A Nation for All's Notes
This week, the U.S. Senate will consider passing President Obama's economic stimulus plan. The multi-billion dollar package of tax cuts and government spending is designed to help jumpstart the economy by creating jobs, extending unemployment insurance, providing greater tuition assistance for college students, and making the United States a world leader in the energy technologies of the future.
The economic stimulus may be the last hope for those Americans living in poverty, many of whom are facing an increasingly bleak economic future. To help pass this essential legislation, Catholics United is running ads on Christian radio stations in Ohio and Pennsylvania encouraging Senators George Voinovich and Arlen Specter to vote yes. Their support could mean the difference between having a stimulus bill that just squeaks by, and one that earns crucial support from both sides of the aisle.
Click below to listen to the ads:
Please join our effort to pass this important legislation by contributing to our campaign.
Catholics United welcomes the election of Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, a faithful Catholic, to the chairmanship of the Republican Party. Steele’s history of respected public service, marked by a consistently applied Catholic faith, is an inspiration to the Catholic community. As evidence of his faith, Chairman Steele supports a consistent life ethic and opposes both abortion and the death penalty.
Lt. Gov. Steele is the latest in a series of Catholics who have risen to national leadership positions in recent years. Earlier this month, Governor Tim Kaine, who shares Steele's concern for life at all stages, was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
“Catholics look forward to collaborating with Chairman Steele on behalf of the common good,” said James Salt, Director of Organizing and Communications for Catholics United, who has worked with Lt. Gov. Steele in abolishing the death penalty in Maryland. “We are hopeful that Steele’s Catholic values will continue to shape his leadership as we tackle a number of pressing concerns, such as reducing the number of abortions, passing immigration and health care reform, reducing poverty, safeguarding workers' rights, and ending war.”
As the Catholic community discusses Obama's decision to lift the Mexico City policy, Catholics United calls on our fellow Catholics to support the President in his effort at finding common ground efforts aimed at reducing abortion. Unfortunately, some Catholics are taking a more incendiary approach.
On Friday Bill Donohue, in a desperate attempt to generate media attention, issued an inaccurate and racially charged press release critical of President Obama’s executive order reversing the Mexico City policy. Instead of focusing attention on the looming economic crisis that will surely result in higher abortion rates, Bill Donohue continues to pursue the politics of division and fear.
The election of Barack Obama as president gives Catholics and all people of faith an historic opportunity to set a new course for America - both in terms of meeting domestic human needs and restoring our nation's moral leadership in the world.
It's up to us to help our nation realize this opportunity. In the coming months and years our movement will have an unprecedented chance to help shape a new national moral agenda, on everything from the economy to health care to finding real ways to prevent abortions. Right now, Catholics United needs your help determining what issues we should address first as an organization.
Click here to tell us what you think our priorities should be in the months to come.
Catholics United worked hard through this election season to make sure that our nation's dialogue on faith and politics reflected the full spectrum of Catholic social teaching. With your help we were able to play an integral role in changing this conversation - which in recent years had come to center around only a handful of issues that served a partisan agenda.
Based on input we've received over the past several months, we've identified a list of Catholics' top priorities: affordable health care for all; common ground abortion reduction initiatives; an end to the war in Iraq; economic support for those in poverty; oil independence and renewable energy; support for workers' rights; and humane immigration reform. All of these are of course essential concerns. But we'd like to know which is the most important to you.
Take Catholics United's post-election survey to help us decide which issues to address first.
Together we are making a difference. Now we have an opportunity to advocate for positive social change. Help make this happen by letting us know what you think our priorities should be in the months to come.
Catholic voters are an excellent predictor of the outcome of presidential contests, having favored the winner of the popular voter in the past nine elections. These Catholics account for about 1 in 4 voters nationwide, with higher concentrations in battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Catholics United has prepared a "Reporting the Catholic Vote" memorandum that points out some of the key areas to watch as returns come in this evening.
At a press conference in Springdale, Ohio today, Cincinnati’s Healthy Moms and Babes joined the national advocacy group Catholics United in calling on political candidates and public officials to pursue initiatives that bring Americans of all ideological backgrounds together to find common-ground solutions to the abortion tragedy. Today’s event is part of a broader movement of Catholics and other people of faith to move beyond the angry rhetoric of the abortion “culture war” and enact policies that achieve actual results by addressing the root causes of abortion: lack of jobs, health care, and other economic supports for women and families.
