Most of my friends are either Methodists or Catholics.
FWIW, none of my Catholic friends voted Republican last November, while many Methodists I know did.
It’s kind of like the problem with U.S. Jews voting for Democrats; it seems that Catholics are increasingly voting for liberal candidates.
Why is this?
>>Why is this?<<
Two reasons
1. Many Catholics have no clue what it means to be Catholic. Poor teachings for nearly 40 years
2. Lots of people are born Catholic but are really “Catholic-ish”
Things are changing. If Obama doesn’t stop it, many Bishops are finding their backbone and actually guiding us.
Because they didn’t want the republican as much as the democrat? Maybe they are voting for the individual more than the party.
Lots of Catholic clergy and religious are out there pushing the “social justice” line with full fury these days. The passing of John Paul II, who fully understood the dangers of Communism, has left them feeling free to do so. They went underground for a time but now they’re back. You can hear sermons in many Catholic pulpits on Sunday which sound like something that was lifted out of The Huffington Post.
Were they Irish Catholics?
Lots of reasons, most of them sort of historical, but not all of them.
First, most Catholics take seriously the much-repeated Biblical injunctions (both OT and NT) to give to and take care of the poor. Due to Dem self-congratulation and MSM reinforcement (and no counter-arguments from Republicans), I'm sure a lot of them accept the Dem assumption that, with Republicans in power, the poor, the halt, the lame and blind will be left to starve in the streets (actually, a likely prospect if some FR posters had their way!).
It doesn't help that too many Catholic bishops go with the Dem line, and it's totally unnoticed and unremarked (even by Republicans) that Dem welfare schemes are, today at least, less geared to helping the poor than to keeping them poor and -- not so incidentally -- to providing lots of Dem gov't jobs to their hack supporters and voters, with the further benefit that they can use the poor as a stick to beat those "eeeevil Republicans". I think Rush cited recently that typical welfare costs are 70% administrative and 30% to the purported beneficiaries.
Then there are the (for want of a better word) the "historical" reasons. Many Catholics are the grandchildren of immigrants -- all those Irish, Italian, Eastern European, etc., hordes that the Republicans of the time looked down their noses at. (Are you familiar with the phrase "No Irish need apply"?) Remember, these were legal immigrants, who had to go through health screening to enter the country and be guaranteed by a friend or relative so they wouldn't become public charges.
I think there's still some sort of "historical memory" of the same kind among Jews: it was the DEMS who fought against the old Ivy League quotas that limited artificially the number of Jews who would be admitted. Anti-Semitism used to be a Republican thing. As was anti-Catholicism. And some people have long memories.
Actually, as late as the early 70s, Dems were the ones opposed to abortion; Republicans -- especially the northeast, Rockefeller type who dominated the news and the party -- were for it.
Not everyone reads FR. A lot of people see the major papers, turn on GMA or Today while they're getting ready for work, and maybe watch the 7:00 p.m. network news -- and consider themselves reasonably well informed. They're too busy with work and kids and family problems and whatever to think of looking more deeply into it.
I do have to say that the Republicans make their case poorly.
FWIW: The devout in my family voted Obama, largely due to tradition and the fact that they live in NJ and SE PA. As for abortion, they will tell you that "the Republicans just talk and there's nothing the government can do, etc."
Why is this?
They were catechized under the idea of the "Seamless Garment", promulgated by Cardinal Bernardin, who was Archbishop of Chicago, and who was big into the 'Social Justice' teachings of the Church, but who relegated to the back burner any of the teachings about Sexual Morality.
In the minds of the Seamless Garment folks, there should be a "preferential option for the poor", which, in their minds, translates into more welfare, and more government programs of all kinds to help the poor in their lives. They don't like Republicans who want to help the poor OUT of their poverty, because they think that's mean, and puts too much pressure on poor people, and that means that Republicans hate poor people.
This translates into the notion that Democrats are better, because they want to help poor people, by giving them more money and government services, thus they must love them, so we'll vote for the Democrats. According to this mindset, it doesn't matter what the Democrats think about abortion, because abortion is only ONE of many Social Justice issues, so if the Democrats are good on everything but that ONE issue, then they can, in good conscience, vote for them.
Some Catholics disregarded ANY social issues last time, and voted based on their anger about the economy. Since the Republicans had held the White House for 8 years, it must be their fault, so they decided that the Democrats could do a better job. They totally ignored the fact that many of the economic problems were caused by the decisions of the Democrat Presidents Carter and Clinton, and the Democrats in Congress, sometimes with the help of a few RINOs.
If you Catholic friends voted for Obortion Obama, then they aren’t REAL Catholics, but rather Catholics in Name Only-CINOs.
Sorry to break the news to you, but it’s true. I wonder how many of these apostates still support him? LOL!