Catholic politicians in the United States today face challenging questions about the relationship between their faith and their public policy. Much has changed since 1928, the year that New York’s Governor Albert E. Smith lost a presidential election marked by strong anti-Catholic sentiment. Catholics have come to hold a number of important positions in American political life, and today represent the largest religious block in Congress, and constitute a majority on the Supreme Court.
Traditionally, Catholic politicians have allied themselves with the Democratic Party, a fact which reflects the waves of European immigration which led many Catholics to participation in the labor unions in the 20th century. Key figures have included President John F. Kennedy, Robert Drinan, S.J., Geraldine Ferraro, Mario Cuomo, Robert Casey, Edward Kennedy, and John Kerry.
More recently, however, there are an increasing number of Catholic Republicans such as Henry Hyde, Rick Santorum, Clarence Thomas, Sam Brownback, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito. Exit polls from the 2004 presidential election suggest that more Catholics are becoming Republican than has historically been the case. This has happened during a period that has seen a demographic shift among Catholics away from the cities to the suburbs, and a rise in Catholics’ median income.
The question for many Americans is the one that has remained constant from 1928 through 1960 and into 2008: can a politician be a practicing Catholic, faithful to the teaching of the Church while at the same time loyal to the Constitution of the United States and the tradition of American jurisprudence?
The panel discussion will address this and other neuralgic questions that face Catholic politicians in the United States. One of the questions that arose during the 2004 elections, to which several of the resources below make direct reference, is whether a Catholic politician who votes to support a right to abortion ought to be admitted to communion in the Church. Several bishops—including one head of a Pontifical council—said no, while many others refused to comment. This recent history offers a particular lens through which to view the relationship between the Church and American public life.
Resources