Washington D.C., Feb 5, 2012 / 05:33 pm (CNA).- The growing Catholic outcry against a recent health insurance mandate could threaten President Obama’s support “among a key group of swing voters that was critical to his victory in 2008,” political writer George Condon says. 

According to an analysis released by the Pew Research Center on Feb. 2, Catholics have shifted away from Democratic Party since the 2008 election.

George E. Condon, Jr., a political writer for the nonpartisan National Journal, wrote in a Feb. 1 article that although Obama won the Catholic vote in the 2008 election, recent dissatisfaction among Catholics could be detrimental to his 2012 efforts for a second term. 

Condon tied Obama’s change in political fortune to the Jan. 20 announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services that virtually all employers will be required to purchase health insurance that includes coverage for sterilization and contraception, as well as the drug Ella, which can cause early abortions.

The very narrow religious exemption to the mandate requires an organization to exist for the purpose of inculcating religious values and to restrict employment and its services primarily to fellow believers.

The administration refused to broaden the exemption despite thousands of complaints from religious hospitals, schools and charitable agencies that objected to the mandate but were open to serving members of all faiths. 

In less than two weeks, the decision has been denounced in thousands of Catholic churches across America, and several bishops stated that they would refuse to comply with the “unconscionable” and “unjust” regulation.

According to Condon, the mandate provoked an “explosion of anger” and has left many Catholics feeling disappointed with President Obama.

Many Catholics who supported Obama in the 2008 election and defended his controversial appearance at Notre Dame in 2009 are also now left disillusioned by the realization that Obama does not understand “Catholic sensitivities,” as they had thought.

Condon said that although not all Catholics follow the Church’s teaching on birth control, the “American Catholic backlash” against the mandate has united the Church in a fight against a government attempt to regulate its ministries and employees.

The united Catholic opposition could be damaging to Obama’s chances for reelection, he said, observing that in 2010, Catholics made up 25 percent of the American population and were a “big swing vote in the key political states.”

Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center over the last year show a significant shift in the Catholic electorate away from the Democratic Party. 

In 2008, 37 percent of Catholic registered voters either identified with or leaned towards the Republican Party, while 53 percent favored the Democratic Party.

By 2011, those numbers had changed significantly, with 43 percent favoring the Republican Party and 48 percent identifying more closely with the Democratic Party.

An even further shift has occurred among white Catholics who attend Mass every week.
In 2008, this demographic was evenly split, with 45 percent favoring each political party.

But in 2011, 52 percent favored the Republicans and just 40 percent identified more with the Democrats.

The Pew analysis indicates that Catholic voters are not alone in this trend. It finds that “the share of voters identifying with or leaning toward the GOP has either grown or held steady in every major religious group,” including those that have traditionally tended to align more closely with the Democratic Party.

Condon explained that Catholics being upset at the Obama administration over the new mandate could play a significant role in the upcoming election.

He stated that “the clout of the Catholic vote is unquestioned,” with only one candidate winning the presidency without it since 1972. 

He also pointed out that over 50 of the bishops who have spoken out “represent dioceses in what will be battleground states in the election” and that many of these states have large Catholic populations.

Catholics are also highly concentrated in about a dozen battleground states, including New Jersey (41 percent), Wisconsin (30 percent), Pennsylvania (28 percent), and Ohio (18 percent).

Denville, N.J., Feb 5, 2012 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- Reaching from Dover in Morris County, N.J. to Malawi in Africa, students at Morris Catholic High School in Morris County, N.J. have partnered together to show their solidarity with those in need.

Recently, students hosted an Empty Bowls dinner to bring solidarity and awareness to those living in poverty in the African nation of Malawi and to also bring support to Hope House in Dover, N.J., an agency of diocesan Catholic Charities that serves the needy in Morris County. The Empty Bowls Project is a grassroots effort to fight hunger created by the Image Render Group.

For several weeks, students in Lauren Caruso's art class made clay bowls. The colorful and creative hand crafted clay bowls were then sold at the dinner fundraiser. For the dinner, members of the school's campus ministry volunteered to serve patrons a simple meal of soup and bread while Key Club members hosted a fair trade sale, featuring hand-made goods from artisans in developing nations. Proceeds helped both the Empty Bowls Project and Hope House in Paterson, N.J. in their service to the poor.

The purpose of the bowls, according to Jeanne Gradone, director of student services at Morris Catholic High School, was "for families to bring the bowls home and place the empty bowls on their dinner table. The empty bowls symbolize the many people around the world who don't have a meal that day. It is to bring awareness that the majority of people around the world have empty bowls. We don't want people to feel guilty about what they have, but we want them to consciously make a commitment to live in solidarity with the poor and have a constant reminder to pray for them."

During the process of making the bowls, students focused on those in Malawi, while having an awareness of their place in the world family and at the same time concentrate on its local family.

"We also wanted to support Hope House and help the local residents they serve. The agency supports many of our neighbors in Morris County and also the many people who were affected by the floods last August in the area," said Gradone.

For the past two years, the school has been immersed in a Global Solidarity school initiative, sponsored by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. This year, the school is remembering orphans and vulnerable children around the world with Malawi as a focus. Last year, the school was centered on the theme of peace building and looked to examples from the Holy Land.

"The mission of CRS," said Gradone, "is to allow people to become self sufficient. The people in many of these nations know what they need; they just need the resources to succeed."

During Lent, which begins this year on Feb. 22, Ash Wednesday, the school will continue to support Catholic Relief Services through the agency's well-known Operation Rice Bowl program. The students will learn more about the countries featured in the program and learn to be an advocate for those around the world.

Gradone said, "We want the students at Morris Catholic to know their place in the world and make connections with people. We want them to say about others, 'I value the gift that you are.'"

Posted with permission from the Diocese of Paterson, N.J.

Born in a wealthy family in 1562  at Tounucumada, Japan, the son of a military leader, Paul Miki felt a call to religious life from his youth. He became a Jesuit in 1580 after being educated at the Jesuit college at Anziquiama. He became a successful evangelist, and when the political climate became hostile to Christianity, he decided to continue his ministry and was soon arrested. On his way to martydom, he and other imprisoned Christians were marched 600 miles so that they could be abused by, and be a lesson to, their countrymen. However, they all sang the Te Deum as they marched to the place where they would be martyred. His last sermon was delivered from the cross: "The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason that I die. I believe that I am telling the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain". He died by being stabbed with a lance while crucified at Nagasaki, Japan. Paul Miki and his companions were canonized in  1862 by Pope Pius IX.

1 The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling.2 As a servant longeth for the shade, as the hireling looketh for the end of his work;3 So I also have had empty months, and have numbered to myself wearisome nights.4 If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness.6 My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope.7 Remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return to see good things.