Catholic Democrats of California

Until this election cycle, you could easily conclude that people of faith were exclusively Republican. The phrase "Religious Left" seemed almost like an oxymoron. But there is a move afoot in the Democratic Party to change all this.

The Democratic National Committee's current initiatives include plans to reach out to people of faith. An example of this is the recent California Democratic Party-sponsored Interfaith Summit in Goleta this fall. Our group seeks to organize Catholic nationwide and show them that, while no party is perfect, the Democratic Party is their best political home.

Who we are and what we aim to do
Our group was originally formed in 2004 as "Catholics for Kerry." Catholic Democrats is a national organization, headquartered in Boston, with local organizations in states like California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Nebraska, and Arizona. We're in the middle of putting together our own 50-state strategy. In fact, our group seeks to show Catholics that the Democratic Party best represents values on a wide range of topics.

What Catholic Democrats is not
We're not a single-issue organization. We're not an organization seeking to take a Catholic agenda to the American people. We're not an organization that seeks to put Catholicism above any other faith.

We're simply an organization that believes that the Democratic Party most closely aligns with our values.

For many of you, I know when you heard the term “Catholic,” the first issue that popped into your mind was “Abortion.” It is true that this issue us very important to us. In fact, we believe that this country should be doing everything it can to reduce the number of abortions nationwide, short of throwing women and doctors in jail. There are Democratic-led efforts like "Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act" bill (HR 1074) and the "Prevention First Act" (HR 819) bill by Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio and Rosa de Lauro of Connecticut.

Seven key issues
But what often gets lost in discussion is that this is not the only issue that we as American Catholics care about. The American Catholic Bishops recently released a document called "Faithful Citizenship." This document outlines seven key themes where we believe we have am important voice in the public debate. Only half of one relates to abortion. These seven issues are:

1. The consistent ethic of life, from conception to a natural death, and the dignity of the Human Person
2. Call to family, community, and participation. In effect, it is a moral imperative to get involved in our families and communities to affect change for good.
3. Rights and responsibilities, which includes a right to food and shelter, education and employment, health care, and housing
4. A preferential option for the poor vulnerable. This means we should make an extra effort to care for communities in need.
5. Dignity of work and the rights of workers, including the right to a decent day's pay for a decent day's work.
6. Solidarity, meaning we are one human family, and we are motivated to pursue justice, eliminate racism, protect human rights, and seek peace, avoiding the use of force except as a necessary last resort.
7. Caring for God's creation, the environment.

When I first read these seven themes, it became clear that the alignment between Catholics and Democrats could and should be stronger—and that we could do something about it. These seven themes represent our core beliefs, and our basis for aligning with the Democratic Party.

The Catholic voting block
My second topic concerns American Catholics as a voting block. Did you know that there are 51 million American Catholics and that, prior to 1980, they formed a reliable Democratic bloc of voters? Then, starting in 1980, American Catholic voters started to swing toward the Republican Party and since then, have become a key swing voting block. For example, George Bush won 46% of the Catholic vote in 2000 and John Kerry lost the Catholic vote by only 4% in the 2004 election. It is important to point out that if 119,000 Ohio Catholics has switched their votes to John Kerry, we'd be in the middle of a re-election cycle, not just an election cycle.

Clearly, American Catholics are a very important swing voting block. I offer that when all the issues are considered, they should be voting overwhelmingly Democratic. Our organization's goal is to convince them to do just that.

How you can help
We're in the process of organizing for the 2008 election cycle. If you are Catholic, I need you to join our group. If you know Catholics, I need to your help to get in touch with every Catholic voter you know and spread the word of what we're doing. I need you to reach into your Palm Pilots, Blackberries, and FaceBook pages and help me build out a list of people we can bring into the movement.

Please feel free to contact me at: roth@catholicdemocrats.org.