"Women who find they are facing an unplanned pregnancy can be scared and overwhelmed. They are worried about how they will be able to afford a child and who will be there to support them," said Kay Brogle, executive director of Healthy Moms and Babes. “Our society must realize that an effective pro-life strategy needs to entail standing with women who face unplanned pregnancies, and providing them with personal and financial support through the pregnancy and beyond. For Healthy Moms and Babes, our mission is the health and well being of the mother and child…that means providing moms with help with food, shelter, clothing as well as educating them in the care of themselves and their children through prenatal, postnatal, parenting and women’s health programs."
Recently, Catholics United and the social justice group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good released studies demonstrating a clear connection between availability of family support and lower abortion rates. “Research shows that pregnant women and families are much more likely to choose life when they have the tools they need to do so,” said Dr. Joseph Wright, Ph.D., author of the Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance studies. “In order to build a true culture of life, our nation must make a serious commitment to ensuring that our nation’s families have the health care, education, and economic supports they need.”
One study, Reducing Abortion in America: The Effect of Economic and Social Supports, examined 20 years of national data and found that increased state-based economic assistance to families correlated with at 20 percent lower abortion rate. In the 1990s, states with more robust nutrition support through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had 37 percent lower abortion rates, and those with higher male employment had 29 percent lower abortion rates.
Another study, Reducing Abortion in America: Beyond Roe v. Wade, found that overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision would have a relatively small effect on the overall abortion rate, as few states are likely to ban abortions, and women living in those states could easily obtain abortion services in neighboring states or an extralegal abortion market.
In an effort to take its message directly to Catholic voters, Catholics United has mailed more than 50,000 “Pro-Life Means All Life” postcards to pro-life Catholic households in Ohio, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
“People of faith are tired of leaders who wear the pro-life label without enacting policies that actually prevent abortions,” said James Salt, organizing director for Catholics United. “It’s time for candidates and elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, to move from rhetoric to results by addressing a comprehensive strategy to address abortion in America.”
For more information:
- Healthy Moms and Babes
- Catholics United study: Reducing Abortion in America: Beyond Roe v. Wade
- Catholics in Alliance study: Reducing Abortion in America: The Effect of Economic and Social Supports
Help protect the sacred space of our churches by warning your pastor or parish administration about this weekend's efforts to place partisan election literature at every Catholic church in the U.S. Feel free to use the following sample script when making your calls.
Hello, my name is _________. I’m calling because I’m concerned that partisan groups will be attempting to place unauthorized election-related literature on car windshields at Mass this weekend. We know of at least one group that is sponsoring a “National Get Kicked out of the Church Parking Lot Sunday.” Are you aware of these efforts?
The U.S. Catholic Bishops have warned Catholic parishes that they “should not authorize distribution of partisan political materials or biased voter education materials on church property, in church publications, or at church activities.” In addition to misrepresenting Church teaching, these materials can jeopardize your parish’s tax-exempt status.
We’re recommending that parishes take the following actions this weekend to protect themselves.
- Inform your parish staff and volunteers about the Bishops’ guidelines and enlist their help in keeping church property clear of unauthorized voter education information.
- Be especially watchful for leafleting on Church grounds during Mass, including efforts to place such materials on car windshields. These groups are telling their activists to begin papering Church parking lots twenty minutes after Mass begins.
- You have a right to remove unauthorized literature form car windshields on Church property, ask partisan activists to leave Church property, and to call local law enforcement if they continue to trespass.
- Post a message in the church and the parish bulletin reminding parishioners that the Church does not support or oppose any political candidates, and does not authorize the distribution of partisan political materials on parish property.
Thank you for your time.
Catholics United executive director Chris Korzen issued the following statement today in response to Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput’s accusation that Catholics United has “done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.” The archbishop’s comments were delivered at an Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women dinner in Denver on October 17, 2008.
