Doug Kmiec's Response to Wingnut Criticism

is up at the Commonweal website:

Unless the sore losers of November 4 manage to poison the well, the Holy See and the Obama administration should be working more closely together in service to others than any administration in modern memory.

As it is, however, right-wing Catholic bloggers, acting as a thinly disguised political front for the GOP, remain fixated on the goal of precipitating an unnecessary war between the Holy See and America’s next administration. It is dismaying to see a few American prelates and their “anonymous” Vatican commentators acting as witting or unwitting coconspirators in this divisive action.

The entire piece is worth a read.

The Common Good Comes To Congress

Faith in Public Life reminds me that today also marks formal entry of probably the most direct and outspoken proponent of The Common Good to the Halls of Congress. Congressman Tom Perriello, whom I blogged about here.

USCCB Official Statement On The New Administration

The USCCB has released its Joint Statement, which was drafted after yesterday's debate on Faith & Politics:

STATEMENT of the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops"If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil." (Psalm 127, vs. 1)
The Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States welcome this moment of historic transition and look forward to working with President-elect Obama and the members of the new Congress for the common good of all. Because of the Church's history and the scope of her ministries in this country, we want to continue our work for economic justice and opportunity for all; our efforts to reform laws around immigration and the situation of the undocumented; our provision of better education and adequate health care for all, especially for women and children; our desire to safeguard religious freedom and foster peace at home and abroad. The Church is intent on doing good and will continue to cooperate gladly with the government and all others working for these goods.
The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the Bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.
In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any "interference" in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.
Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.
FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.
On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.
The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.
This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.
Our prayers accompany President-elect Obama and his family and those who are cooperating with him to assure a smooth transition in government. Many issues demand immediate attention on the part of our elected "watchman." (Psalm 127) May God bless him and our country.

It is interesting that, with respect to abortion, the Bishops focus exclusively on the Freedom of Choice Act which was introduced last year in Congress, as it has been ever since Bill Clinton was President.
To the extent that FOCA would overturn existing State regulations on abortion, it is most likely unconstitutional. Although, ironically, the federal "partial-birth abortion ban" pursued by those in the criminalization caucus set the precent for federal regulation in the are of reproductive rights.
At any rate, it is peculiar that the Bishops chose to focus on an entirely hypothetical issue. The next Congress has not yet even been seated and Barack Obama is still 70-plus days from taking the oath of office. The way legislators draft bills which they know have no chance of either passing or being signed into law is often different from the way they draft bills which they expect to become law.
So we'll have to wait and see.
Notably, no public statement from the Bishops yet on Pro-Choice Catholic politicians and the Eucharist.

Chalk One Up For The Good Guys

I'm a little late on this one, but congratulations are due to Congressman-Elect Tom Perriello, who defeated incumbent Congressman Virgil Goode in Virginia's 5th Congressional District.

Tom was the founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, whose Vision is:

Our Catholic tradition calls us to participate actively in public life in the service of human dignity, social justice and the common good. These teachings – to put community before self, principle before profit, and the public interest before political expediency – are central to our Catholic tradition. Catholics in Alliance is committed to creating the necessary conditions for a culture of life that reverences the life and dignity of the human person at all stages over greed, materialism and the politics of division.

And Tom isn't just talk, he also walks the walk. According to Dahlia Lithwich of Slate:

A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, Perriello worked to end atrocities in Liberia as well as with child soldiers, amputees, and local pro-democracy groups in Sierra Leone. He became special adviser for the international prosecutor during the showdown that forced Liberian dictator Charles Taylor from power. His work as a security analyst has taken him to Afghanistan and Darfur.

Indeed, Tom Perriello is exactly the type of candidate whom the Bishops have been calling for, and whom they should now be praising:

Perriello has also been a part of a groundswell of young progressives whose religious faith motivates them to seek social change through public service. One of the most startling aspects of his 2008 campaign was his pledge to tithe 10 percent of his campaign volunteers' time to local charities. Time they could have spent stuffing mailers and phone-banking went to building houses for the poor.

Of course, Arch-Partisan-Prelate Bishop Charles Chaput sees such commendable priorities as a "disservice to the Church."

What makes Tom's win even more special is the fact that the voters of Virginia chose to send home one of the most bigoted, religion-hating men currently staining the halls of Congress. I'll address the Church's position on Immigration in the future, but for now just tuck away in your mind Congressman Goode's callous derision of children born to immigrants here in the United States "anchor babies". And remember, this is ArchBishop Chaput's guy. The guy who isn't doing a disservice to the Church, I guess.

(oh, and there's also that matter of Congressman Goode, typical "family values Republican", having bankrolled the producer of an unrated movie filled with drug-use and homo-sexual and bi-sexual sex scenes.)

Good riddance Virgil. Welcome Tom!

According To Some Bishops

These voters did the right thing:

In Arkansas, which had among the nation’s largest concentration of counties increasing their support for the Republican candidate over the 2004 vote, “there’s a clear indication that racial conservatism was a component of that shift away from the Democrat,” said Jay Barth, a political scientist in the state.
Race was a strong subtext in post-election conversations across the socioeconomic spectrum here in Vernon, the small, struggling seat of Lamar County on the Mississippi border.
One white woman said she feared that blacks would now become more “aggressive,” while another volunteered that she was bothered by the idea of a black man “over me” in the White House.
Don Dollar, the administrative assistant at City Hall, said bitterly that anyone not upset with Mr. Obama’s victory should seek religious forgiveness.
“This is a community that’s supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks,” he said. “If they’re not disappointed, they need to be at the altar.”
“I think there are going to be outbreaks from blacks,” she added. “From where I’m from, this is going to give them the right to be more aggressive.”

Obama's Strength in "Catholic States"

The Catholic News Service reviewed President-Elect Barack Obama's performance in States with the most Catholics in terms of both absolute numbers and as a percentage of the State's population.

How did he do?

Short answer: really, really well.

Longer answer:

Based on Catholic population, Obama won in 12 of the 15 most populous Catholic states. McCain took Texas (third most populous), Louisiana (13th) and Arizona (15th), but Obama captured California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Minnesota.
By the other measure, percentage of the population that is Catholic — which includes smaller states — Out of the top 15 of those states, Obama swept 11: Rhode Island (the nation’s only Catholic-majority state at 59.5 percent), Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Nevada, Illinois, Delaware, Wisconsin, California, New Mexico and New Hampshire. McCain took Louisana (12th on that list) and Texas (13th).

John McCain, by contrast, did best in States with the fewest Catholics:

McCain won nine of the 10 states with the lowest percentage of Catholics in the population. By the same token, McCain also won the 13 states that have the fewest Catholics.

I wonder if the Bishops will have anything to say about this?