The Catholic definition of what "conservatism" might look like is a little much for most Americans to bear. :lol2:

 

Yeah, I remember when Benedict the XVI was elected, one of the more politically conservative posters back then thought that it was just great that the church was going conservative. I replied that Catholic Conservatism and American Conservatism are different. There was a FB post one time that took numerous quotes talking about how liberal Francis is and then at the end, admitted that the quotes were actually from Benedict. On the flip side, if you read Francis's latest book or encyclical (forget which it was), if you were to tear off the cover and say it was from Benedict, most people would never know.

Pretty rare, but certainly the Church's interests and the GOP's have intersected recently. The Church was none to happy about being compelled into certain things against its own moral teachings by the ACA.

One of my good friends -- a lifelong Catholic who seldom misses mass -- told me that the "election sermon" is commonplace up here in NKY, and that some less-conservative priests are not too pleased to have to deliver said sermon from the pulpit. Your observation that this practice is rare may mean that this is a decision made at the diocesan level.

On the Sunday before big elections, aren't parish priests instructed to read prepared sermons? I believe that's the case in the Covington diocese. I've been told some of these sermons might as well have been written by the local GOP chapter.

 

Most political discussion from the church in KY comes form the Catholic Conference of Kentucky. I receive their updates. I would say for every update I get about abortion, gay marriage, ACA, I get one about immigration, ending the death penalty, and keeping funding for various social programs for the poor. They tend to bounce from right to left fairly evenly. Now there are 5 issues that the church states its views are absolute 1) abortion, 2) gay marriage, 3) human cloning, 4) embryonic stem cell research and 5) active euthanasia. 1,2 and 4 would be considered conservative, the other two are sort of neutral.

The Catholic Church made this mistake after Vatican Council II. Vatican II was a great council, the REACTION to Vatican II is where things went hay wire. To try to be all inclusive the Church watered down its teachings and it backfired. Numbers actually went down compared to growth in population.

 

What a disaster those years were. The Council let in the modern world and just as St. Pius X warned, the modern world nearly crushed it.

Most political discussion from the church in KY comes form the Catholic Conference of Kentucky. I receive their updates. I would say for every update I get about abortion, gay marriage, ACA, I get one about immigration, ending the death penalty, and keeping funding for various social programs for the poor. They tend to bounce from right to left fairly evenly. Now there are 5 issues that the church states its views are absolute 1) abortion, 2) gay marriage, 3) human cloning, 4) embryonic stem cell research and 5) active euthanasia. 1,2 and 4 would be considered conservative, the other two are sort of neutral.

I don't know about internal communications, but Catholic mass media is way to the right of center -- EWTN and Sacred Heart radio. I just never see or hear or read about the more liberal side of the American Catholic Church -- unless it involves the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops trying to keep the conservative lid on those activist nuns who talk about helping the poor too much and abortion too little.

I don't know about internal communications, but Catholic mass media is way to the right of center -- EWTN and Sacred Heart radio. I just never see or hear or read about the more liberal side of the American Catholic Church -- unless it involves the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops trying to keep the conservative lid on those activist nuns who talk about helping the poor too much and abortion too little.

 

What's interesting is that while EWTN's politics may be "conservative", they've been continually lambasted by people in some circles for being anti-traditionalist. The politics of the Church rarely follow the sort of left and right spectrum that became so much a part of modern political thought from Edmund Burke onward.

What's interesting is that while EWTN's politics may be "conservative", they've been continually lambasted by people in some circles for being anti-traditionalist. The politics of the Church rarely follow the sort of left and right spectrum that became so much a part of modern political thought from Edmund Burke onward.

So the far right Latin mass folks are upset that all the daily masses are in English? On either Catholic TV or radio, one simply never hears any moderate viewpoints, unless someone like Raymond Arroyo brings in ACA supporter Sister Carol Keehan for the sole purpose of cutting her down.

I don't know about internal communications, but Catholic mass media is way to the right of center -- EWTN and Sacred Heart radio. I just never see or hear or read about the more liberal side of the American Catholic Church -- unless it involves the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops trying to keep the conservative lid on those activist nuns who talk about helping the poor too much and abortion too little.

 

I would say most of the stuff on the other side is not on the radio and is generally those supporting a cause that in and of itself may not be Catholic. IE the "chaplain" for the WHAS Crusade for Children is a catholic priest who is seen in public often supporting the crusade and the similar. Catholic church is also involved in C.L.O.U.T. in Louisville which generally supports social programs.

I don't know about internal communications, but Catholic mass media is way to the right of center -- EWTN and Sacred Heart radio. I just never see or hear or read about the more liberal side of the American Catholic Church -- unless it involves the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops trying to keep the conservative lid on those activist nuns who talk about helping the poor too much and abortion too little.

 

Yet Catholics voted for President Obama over his opponent in the last two elections.

One of my good friends -- a lifelong Catholic who seldom misses mass -- told me that the "election sermon" is commonplace up here in NKY, and that some less-conservative priests are not too pleased to have to deliver said sermon from the pulpit. Your observation that this practice is rare may mean that this is a decision made at the diocesan level.

 

Pretty sure that "directive" has been ignored for decades at St. Joseph in Warsaw, which is part of the DOC.

Yet Catholics voted for President Obama over his opponent in the last two elections.

 

I saw a poll where it surveyed Catholics. Then you look at Catholics who attend church pretty much every weekend versus the Christmas/Easter Catholics versus the don't remember the last time I was in church, the Christmas/Easter and don't remembers voted pretty heavily for Obama. The pretty much every weekend Catholics voted almost as heavily for McCain and Romney.

 

There is a decent sized segment of Catholics who proudly call themselves Catholic but don't follow Catholic teaching anymore than someone who is not Catholic. I think being Catholic to them is more of a cultural thing than a religious matter. A rabbi who taught me in college said the same thing about Jews since WWII.

I saw a poll where it surveyed Catholics. Then you look at Catholics who attend church pretty much every weekend versus the Christmas/Easter Catholics versus the don't remember the last time I was in church, the Christmas/Easter and don't remembers voted pretty heavily for Obama. The pretty much every weekend Catholics voted almost as heavily for McCain and Romney.

 

There is a decent sized segment of Catholics who proudly call themselves Catholic but don't follow Catholic teaching anymore than someone who is not Catholic. I think being Catholic to them is more of a cultural thing than a religious matter. A rabbi who taught me in college said the same thing about Jews since WWII.

Bush took the Catholic vote in '04 but the GOP lost the Catholic vote in '00, '08 and '12. Just a 2-point difference in '12. (So the only Dem to lose the Catholic vote since '00 was a Catholic.)

 

Big difference in how Hispanic Catholics vote compared to non-Hispanic Catholics. Some interesting numbers at:

 

How the Faithful Voted: 2012 Preliminary Analysis | Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

 

The last few elections Catholics have pretty much been in line with the national vote, I believe. Evangelicals, on the other hand, have trended to the right more.

Evangelicals have moved to the right, hence the topic of this thread.

Evangelicals have moved to the right, hence the topic of this thread.

Minimal change between '04 and '12 for evangelicals ... 79 percent Republican. The numbers that jump out at me are Catholics favoring Obama by 2 points in '12, but white Catholics supporting Romney by 18-19 points.

 

The role of Hispanics in electing presidents is only going to grow.

Minimal change between '04 and '12 for evangelicals ... 79 percent Republican. The numbers that jump out at me are Catholics favoring Obama by 2 points in '12, but white Catholics supporting Romney by 18-19 points.

 

The role of Hispanics in electing presidents is only going to grow.

 

Not sure what you're talking about but as usual it has nothing to do with the topic.