Democrat & Catholic?
Our Catholic forefathers nestled comfortably in the Democratic party, the party of the little guy. They looked after themselves and their families but wanted the government’s help in times of need. Catholic social teaching jived nicely with Democratic policies like the New Deal.
But we Catholics have changed. Like many minorities, we have blossomed in America. The Democratic party has changed too.
The Catholic Wise Guy (CWG) as an act of public service decided to compare the policies and practices of the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party as they exist in the Year of Our Lord 2021. The results might surprise you.
We present some background information first. In the 2020 election, the Catholic vote was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
The CWG divides public policy into two parts: issues with clear, specific Church Teaching and issues without clear, specific Church Teaching.
Most public policy issues are not addressed by clear, specific Church Teaching. Examples include the economy, defense, taxation levels, foreign policy, health care, etc. The Church does not propose specific teachings in these areas but offers general guidance on seeking the common good and respecting the innate dignity of human beings created in the image of God. The Church does not provide a blueprint for most public policy issues but proposes they should serve all people and provide the greatest good to the greatest number. Catholics may fiercely debate the moral and practical merits of a party’s public parties and one, may in fact be better than the other, but History has taught the Church humility, and the Lord has granted her Wisdom to not prescribe specific policies for the thousands of public policy issues that cross hundreds of countries across the globe.
Now the second part of Public Policy involves issues with Clear, Specific Church Teaching as defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Wise Guy notes that on-going teaching flowing from the Vatican and bishops across the world, including from the Pope, should be carefully considered in evaluating public policy issues, but it is not official teaching if it conflicts with the Catechism or just ventures beyond it.
In evaluating the Democratic Party against issues with Clear, Specific Church Teaching the Wise Guy notes that not only has it dissented from Church Teaching in three critical areas, but it also enthusiastically supports policies against Holy Mother Church.
Here is where the Democrats lock horns with the Truth: abortion, the LBGT agenda, and religious freedom.
The first issue is abortion.
“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law…Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life.” (Catechism para. 2271-2272.)
Until the last 50 years all Christian churches taught the evil of abortion. To support abortion in any manner is evil. The Wise Guy becomes disheartened to the point of tears when he hears leading Catholic Democratic politicians simultaneously proclaim their faith and attack the unborn without any sense of shame – or irony. Strange days have fallen! The party of the little guy has launched a satanic crusade against the littlest of all little guys. This includes attempts to codify Roe v. Wade, litigation against states trying to limit abortion, and repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which protects taxpayers from funding abortion.
Catholic politicians throw up flimsy defenses of their position but it’s not worth the CWG’s time to rebut their shoddy shallow defense of their support for abortion.
There’s something devilishly symmetrical and depressing about the fact that the party of slavery and Jim Crow laws in the 19th & 20th centuries has become the standard-bearer of abortion in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Next, we address the second area in which the Democrats depart from Catholic teaching: the LBGT movement. Although you might not know it judging by the action of some American bishops, the LGBT agenda is a dagger aimed at the heart of the Church. There are three issues within the LBGT program that conflict with Clear, Specific Church Teaching: homosexuality/gay marriage, transgenderism and attacks on the nuclear family.
Here is the Church teaching on homosexuality.
“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’…Under no circumstances can they be approved…The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.” (Catechism para 2357-2358)
The Church is dead set against “gay marriage.” In fact, it argues it does not exist, and the phrase is a misuse and mangling of the English language. Marriage is between one man and one woman, period; in the Catholic tradition it is elevated to the level of a sacrament, meaning the couple receives special grace from God to maintain their love and union.
A second LGBT issue that violates Clear, Specific Church Teaching is transgenderism, which the Democrats have declared “the civil rights issue of our time.” The Church, however, demurs, teaching that God created us “male and female.” There is no “other.” Whatever else it is, transgenderism is an attack on the wisdom of the Creator.
“’God created man in his own image…male and female he created them…Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul…Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.” (Catechism, para. 2331-2333)
The third LGBT issue that contradicts Clear, Specific Church Teaching is direct and indirect attacks in the nuclear family, which is the bedrock of the Church, the community, and the nation. This is a natural fallout of gay marriage and transgenderism.
“A man and woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family…It should be considered the normal reference point by which the different forms of family relationships are to be evaluated…In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution.” (Catechism, para. 2202-2203)
The Church is the sum of its domestic churches. And the nation is the sum of its’ families. As the family goes, so goes the country. The Democrats are driving the locomotive of the anti-family train.
Our final area in which the Democrats violate Clear Specific Church Teaching is freedom of religion and conscience. This should be important to Catholics and all people of faith.
“Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others, within due limits. (Catechism, para 2016)
The Democrats have been working tirelessly to undermine the religious freedom of Catholic institutions and individuals. And they push to force Catholic workers, especially health care workers, to violate their conscience. They limit and marginalize faithful Catholics and institutions, by driving them out of the public square. They do not want our beliefs to extend beyond the walls of our church. Examples of this include forcing the Little Sisters of the Poor to include abortificients and contraceptives in their health care plan. And pressuring Catholic hospitals and Catholics working in non-Catholic hospitals to perform abortions and transgender procedures.
This soft persecution can morph into hard persecution. Oh, the irony of Catholics supporting a party that seeks to undermine the Church! Is it an exaggeration to say they are voting to be thrown to the lions?
The Wise Guy’s conclusion is simple: it is not possible for a normal person who values intellectual consistency and detests hypocrisy to be both a knowledgeable Democrat and a knowledgeable Catholic.
The Wise Guy closes by asking: if the Democrats are wrong on all these critical issues with Clear, Specific Church Teaching, how can we trust their positions on other issues.