In the beginning, the Catholic Church and the GOP

I am the product of 16 years of Catholic school education. Not to mention that my family is also very religious in that they attend church, have as the main focus in their professions helping less fortunate people, and generally try to be good people. Thus, I was taught to be selfless and to care for others as much as I could, to turn the other cheek so to say, to not say anything if it wasn't nice, and to not judge others; like Jesus. I was even forced to attend vacation bible school during a summer or two where I distinctly remember a tie dyeing activity where the final product, which we had to wear, was a t-shirt with the image of Jesus' blood and sweat ridden face and crown of thorns. After much begging, thankfully I was allowed to skip vacation bible school forever more.

With all this religion around me one may assume that just by osmosiss, the Catholic beliefs entered my body through my semi-permeable membraine. While that is not entirely true, I can say that caring for others and not judging are the most important teachings I have taken away from my schooling, which is why I simply cannot be a part of mainstream Catholic Church ideology.

There was an article in the New York Times today about the Roman Catholic Church's political position as it observes its annual “respect life” Sunday. The article talks about Catholic voters debating how to apply the church’s teachings not only on abortion but also on the war in Iraq, immgration and racism. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/us/politics/05catholic.html?ref=us. I assume these teachings are the same ones I learned in Catholic school, which, as I mentioned above, is to basically love you neighbor, etc. I applaud those members of the Church who have challenged the Church to open its eyes to apply the "teachings" to the bigger picture and the reality we live in.

I have to start out by saying that I respect every person's individual position on abortion. That said, there are other social issues that affect a woman's decision to have an abortion, which if were addressed may ultimately prevent abortions and poverty. As Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourners magazine, which I highly recommend for all you religiously reared, socially justice minded folks, so eloquently put it, "we have seen once again in this campaign the issue of abortion used as a partisan wedge rather than having a serious discussion on how to act to reduce the number of abortions. If we are to be truly pro-life, we must focus on real people and the conditions that lead women to seek abortions. Jobs, health care, and a living income."

So, the message from the Church is to vote Republican because the GOP opposes abortion, despite the fact that the GOP does not believe in social programs such as: health care for all, living wage, equality in education, which all help people rise up out of poverty and potentially avoid the societal conditions (poverty) that lead to abortion? The reason, I can only assume, is that all of these things cost money and the GOP base is not willing to share, or another way to look at is it that the GOP is not really sincere about making the life of a child born into these conditions a better one.

Sharing, I believe, although I have no source to cite, is a basic teaching of most religions, and certainly all pre-schoolers. How then did that basic moral principle get left at the door of the Catholic Church and GOP headquarters? (stock portfolios, vacation home number 9, ruling the world?).

Maybe it's just that the Church and the GOP simply adhere to the sixth commandment; thou shalt not kill. But wait, the GOP supports the death penalty, which contradicts not only the sixth commandment, but the teaching to not judge others? Yet despite this support for the death penalty, the Catholic Church still openly supports the GOP. I have never been able to understand the juxtaposition of the killing issue, abortion vs. death penalty. The only lesson I can glean from this discourse is that we care for some select people, but definitely not others, most of which we have judged.

Never more have I felt that the WWJD rave would have more relevance.

The simple fact is that the GOP does not believe that we should help each other in the form of social programs. Rather, it feels that everyone should pull themselves up by their own boot straps. The irony is that many of the old Republican guard who hold this belief are confused about whose boot straps they were holding onto when they received their education and began making their fortune. As I painstakingly pay my student loan for the next 30 years, I can't help but think that you can't get more socialist than the G. I. bill. ........oh wait, I think I misspoke, nationalizing the largest corporations in this country and pumping 700 billion dollars of taxpayer money into Wall Street may have a slight edge.




* like all organizations, the Catholic Church has members who are movers and shakers in the social justice reform area, such as the Paulist Center in Boston, MA.