The Catholic Spirit (Minneapolis/St Paul Archdiocese) Thursday, August 28, 2008
by Maria Wiering
As the Nov. 4 election draws closer, Democrats and Republicans are carefully courting a group capable of swinging the vote to get their candidates elected - Catholics.
Both the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which ends Aug. 28, and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul Sept. 1 to 4 will include events focusing on Catholic voters.
According to a study from the Center of Applied Research in the Apostolate, there are an estimated 47 million potential voters who are Catholic in the United States.
Although the national party committees have designated staff members to work to attract Catholic voters, party members are organizing groups on their own like Catholics for McCain, Catholics for Obama and Catholic Democrats to persuade members of their church to support their candidates.
"This is going to be a tight election. Catholics are seen as an extremely important swing vote," said Theo Chalgren, a member of the Catholics for McCain steering committee and parishioner at St. Victoria in Victoria.
A retired lawyer, Pat Schaffer said she felt someone should organize a Democratic outreach to Catholics. She finally decided it was up to her and became the Minnesota chairperson of Catholic Democrats, a nationwide grassroots organization.
The group relies primarily on e-mail and word-of-mouth, said Schaffer, a parishioner at St. Stephen in Minneapolis. Its members collect names for e-mail distribution, walk door-to-door and encourage people to speak about politics with their friends.
"We've learned [the Web] is a wonderful way of connecting with people, but it is no substitute for words, one-on-one talking, so the combination is what's powerful," she said.
The organization's Web site, www.catholicdemocrats.org, daily updates visitors on campaign news and relates it to issues of Catholic concern, Schaffer said. People can also leave comments and discuss ideas. She's creating a Minnesota Catholic Democrats site, which can be accessed through the national site.
Catholic Democrats are also planning to publish a 24-page booklet to encourage Catholics to vote for Sen. Obama, said Patrick Whelan, national president of Catholic Democrats.
Although the Democratic Party platform doesn't call for making abortion illegal as the Republican platform does, Catholic Democrats talk to voters about lowering the number of abortions in the U.S. through increased funding for things like prenatal and postnatal care, Whelan said.
They also emphasize their position against the war in Iraq and support of other life-related issues.
Catholic Democrats want Catholics to think of the Democratic Party as a values-based party, and one that espouses many of the tenets of Catholic social teaching, said Whelan, who has advised the Democratic National Convention on Catholic outreach for three years.
Faith-based outreach
Whelan became involved in Catholic Democratic outreach during Sen. John Kerry's 2004 campaign. During that election, the news media were not interested in campaigns' faith-based outreach, he said. It's a different story this year, and Catholic Democrats are trying to reach its audience through the media attention, he said.
Organized Catholic outreach is new to the Democratic Party, he said. He thinks faith-based outreach has helped candidates become more confident in speaking about faith.
Catholics for McCain members are also networking with friends and people they know from their parish, especially community and parish leaders, said Chalgren.
"The key issue is getting correct information out and then encouraging people to get out and vote," he said.
Using predominantly e-mail, Catholics for McCain is urging county leaders to build Catholic support teams, Chalgren said. They also use a Web site, www.catholicsformccain.com, to spread their message.
"Obviously, the Internet is a powerful way to connect with people, but we're also building leadership again, coalitions that will begin to do phone banking and do telephone calls," he added.
Republican National Committee Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli, a Catholic, said that although the Catholic community is broad, he thinks the Republican message can resonate within it, especially because of its positions on abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and marriage laws.
"Catholics are one of the top priorities in campaigning," he said. "It's a large population in virtually every battleground state in the country."
Catholics for McCain was one of the first groups formed by the McCain campaign, said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, national co-chair of Catholics for McCain.
The RNC's own Catholic outreach targets key states with large Catholic populations, including Minnesota, he said.
"Within each of those states we've committed resources to communicate with Catholics," he said. Several states have staff members talking to Catholics and recruiting local leaders, Donatelli said.
Catholics for McCain plans to host outreach events in battleground states like Minnesota, Sen. Brownback added. They also plan to send out mailings and flyers.
The discerning Catholic
"We urge Catholics to be involved in the political process," said Chris Leifeld, director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Minnesota bishops.
But Catholics have to look beyond partisan politics and campaign slogans to something deeper. The U.S. bishops' 2007 document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility" is a good tool for Catholics to use, Leifeld said.
In the document, the bishops note that "Catholics may feel politically disenfranchised, sensing that no party and too few candidates fully share the church's comprehensive commitment to the dignity of every human being from conception to natural death."
"As Catholics, we should be guided more by our moral convictions than by our attachment to a political party or interest group," the document says. "When necessary, our participation should help transform the party to which we belong; we should not let the party transform us in such a way that we neglect or deny fundamental moral truths."
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