Cardinal George's inner circle includes Democratic and GOP voters (Catholic Caucus)

(POSTED: 12/21/09) As he tangles with Democratic Party leaders over the direction of health care reform, particularly relating to abortion, Cardinal Francis George can sound an awful lot like a Republican.

Whether he is or not is unclear. He won't talk about a partisan affiliation and, because he hasn't voted in a primary for more than a decade, there are no recent public records to provide a clue.

But an analysis by ChicagoCatholicNews found a number of Democratic voters in the cardinal's own inner circle -- and among rank-and-file priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago -- despite the party's strong support for abortion rights.

Among those who requested Democratic ballots in the February 2008 primary, which was held several months before Barack Obama secured the party nomination over Hillary Clinton on the road to the White House, are:

--Chancellor Jimmy Lago, a layman who holds the No. 3 job in the archdiocese, handling many of the day-to-day operations of the Catholic Church in Cook and Lake counties.

--The Rev. Raymond Baumhart, a Jesuit and former Loyola University Chicago president who serves as a "personal consultant" to the cardinal.

--John Gorman and Timothy Lyne, two of 10 active and retired auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese.

Curbing abortion was described by one of the cardinal's confidants as George's "No. 1 issue." (George, who serves as head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was so forceful in conveying the Church's stance on abortion before the November 2008 general election, some saw it as a tacit endorsement of the Republicans.)

But for some archdiocesan officials who have voted Democratic, things are more complicated.

Baumhart, for instance, said that while he abhors abortion, "there are so many important issues." The Democrats, in his view, better represent regular folks, while the Republican Party is more "the money party."

Another high-ranking archdiocesan official who voted Democratic in the last two election cycles said his voting involves, in part, feeling a connection to a particular candidate, like Obama. "It's sort of a people thing."

While abortion is an important issue -- and Obama supports abortion access -- the official added: "I don't think you can let that be the one-and-only item."

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry said he had the same kind of thought while voting for GOP presidential candidate John McCain in the general election.

"It was more than that," Perry said, referring to McCain's opposition to abortion. "It was everything, war and peace, the economy, health care -- all of those things."

Perry did not vote in the primary, he said, because he didn't want a party preference out there.

That's likely why the cardinal (pictured above) hasn't voted in a primary for years. And other bishops said that's been their practice as well, since they have to serve a flock of varying political stripes, and don't want to offend or be forever associated with a partisan group.

An exception is Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who according to Cook County records pulled Republican ballots in the 2006 and 2008 primaries. Through an archdiocesan spokeswoman, Paprocki (pictured below) declined to comment.

Public records show two other clerics in trusted archdiocesan positions pulled Republican ballots in 2008: the Rev. Daniel Flens, the cardinal's ever-present secretary; and the Rev. Thomas Baima, who helps run the Mundelein seminary that educates and trains future priests.

Flens would only say: "I never comment on my own voting and neither does the cardinal."

Baima could not be reached for comment.

Also declining to comment was Lago, the chancellor, who requested Democratic ballots in seven of the last eight primaries, according to records from the Cook County clerk's office.

"I'm not discussing my personal, private voting practices," Lago said via email.

Aside from the upper echelon of the archdiocese, ChicagoCatholicNews also sampled primary records of more than 50 rank-and-file priests and found roughly half pulled Democratic ballots in the 2008 primary. (Primary records for many of the remaining priests could not be found.)

Meanwhile, George and other Catholic leaders have come under fire recently for being such a powerful lobbying force in the Democratic-led health care debate.

But Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane said this isn't about politics, and the cardinal shouldn't be pigeon-holed as a Republican or a Democrat.

"I think the cardinal is really trying to stand for a principle -- it's not a partisan principle, it's the principle of life," Kane said.

But for some archdiocesan officials who have voted Democratic, things are more complicated.

Sounds like a full endorsement of the late Cardinal Bernadin's thoroughly debunked and condemned "seamless garment" theory.

Well, there are no parts of the "seamless garment" that aren't sinful. Socialism has been thoroughly condemned throughout.

A suggestion for my fellow Catholics to consider: next time you go to confession after Obamacare is passed and signed into law (to be continued as long as necessary), be sure to confess your material support for abortion and euthanasia. When asked, inform your confessor that your taxes support abortion and euthanasia and that you feel very remorseful for providing the funding necessary through your taxes. You may also want to confess providing material support to first commandment violations, by providing material support to socialist policies that draw people to reverence of the government vice reverence of God (but that depends upon how conservative you are in your politics)

Not even a peep about a grave reason, eh? Yet another case of Church officials not really treating abortion like what they say it is. Lets see how some of those quotes read if abortion is switched out for something also abhorrent.

“Baumhart, for instance, said that while he abhors cannabalism, “there are so many important issues.”

“While cannabalism is an important issue — and Obama supports human flesh access — the official added: “I don’t think you can let that be the one-and-only item.”

