The Catholic Puzzle : Parishes and Civic Life

Forthcoming, Harvard University Press Chapter 2 The Catholic Puzzle: Parishes and Civic Life By Mary Jo Bane The National Conference of Catholic Bishops issues a statement opposing stem cell research. Catholic parishes mobilized by the Industrial Area Foundations lobby for affordable housing. Lay Catholics occupy important leadership positions in local and national Right-to-Life committees. Catholic members of Congress divide, mostly but not entirely by party, in votes on partial birth abortion and on welfare reform. National polls show that neither Catholics’ demographic characteristics nor their attitudes on public issues are particularly different from the nation as a whole; and that Catholics are less involved with and give less money to religious and nonprofit groups than members of other religions. As part of their Sunday liturgies, tens of millions of Catholics hear Scripture readings and homilies urging them to eschew riches and care for the poor. As these examples show, the Catholic presence in American public life takes varied and often contradictory forms. The contradictions and tensions raise all manner of interesting questions and responses, for example from political strategists confused about what Catholic voters really respond to, from clergy bemoaning the fact that nobody seems to pay attention to Church teachings, and from social justice advocates wanting more involvement of Catholics individually and collectively in both national and international social and economic issues. My personal membership in the latter group is part of my motivation for writing this paper. But this paper primarily reflects a more analytical stance, an attempt to engage and evaluate the Catholic presence in American civic life. As I have looked at the research on the role that congregations and other religious groupings play in shaping