform the Democratic party to really get the pro life voice heard again in the party so that the issue can REALLY be the bipartisan issue it should be where NEITHER party represents either side as it used to be. The faithful Republicans find this to be niave and morally dangerous and have increasingly silenced and even condemned those who think differently as heretics, even though we’re not. Our inner-wars continue.

I will say, this past election, I became a member of the American Solidarity Party. I’m also a supporter of Democrats for Life. Simcha Fisher is also a great blogger, though be warned, she got fired from National Catholic Register for failing to support Trump.

So yes, indeed, your party does not matter, but beware of the hostilities within the Church. It can get quite nasty and can really shake your faith up a bit.

 

[anon65111186]

Welcome to the Church Rose.

I am a Catholic first and an American second, thirdly a Republican.

Do you see any Democrat politicians you feel uphold religious rights, are pro-life, anti-gay marriage?

I am Republican because the party currently supports most of the important moral issues I value as a Catholic.

It is not perfect, and there are a lot of horrendous Republicans out there.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi, I am in R.C.I.A. as well. I think it doesn’t make sense to boil either major political party down to one issue. They all have indefensible histories, greatly flawed leaders, and many positions on various issues that are extremely difficult to defend morally. A successful career in politics means making compromises to allow some amount of good progress. It isn’t realistic to expect any party or politician will be 100% moral. We don’t get to choose a political party that is unwaveringly Catholic, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t participate in democracy. I am a democrat for the same reasons as you. They do well for most issues. As a person who is personally against abortion, and formally wasn’t, I think the most positive progress on abortion would be made by making convincing reasoned arguments and providing education on the topic. As far as gay marriage, people need to not be intellectually honest when talking about civil marriage (a contract that handles property, obtained through secular government, and does not necessarily involve God) versus marriage in the church (a sacrament in church.) Everyone should feel free to pick their battles.

 

[lazurm]

Argue they may but my statement is how it works and, if the poster meant those Republicans and Democrats in Congress when it’s the Supreme Court that renders overturns, they would be patently incorrect. Additionally, there are many Republicans who are pro-abortion, so how would that fact grab one? Plus, the members of the Supreme Court who would be considered Republican in thinking (if that can even be classified these days) have voted in ways that are opposite to what one would ordinarily think of as a Republican voting pattern. So, perhaps it is more useful to consider the actual ideas rather than the stereotypes that are being increasingly blurred over time nowadays.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Until Roe Vs Wade, Catholics WERE democrats.

Not all of them. There were many Republican Catholics before Roe v. Wade. They tended to be the wealthier ones. There were plenty of them right in my parish alongside the working-class Democratic Catholics.

And there are still a lot of Democratic Catholics today.

 

[Catholicwife32]

Not all of them. There were many Republican Catholics before Roe v. Wade. They tended to be the wealthier ones. There were plenty of them right in my parish alongside the working-class Democratic Catholics.

And there are still a lot of Democratic Catholics today.

My understanding is that the Catholic vote was considered Democrat. The Democrats would appeal to Catholics as a part of their base. There are always people who don’t follow the crowd. That’s really beside the point.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I think the question, would better as “should Catholics be Democrats”? Always get really confused when people tell me that Democrats support abortion and gay marriage and stuff, because here in the South, Democrats oftentimes don’t, even if the National Party does. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending one party over another, but it just seems kind of strange to me. Honestly, I think our loyalties should be first to our Church, before anything else. I’m not a member of a political party for the record. In my state, we don’t have to register with a party, which I think is a great idea.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The Democrats would appeal to Catholics as a part of their base.

The Democrats were appealing to working classes, which included Irish, Italian, Polish and others who happened to be Catholic. In most areas they were not campaigning on religious issues, and in fact prior to JFK running they tried not to identify too hard with the Catholics because there was also a huge Southern Democrat contingent who was decidedly NOT Catholic and didn’t like Catholics. Kennedy got away with being a Catholic because his father was rich and bought him some support and also, he was young and attractive so people were able to set aside the fact that he was a scary Catholic. Those are the only reasons he got away with it.

There were also a large number of Catholics who were big Nixon supporters because they were basically working class Archie Bunker/ Joe Hardhat types and Nixon’s stance about being tough on crime and not liberal appealed to them greatly. I think most of our entire parish, rich and poor, voted for Nixon the two times he ran. If the Dems were trying to appeal to Catholics during either of those elections - and I don’t remember any specifically religious issues at that time - it didn’t work.

To sum up: Catholics were part of the Democrat base maybe up to Kennedy…not so much after that.