“It was more than that,” Perry said, referring to McCain’s opposition to cannabalism. “It was everything, war and peace, the economy, health care — all of those things.”

Freegards

>> Stick to your own field Padre, you are obviously very politically ignorant. My mom might be interested in this article. Last week she shocked me by calling the Pope an idiot for being on the climate change train. <<

Interesting. I didn't even know the Pope had endorsed the gorebull warming scam. Well, it's like I said on another thread, this is why I consider myself a strong social conservative and a devout religious person, but NOT a member of the "religious right". I don't decide policy based on how my church officials feel about it. Period. It seems many anti-Catholic freepers still can't grasp that idea, and continue to believe Catholics blindly agree with whatever the Pope's opinion is. Besides the doctrine of papal infallibility is that the Pope is "infallible" when speaking on matters of faith and morals that can't be explained in temporal ways (for example, the afterlife). He's certainly NOT infallible when it comes to his opinion on current science, history, current political events, or the best sports team for that matter.

>> “While cannabalism is an important issue — and Obama supports human flesh access — the official added: “I don’t think you can let that be the one-and-only item.” “It was more than that,” Perry said, referring to McCain’s opposition to cannabalism. “It was everything, war and peace, the economy, health care — all of those things.” <<

Interesting thread with reference on how the bishops voted. The Catholic teachings on political issues, overall, tend to be socially conservative but economically liberal. My dad figures most of the bishops and Cardinal George probably skipped the presidential race on the ballot, seeing Obama as unacceptable because he supports infanticide, but not willing to vote for McCain because they weren't happy with McCain's stance on other issues like the war in Iraq and cutting down government handouts.

There was a Catholic priest elected to Congress about a generation back (maybe Fieldmarshaldj has an interesting story about that), who sadly was elected from Mass. and was a socialist loon. Incredibly, this "pro-life" priest voted in FAVOR of unrestricted abortion, arguing that abortion shouldn't be prohibited legally because it was prohibited morally. We were finally rid of him when the Pope issued a ruling barring active parish priests from simtanemously serving in high political office, so the priest resigned to comply.

>> Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry said he had the same kind of thought while voting for GOP presidential candidate John McCain in the general election. Well, here's at least one person who didn't vote for Obama because of the color of his skin (Perry's black). <<

Amen to that. All those folks talking about how St. Sabina's "Catholic" parish needs a leader who "understands" the black community should have THIS guy running the parish instead of the self-loathing Fr. Flakey, that wacko heretic priest who teaches his flock to hate whitey and that Obama is their savior instead of Jesus. I think Field said it best when he remarked "Chicago has a wigger priest? Now I've seen everything". If I was Cardinal I would defrock "Father" Flakey ASAP and replace him with a decent guy like Bishop Perry (are black Catholics really going to claim a black priest who grew up in poverty doesn't "understand" their community?), but alas Cardinal George is afraid to stand up to the looney Obama-loving wing of Chicago Catholics. Cardinal George has been very vocal and outspoken about pro-life issues. But I can understand why many conservative Catholics are fed up with him, especially when Chicagolady posted about George marching in the illegal alien rights rally.

(Of course as a personal aside, if any freepers have been paying attention, I'm a lifelong Chicago area Catholic who had enough with the archdiosese of Chicago. Last year I joined a new Catholic parish that is fully in communion with the Pope and located in the Chicago area, but is NOT under the jurisdiction of the archdiosese of Chicago. The priest there is very conservative and vocally against the Obama agenda. It's been a good fit for me.)

There was not one, but two, very liberal Catholic Priests who served as Democrat Congressmen in the ‘70s. The famous one was from MA, that being Fr. Robert Drinan, who was about as leftist as they come, he served for 10 years (1971-1981). He would’ve continued to serve had, IIRC, an edict come down either forbidding or strongly urging all Priests to step down from holding elective office. He was succeeded by none other than Barney Frank.

The other was the much lesser known Fr. Robert J. Cornell (also a Jesuit). He was a history and poli-sci professor at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin, but was active in politics and became Chairman of the 8th WI Dist. Democrats in the late ‘60s (the 8th being centered on Green Bay). The district he was in was solidly GOP, but put up his name for Congress in 1970, getting the highest percent of the vote against 26-year incumbent John Byrnes. Byrnes retired in 1972 and Cornell faced Republican Harold Froehlich, a state legislative leader, but he performed exceptionally well, losing to Froehlich by just a 50-49% margin.

Fr. Cornell decided to run again in ‘74, and with the Watergate fiasco and the public’s desire for “morality in government”, he blew out Froehlich by a 9% margin. He amassed a very left-wing record (lifetime 7% from the ACU) and faced Froehlich for a 3rd time in 1976, winning by an underwhelming 51-47%. He ran again in 1978, but his voting record was clearly out-of-step with the district, and he lost 58-42% against Toby Roth. Had he prevailed in ‘78, he would’ve been bound as Drinan was to step aside in ‘80. He went back to his old job as a Professor after his defeat and died back in May of this year at the age of 89.

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