I was born a Catholic, baptized within a week of my birth and raised in a Catholic family and Catholic community.  I attended Catholic schools and weekly Mass, received my childhood sacraments with my classmates, and participated enthusiastically in Catholic youth programs, retreats, and community service activities.   Most of our families’ social connections were also Catholic – our doctors, our plumber, our scout troops, and our swimming pool were all from within the local Catholic community.  I was a Catholic every day of the week, and my identity and my expectations of myself were firmly grounded in Catholic thought.

As a teenager in a Catholic high school in the 1970s, I studied the Documents of Vatican II in religion class, debating the role of the Church in the modern world and our social responsibilities to those who were less fortunate or whose beliefs differed from ours.   We discussed the nuances of conscience formation and discernment, social and ethical implications of the Gospel message, and our obligations to put our faith into action.  We considered all these issues within the framework of Catholic Catechism and teachings.  This solid religious upbringing stayed with me as I moved through college and graduate school, and I remain a committed Catholic.

I am no casual Catholic; I attend Sunday Mass as well as weekday and holiday celebrations, and my religion permeates every aspect of my life.  I am a Democrat because I believe that the actions that the Republicans have taken on issues such as war, poverty, health care, discrimination, and religious tolerance are completely at odds with my religious beliefs.  Admittedly, the stances of those in the Democratic Party are not always aligned with my religious beliefs either, but their center is much closer to my beliefs and the message of Christian compassion with which I was raised.

My Republican friends will often throw the abortion issue at me; I am told that if I don’t vote only for candidates who support the unqualified criminalization of abortion, then that somehow makes me un-Catholic.  Not only does that completely ignore all the other important life issues facing us as Americans, but it simplifies the abortion issue to focus only on its legal status, rather than its actual practice.   We know that the best way to reduce abortions is to address issues of poverty and health care, yet Republicans refuse to consider those issues.  We know that desperate women will find ways to terminate pregnancies even if those methods are illegal, dangerous or difficult, yet I find few Republicans who are willing to consider providing the services that will prevent those desperate unplanned pregnancies in the first place.   It seems to me that too much of the Republican approach to social issues is based on a sexual Puritanism that is rooted in fantasy rather than the reality of our diverse American culture.  My Catholic perspective causes me to reject that puritanical moralizing; I feel that the Democratic message of tolerance and understanding is far better aligned with the teachings of Christ.

It is strange to me that so many assume that a religious Catholic will also be a Republican.  I am dismayed when I hear the Catholic Republicans around me proudly use their politics as a testament to their religiosity, while in the same breath cheerfully endorsing the death penalty, aggression toward other countries, discrimination against others, denial of health care, and intolerance toward other religions.  This, to me, is no way to be a faithful Catholic.  I am a Democrat because that is where my faith has led me, and I could not possibly be anything else.