Trump Seeks Catholic Voters, But Some Catholics Push Back

[TexasTowelie]

The 2016 election highlighted Donald Trump's successful courtship of white evangelicals. This year, much of the focus could be on Catholics. The presidential campaigns are fighting for votes in the Catholic-rich Midwestern states, and the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, is himself a Catholic.

"You could view it as the ultimate swing constituency in the country," says Matt Schlapp, a conservative activist and co-chair of the newly formed "Catholics for Trump" coalition. He was speaking last month on EWTN, a Catholic cable network.

The Trump outreach effort is troubling some Catholic leaders. The church's official document on political participation, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, eschews any partisan viewpoint, a position consistent with requirements in the U.S. tax code.

"Part of the church's mission is to shape the moral character of society," says Chieko Noguchi, spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "But the church isn't aligned with any political party, and it doesn't support or oppose any candidate for elective office."

Read more: https://www.tpr.org/post/trump-seeks-catholic-voters-some-catholics-push-back
(Texas Public Radio)

[greymattermom]

1. Someone must know his history

of paying for abortions. There must be one. He's my age.

[TexasProgresive]

2. And yet some Catholic leaders (Timothy Dolan) are trumphiles.

Bishops' call with Trump raises ethical, legal issues

https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/distinctly-catholic/bishops-call-trump-raises-ethical-legal-issues
Snip:

Was it all planned? Was the telephone call between White House officials and Catholic leaders, first reported by *Crux, really a working call about saving Catholic schools and it went awry? Or, did key prelates and staff at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops understand all along that the point of the call was to signal the American Catholic community that President Donald Trump is their guy?

Certainly, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan's appearance on * "Fox & Friends" two days after the call suggests that the cardinal knew exactly what he was doing. He did not use that appearance to walk back his unctuous praise for the president, but instead doubled down.

Now, there is more evidence that Dolan, and at least some key staffers at the bishops' conference, knew that the call was partly a campaign rally. NCR has learned that Lauren McCormack, the executive director of the Government Relations office at the national conference, posted a note in a yahoo group for state Catholic conference directors the morning of the call. It read:

Additional note on this call today: you are welcome to forward the call information to others, including your bishops. Just be sure and note to bishops that the email addresses used to register for the call will be captured by White House and used for additional communication in the future, possibly including from campaign.

"Including from campaign"? So, it was obvious to all that the Trump reelection campaign was involved in this effort. Someone at the conference needed to say: "No, actually, bishops do not want their emails shared with the campaign. That is inappropriate." We should be saddened that no one did, but should we be surprised?

* https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/04/trump-says-hes-best-president-in-history-of-the-church-in-call-with-catholic-leaders/
* https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-catholic-dolan-church-online

[Cha]

4. That's really sick.. it shows what they're

made of and it ain't nice.

[bearsfootball516]

3. Other than the stance on abortion, a decent amount of Catholic theory matches with Democratic belief

Taking care of the poor and downtrodden, accept immigrants, loving and respecting everybody regardless of race, religion, etc.

Of course, as a Catholic myself, quite a few Catholics are often better at preaching these tenants than actually practicing it.

[Vinca]

5. His best bet is to stick with the snake handlers and healers.

[Squidly]

6. I seem to recall

Plenty of Catholic priests openly urging their congregations to vote for Bush and McCain....its the whole "republicans are against abortion" deal and many would vote for satan himself before they would vote for a "pro-choice dem"
**I grew up Catholic btw...

[MaryMagdaline]

7. Yet another reason I'm embarrassed by the church

[tblue37]

8. Remember, some Catholic priests & bishops said to deny Communion to Kerry & then Biden

because they were pro-choice.