Catholic Democrats of California

By Christine Morente, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 01/31/2008 02:37:27 AM PST

BURLINGAME

HOW WOULD Jesus vote?

That intriguing question was posed by Pastor Paul Watermulder of the First Presbyterian Church of Burlingame in a sermon recently.

"Jesus, of course, is not a voting member of our city," he said to his congregation. "But sometimes we are asked to think and act on his behalf, aren't we?"

A Barack Obama supporter himself, Watermulder has always held fast to the belief that religion and politics should, indeed, mix.

Read full article here.

It includes a section about Catholic Democrats. Here is an excerpt.

"He outwardly put his faith on his sleeve," Eisner said. "It was his way of governing our country. Prior to that (faith) was something to downplay. Kennedy downplayed he was Catholic. Now we see them going to church. It's a part of their personality." Last year, Catholic Democrats, a Boston-based organization, launched a chapter in California.

Bill Roth of San Jose said he is working to build a broad-based organization of California Roman Catholics who will represent Catholic policy perspectives within the state Democratic Party. Roth said the group will not endorse anyone prior to the parties' nominees for president being chosen.

"Frankly, all the candidates are acceptable," he said.

In 2004, the organization was called "Catholics for Kerry," when John Kerry ran for president on the Democratic ticket.

According to Roth, Catholics have specific sets of values that align with the Democratic Party. Both the Catholic Democrats and the Democratic Party list worker's rights, human rights, the use of force and the notion of a just war as important issues. Roth asserts that the role of the church is to teach on these matters but not get directly involved.

"People of faith absolutely need to get involved," Roth said. "We have seen the damage done by Republicans over the last eight years. As Catholics, we believe it's through faith and good works that you get salvation. It's not enough to pray — we have to act."

According to the insider at Whispers in the Loggia, known for breaking stories within the institutional Church, the new encyclical is ready. Some of you probably know this, but B16 is about to release another encyclical, and it looks to be a reflection on the 40th anniversary of Popolorum Progressio. I think this is excellently timed and could help us further drive the message that Democrats and Catholics can (and should) work together on Social Justice.

Details here:

In other things Vatican, the third encyclical of the B16 reign is said to be ready.

According to Italian wire reports, the five-part text -- a social reflection on the 40th anniversary of Paul VI's Popolorum progressio -- should be released "shortly after Easter." The 1968 letter on globalization and the development of peoples marks its milestone on 26 March, this year's Easter Wednesday. Listed among the new document's "consistent themes": "poverty, globalization, peace, disarmament, war between the rich and the poor, nuclear war and the environment."

Much of the text is said to draw upon the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, released in 2004 under the patronage John Paul II, and a revision of the document is foreseen following the new encyclical's release. In one innovation, alongside the traditional Western languages of a major text's pub-date release, the coming encyclical will also be translated into Arabic and Chinese in time for its debut. Its title is, of present, unknown.