“Catholics United welcomes an open, honest, and productive dialogue about how best to represent the values of the our faith in public life. We recognize that Catholics can differ in good conscience about which policies will achieve the most effective results, even on issues as important as abortion. We are concerned that Archbishop Chaput’s comments – even those made in his personal capacity – will have a chilling effect on this dialogue. It is also profoundly unfortunate that Archbishop Chaput has chosen to make personal attacks on lay Catholics acting in good faith to promote Catholic values in the public square.”
“During the past eight years we have watched a president rise to power on a ‘pro-life’ platform only to pursue other priorities: perpetrating an unjust war, opposing expanded health care coverage for pregnant women and children, promoting the intrinsic evil of torture, deregulating the financial markets, and mortgaging the future of America’s hard-working families on tax cuts for the rich and powerful. Scant, if any, progress was made toward ending or reducing abortions – quite the contrary, we fear that the looming economic crisis will impel more women to have abortions as people lose their jobs and their homes. This experience serves as poignant reminder of the need for Catholics and other pro-life Americans to look beyond campaign rhetoric and elect candidates who will deliver real results on the issues that matter most.”
“With due respect to Archbishop Chaput, we believe that by pursuing efforts to de-polarize the abortion debate and bring Americans of varying ideological backgrounds to the table to find common ground solutions, organizations like Catholics United are doing at least as much to promote Church teaching on human life as those who have insisted on the same ineffective strategies of the past 35 years.”
This week, Catholics United mailed 50,000 Catholic households in Pennsylvania and Ohio a message encouraging voters to consider the fullness of church teaching on human life at the voting booth. Today we are releasing a candidate comparison guide that outlines the positions of both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama on some of the most important moral issues facing our nation: life, torture, the economy, the Iraq War, health care and climate change. We need your help getting these resources into the hands of those who need them most.
Here's what you can do:
- Print copies of our values voter guide and "Pro-Life Means All Life" flyer and pass them out at community and political events in your area. Please consult with your pastor before distributing these materials on church property.
- Let us know what you're up to by sending an email to info@catholics-united.org. Just today a Catholics United member from Wisconsin wrote to say that she's mailing our flyers to 900 people in her parish. This kind of activity is vital to getting our message across.
- If you haven't already done so, please make a donation. It costs us about $20,000 to mail to 50,000 households, and we literally can't do this without your support.
For too long, the far right has manipulated the Catholic faith to suit its partisan agenda. Let's make 2008 the year we put an end to all that. Please join our efforts to get the word out.
As the religious far right steps up its efforts to use abortion as an election-year wedge issue, Catholics United is sending 50,000 Catholic households in Pennsylvania and Ohio a direct mail piece asking voters to consider the real meaning of “pro-life” at the ballot box this November. The organization believes that Catholics who want to promote a true pro-life agenda are often better off supporting candidates whose policies will address the root causes of abortions than those candidates who merely preach the rhetoric of criminalization.
Catholics United believes that it’s time for Catholics and other people of faith to take a serious look at whether some avowed ‘pro-life’ candidates really have a record to run on. Even as many political leaders have talked a good talk on the abortion issue, they have let our economy collapse, opposed expanding health care coverage for pregnant women and children, and started an unprovoked war. This hardly constitutes a ‘pro-life’ agenda.
The mailer – which is similar to a “Pro-Life Means All Life” flyer currently in wide national distribution by Catholics United members – challenges the conventional wisdom of abortion politics by offering four essential points for pro-life Americans to consider at the voting booth:
In 2004, many were led to believe that President Bush’s stated position on abortion made him the only acceptable candidate for the pro-life Catholic vote. The experience of the past eight years proves what an absolute disaster this sort of thinking can be.
Catholic households in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Canton and Cincinnati, Ohio will receive the mailer over the next several days. Later this month, Catholic United will mail the same voters a values voting guide comparing the records of Senators Obama and McCain on issues of abortion, torture, economy, war, health care, and the environment.
The “What Does Being Pro-Life Really Mean” mailer is part of a wider Catholics United campaign to challenge the apparent hypocrisy of elected officials who run on pro-life platforms but enact policies that work against the common good. Last year, the organization earned national media attention for running radio ads in the districts of twenty “pro-life” Members of Congress who voted against expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, calling these votes “not pro-life” and “not pro-family.”
For further information: