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OBAMA RE-ELECTED; WINS CATHOLIC VOTE AGAIN

Our first and most fundamental freedom is the right to self-governance.  For all its shortcomings, democracy protects liberty better than any alternative, something the Catholic bishops did not accept in Spain, 1936. 

For all of the negative ads, comments, postings, and rants as well as the oft offered claim that we are choosing the lesser of two evils, in fact we had two very honorable and decent men running for President.  Governor Romney's concession speech was gracious and in keeping with the best traditions of our Republic.  And the President was very kind (as well as accurate) in noting that not only has Governor Romney contributed to the betterment of our nation, but also his parents, George and Lenore. 

God bless America.  God bless the President.  Best wishes to Governor Romney.  And please remember in your prayers the departed souls, especially George and Lenore Romney. 

Vice President Joe Biden: Catholics for Obama

MY DAY IN CLEVELAND

OHIO CATHOLICS NOT SHOWING INTEREST IN OBAMA BASHING

Being a holyday, I took a break from campaign work for the President's re-election to go to Mass here in Cleveland.  Nothing inappropriately political at the Mass, thanks be to God.  The dioceses of Ohio have generally been good in not politicizing the liturgy, earning them the wrath of the Right-Wing, some of whom have been sending nasty letters to the bishop.

Coming into the church, however, was a guy passing out a "Pro-Life Ballot" published by Ohio Right to Life.  You might be interested to know that opposing congressional redistricting reform is a pro-life issue.  It is "anti-life" to take away from politicians the task of drawing their own political boundaries.  Who knew?

I can say that few of the Mass attendees had any interest in the propaganda, some made clear their displeasure.  Some took the materials and quickly discarded it. I "volunteered" to clean up the church and picked up the trash left in the back so no one would mistakenly think this was authorized material.

It is an important lesson that those Catholics committed enough to attend a workday Holyday Mass have little interest in the anti-Obama, partisan propaganda put out by the Right-Wing.

Ohio is looking good.

POPE CALLS HEALTH CARE A HUMAN RIGHT

Pope Calls Health Care An ‘Inalienable Right,’ Urges World Governments To Provide Universal Coverage

By Alex Seitz-Wald

At an international papal conference on health care yesterday at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic church leaders said it is the “moral responsibility of nations to guarantee access to health care for all of their citizens, regardless of social and economic status or their ability to pay.” Saying access to adequate medical care is one of the “inalienable rights” of man, the pope said, “Justice in health care should be a priority of governments and international institutions”.

The pope lamented the great inequalities in health care around the globe. While people in many parts of the world aren’t able to receive essential medications or even the most basic care, in industrialized countries there is a risk of “pharmacological, medical and surgical consumerism” that leads to “a cult of the body,” the pope said.

“The care of man, his transcendent dignity and his inalienable rights” are issues that should concern Christians, the pope said.

Because an individual’s health is a “precious asset” to society as well as to himself, governments and other agencies should seek to protect it by “dedicating the equipment, resources and energy so that the greatest number of people can have access.”

In a separate statement, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said, “Justice requires guaranteed universal access to health care,” adding that minimal levels of medical care are “a fundamental human right.” “Governments are obligated, therefore, to adopt the proper legislative, administrative and financial measures to provide such care,” the cardinal explained, saying that, “The governments of richer nations with good health care available should practice more solidarity with their own disadvantaged citizens.”

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/11/19/131348/pope-universal-healthcare/?mobile=nc

MANY CATHOLICS FIND OBAMA TO BE THE PRO-LIFE CANDIDATE

Catholic Republicans often demand that Catholic voters set aside concerns such as worker rights, racial fairness, world peace, social justice and care for the poor to vote solely on the abortion issue.  While many Catholics reject the idea that every other issue needs to be forgotten about, increasingly even when just considering the abortion issue, some Catholics are concluding President Obama is the better candidate.  Mitt Romney has more positions on abortion than fingers on a hand, but most recently said he had no abortion issues on his agenda should be become President.

Professor Charles J. Reid, who teaches law at the Catholic St. Thomas University makes the case that Obama is the pro-life candidate here: 
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-j-reid-jr/catholic-pro-life-and-voting-for-barack-obama_b_2024427.html

And in another article, it is reported many Catholics say President Obama is actually a pro-life hero.


More here:  http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/sexandgender/6501/barack_obama,_pro-life_hero

Polls actually show that a substantial number of pro-lifers are voting for the President.  Romney has also caused concerned among authentic pro-life Americans by his opposition to controlling Mercury and other poisons that cause abortions for pregnant women. 

FROM THE CATECHISM

CATHOLIC GROUP ENDORSES OBAMA

Catholics for Common Sense, a grassroots organization of everyday Catholics announced that it is endorsing Barack Obama for president of the United States.

“President Obama’s work digging out of the myriad messes he inherited is impressive. His stimulus package prevented the country from falling into another Great Depression and has helped fuel 31-straight months of job growth. His Affordable Care Act means greater health for all Americans as well as increased financial security for all Americans as the threat of going bankrupt due to sickness is now diminished. His record lowering taxes on small businesses and the middle class is unprecedented. Moreover, all this was accomplished while he was ending the war in Iraq and bringing the most-feared terrorist in the world to justice,” said Catholics for Common Sense board chairman Michael McGonigle.

“Mitt Romney has not presented a coherent vision to the nation. He seems to alternate between extreme-right platitudes and audience pandering that has put him on both sides of many issues – several times each. Above all, though, Mr. Romney’s insistence on returning to the disastrous trickle-down policies of George W. Bush is nothing less than frightening – particularly as it relates to his mathematically impossible tax plan that will balloon the nation’s deficit" McGonigle said.

BISHOPS PRAISE OBAMA FOR HONORING CESAR CHAVEZ

California bishops laud Obama's dedication of national monument to Cesar Chavez

California's Catholic bishops said they were grateful that a President Obama declared a national monument to be dedicated to farmworker labor leader Cesar Chavez, who "was profoundly influenced by Catholic social justice teaching."

Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union in 1962, "strived to be a good disciple of the Lord Jesus by bringing the kingdom of God to the vineyards, fields and groves of America," they said in a statement released Oct. 3. President Obama led the dedication on Oct. 8.

"Seeing the hard plight of migrant laborers, he became a community organizer in 1952, and eventually the founder of the United Farm Workers in 1962," added the bishops. "Through his influence and dedication, countless farm laborers today have basic protections -- from clean drinking water and safe working conditions to minimum wages and access to health care."

President Obama toured the Chavez Memorial Garden and placed a red rose at the gravesite where Cesar Chavez was laid to rest in 1993.  Obama issued a presidential proclamation establishing what is now known as the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, to be maintained by the National Park Service. The property is known as Nuestra Senora Reina de la Paz, Spanish for Our Lady Queen of Peace. In the UFW, it was known simply as La Paz.
"At La Paz, the UFW grew and expanded from its early roots as a union for farmworkers to become a national voice for the poor and disenfranchised," Obama said in the proclamation. "For Cesar Chavez, La Paz also provided the respite he needed to continue serving the farmworker movement. His attachment to La Paz as both a refuge and a place where he engaged in his life's work grew stronger over the years."

La Paz now "joins a long list of national monuments stretching from the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon," the president said. "It's a story of people, of determined, fearless, hopeful people," like Chavez, he added, "who have always been willing to devote their lives to making this country a little more just, a little more free."

Catholic Right Gives Up on Telling Catholics to Vote Pro-life. Now Just Says “Vote Republican.”

ROMNEY'S REVERSAL ON ABORTION OKAY.  ELECTING GOP IS WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES

After years of telling Catholics that abortion policy is a “non-negotiable” principle, but that policies for the poor, working families and world peace can be ignored and dispensed with, Right-wing groups claiming a Catholic identity have not expressed any problem with Romney abandoning any anti-abortion agenda. The Right is still telling Catholics to vote Republican even when it does nothing to protect the unborn.

On Wednesday, Romney’s campaign released a new ad aimed at pro-choice women. “You know, those ads saying Mitt Romney would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme, so I looked into it,” says a young woman identified as Sarah Minto. “Turns out Romney doesn’t oppose contraception at all. In fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother’s life.” And last week, he told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board, “There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.”

Romney declared that “Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives.” He also said employers should not be able to bar women from receiving such insurance, an apparent reversal of his previous position on that hot-button topic.

And Romney’s new found (or re-found from his days as Governor) pro-choice position has not met with any objection from social conservatives.

“If it’s hurting him to bring up the abortion issue, then I’m OK if he doesn’t,” said Bradley Mattis, head of the Life Issues Institute in Cincinnati. Rev. Frank Pavone, head of “Priests for Life” also justified support for Romney despite the GOP nominee’s position that the right to an abortion is a “settled” matter of law.

The ultraright “Catholic Vote” has even moved beyond not caring about Romney’s position on abortion to becoming a total Republican front group even when it means condoning the killing of unborn life. While their arguments for Romney vary from a claim he told funnier jokes than Obama at the Al Smith dinner to advocacy for Austrian School economics, the kicker is in their most recent attack on Obama for being “anti-coal.” In fact what the President supports is controls on Mercury pollution which, among other health hazards, causes the death of too many unborn lives. They are even ready to defend abortion/miscarriages when it is part of the GOP agenda of opposition to regulation.

LATINO CATHOLICS OVERWHELMINGLY FOR OBAMA

LATINO CATHOLICS SOLID

IN SUPPORT FOR THE PRESIDENT

A new study by the Pew Research Center revealed that three-quarters of Latino Catholics are President Barack Obama supporters while only 19% say they will vote for Romney. Strong support for the President exists among most elements of Latino Catholics including the most frequent church-goers. Catholics Latinos are more likely to support Obama than Latinos in general. The nonprofit research organization also found that 71 percent of Hispanics who are Catholic are Democrats, while 21 percent are Republicans.

The research also revealed that Latino evangelical Protestants support Obama 50 percent, while they support Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney 39 percent. Thus is far more favorable the white evangelical Protestants who support Romney often have hostile views towards issues important to Latinos such as the DREAM Act.

While the strong support from these Catholics is very welcome, it also presents a strategic advantage.  Churches and non-profit groups are free to engage in non-partisan voter turnout efforts, including calls from the pulpit, church bulletin or by other means.  Maximizing turnout at Latino Catholics parishes means at least 75% of the votes will go to the President.  Let's do all we can at our Latino parishes to turn out the vote!

CATHOLIC REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST ARRESTED IN VOTER FRAUD

GOP VOTER FRAUD ARRESTEE FORMERLY WITH "C-FAM"

While there has been a concerted effort by Republican leaders to erect new barriers to voting, often impacting the poor, minorities and working families the toughest, there have been almost no actual examples of in person voter fraud.

Nevertheless, the first and only arrest this year we are aware of voter fraud has been by a Catholic Republican activist, we are sad to report. Colin Small got his political education with the Right-Wing Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, headed by anti-gay rights activist Austin Ruse. Small then was hired by a Republican voter registration effort as a supervisor, where he destroyed voter registration applications. The sheriff’s office in Harrisonburg, VA, said Small had been charged with 13 counts of destruction of voter registration applications, disclosure of voter registration information, and obstruction of justice.

Virginia has a long history of obstructing the rights of racial minorities and workers from participating in the political process. It is unfortunate this tradition is being carried out, now by illegal means, by a activist in the Catholic Right.

AL SMITH DINNER

PRESIDENT AND ROMNEY JOIN CATHOLIC PRELATES AT AL SMITH DINNER

In a time of a sorry lack of civility in political discourse, it is a blessing that the Al Smith Dinner for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York brings together both candidates, the leaders of the Catholic Church including USCCB President/Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan and many people of good will. 

Governor Romney showed great dignity in his remarks that ""Don't tell anyone I said so, but our 44th president has many gifts and a beautiful family that would make any man proud. ... In our country, you can oppose someone in politics and make a confident case against their policies without any ill will. And that's how it is for me."

President Obama received a standing ovation when he rose to speak at the Catholic Charities gala.  At the usually lighthearted event, both men made jokes at their own expense, but President Obama ended on a serious note, proclaming in the words of Saint Paul:  “It’s written in Scripture that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:4)

DON'T LOOK FOR PAUL RYAN AT ST. VINNIE'S

Paul Ryan Absent At Soup Kitchens, Shelters In His District, Says Catholic Charities

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Paul Ryan's awkward visit last week to a Youngstown, Ohio, soup kitchen made national headlines and has been the butt of late-night jokes. The head of the charity that runs the soup kitchen complained to The Washington Post that Ryan and Co. "ramrodded their way" in for an unauthorized photo-op.

Ryan's surprise visit was an even bigger shock to people who run organizations dedicated to serving the needy back in his Wisconsin congressional district...

Ryan, despite more than 13 years in Congress, appears to be very much a stranger to those charities. None of the food pantry or shelter workers interviewed by The Huffington Post could recall Ryan having visited...
Carol Hulburt, a coordinator at a food pantry in Milton, Wis., said Ryan has not once visited in the roughly 15 years she has worked there...

A worker who answered the phones at the House of Mercy family shelter said she has not seen the congressman come through its doors in the 10 years she has worked at the facility...

Eric Levitt, Janesville's city manager, has volunteered with House of Mercy for nearly two years. He said he has not seen Ryan there...

Even when invited, Ryan hasn't shown up. Robert Borremans told The Washington Post in August that in the nine years he has run Janesville's Rock County Job Center, multiple invitations have failed to secure a visit from Ryan. "I've reached the point I don't ask anymore," Borremans said.


Read more here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/paul-ryan-soup-kitchen-wisconsin_n_1976623.html

IRISH PREFER OBAMA OVER ROMNEY-RYAN

By Conor Humphries, GRAIGUENAMANAGH, Ireland, Oct 16 (Reuters) -

In the land of his ancestors, Paul Ryan's Irish charm is failing him

Despite his name, Roman Catholic faith and immigrant-made-good family history, the Irish half of the Republican ticket is failing to win the allegiance of the old country from Barack Obama, a skilled hand at playing the Irish card.

Obama struck public relations gold last year by sharing a Guinness with a distant cousin in the village of Moneygall after an amateur genealogist traced his ancestors there. Pictures of cheering Irish crowds were beamed across the United States.

But 100 kilometers (60 miles) down the road, Ryan's ancestral hometown is feeling the cold shoulder and like Ireland as a whole, most of the locals are rooting for his Democratic presidential rivals.

"He doesn't have the charisma, he hasn't connected with the people," said Pat Nolan as he strolled passed the 13th century stone church in the village of Graiguenamanagh where Ryan's great-great grandparents were married.

......


Despite the Ryan connection, few locals are hoping for a Republican victory across the ocean.

"It would give a boost to a nice small town like this, but I would forgo it. I wouldn't want to inflict him on the American people," said Margaret, a 64-year-old cashier, upset by Ryan's plans to cut welfare and Medicare health cover for the elderly. She withheld her family name to avoid angering her employer.

A straw poll of 20 people on a recent afternoon found 12 Obama supporters and none for Ryan and running mate Mitt Romney.

Ninety-six percent of people in Ireland who have decided would back Obama and Irish Catholic running mate Joe Biden if they had a vote, according to a September poll of 1,000 people by Gallup International.

"He's too far right-wing for this part of the world," said Martin Brett, the former mayor of the county's capital Kilkenny, who hosted Ryan's uncle when he came to trace his roots in the region a few years ago.

.....


The Wisconsin congressman has not endeared himself to his kin by holding their country up as a cautionary tale of bad practice.

Ryan's web site refers to Ireland 11 times, eight as an example of the economic doom facing the United States if it doesn't address its budget deficit and three as a rival to the Cayman Islands as a tax haven threatening American jobs.

When Ryan told a crowd in his home state how his great grandfather had fled the Irish potato famine with just the shirt on his back, the crowd lapped it up.

But an Irish historian of the famine, John Kelly, rebuked him days later for espousing a laissez faire economic philosophy he said was strikingly similar to that of British policymakers whom many in Ireland blame for the deaths of millions.


Read more here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/paul-ryan-ireland_n_1969520.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

"Nuff Said...

SHAMEFUL AND PATHETIC

PAUL RYAN:  GIVING PHARISEES A BAD NAME

Brian J. Antal, president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, said that the Romney campaign last week “ramrodded their way” into the group’s Youngstown soup kitchen so that GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan could get his picture taken washing dishes in the dining hall.  He called the use of this Catholic charity to be a ‘publicity stunt’ for the GOP ticket.

Juanita Sherba, St. Vincent’s Saturday coordinator for the dinning hall, had equally harsh words about Ryan’s visit.  The event “was a photo op,” she told the Youngstown Vindicator.  “It was the phoniest piece of baloney I’ve ever been associated with. In hindsight, I would have never let him in the door.”

Antal added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”

The campaign had not contacted the St. Vincent de Paul Society in advance of the stunt, but just barged into the soup kitchen without permission, bullying their way past a volunteer.  The good Catholics had finished serving the hungry and washing up afterwards. Ryan grabbed an apron and began washing an already clean pot, posing for campaign photographers. Since all of the guests of the soup kitchen had been served and left, Ryan did not have to come into direct contact with any of the poor and hungry.

REPUBLICANS STILL UNABLE TO EXPLAIN ROMNEY FLIP FLOP ON ABORTION

REPUBLICAN CATHOLIC OFFERS NO DEFENSE OF ROMNEY NOT HAVING ABORTION ON HIS AGENDA

Former Republican National Chairman and current Romney Catholic outreach advocate Ed Gillespie went on FOX News Sunday unable to explain Romney's statement that pro-life legislation would not be on his agenda if he were President. 

After a career of flip-flops on the abortion issue, Romney's most recent statement is that he has no abortion legislation on his agenda.  Campaign officials have been unable to explain this comment, made to the Des Moines Register and Romney has not retracted it.  Right-wing groups like "Catholic Vote" and the "Catholic Association" have gone into a deep silence on this matter. 

On Sunday, Gillespie was reduced to mostly blather.  He said, “Life is a very important issue in this election—as is the economy and as it national security, all these issues always play a very important role."  He also assured viewers that Romney is personally pro-life.

Okay, Ed.  But explain Romney's statement. 

Gillespie then tried to pivot, saying the election is more about the economy than about social issues.

CONSERVATIVES STILL IN FIT OVER OBAMA INVITE TO AL SMITH DINNER

CONSERVATIVE LEADERS WON'T SERVE POOR IF IT MEANS BEING IN THE SAME ROOM AS OBAMA


Right Wing Catholics are still in a fit that Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York has invited Barack Obama to the annual Al Smith Dinner, a fundraiser for the Catholic Church in New York.  A first they were in an outrages at the mere invitation.  Now they are demanding that Cardinal Dolan slam the President in his remarks.  “[We Republicans are] going in hopes that the cardinal’s going to slam him,” said state Sen. Marty Golden, a Brooklyn Republican attending the annual Al Smith Dinner. “It’s insulting that [Obama is] coming... it’s reprehensible.”

According to the New York Post, conservative Catholics are worried that Obama’s appearance will be misinterpreted as a church endorsement.

Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League,almost had smoke coming out of his nostrils as he bellowed “Our whole objection is inviting Obama to this dinner about 18 days before the election.”

Some conservatives are boycotting the dinner and not contributing to Catholic Charities such as Jerry Kassar, chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party and Mike Long, chairman of the Conservative Party of New York State, who usually attends the dinner with Kassar.  Instead, they are re-directing their giving to a right wing political group.

CATHOLIC RIGHT STILL SILENT ON ROMNEY FLIP-FLOP

CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE?

As pro-Romney Catholics have gone silent following Romeny's most recent flip-flop on abortion, Catholic efforts for the Obama-Biden effort far exceed the Republicans.

Catholics for Obama - Biden organized debate watch parties throughout the country Thursday night. 

And it’s not the only way the Obama campaign and liberal groups are using Thursday’s debate to organize Catholic voters, one of the country’s big swing voting constituencies.

Beyond encouraging Catholic watch parties, the Obama campaign has been visiting Catholic colleges in swing states and dispatching Catholic campaign surrogates to address Catholic groups in the leadup to the debate.  Romney has made no apperences at Catholic colleges.

President Obama has regular briefings on the campaign's Catholic outreach with Roderick Johnson, the campaign's Catholic outreach director. 

Independent Catholic groups that aren’t officially connected to the Obama campaign have been even more vocal in attacking Ryan from a Catholic perspective.  “Some of his positions are fundamentally at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church,” said a Ryan critique issued this week by dozens of Catholic theologians and other Catholic scholars.

With Paul Ryan, progressive Catholic groups have taken particular aim his proposed budget, which passed the House but not the Senate.

A letter to Ryan from faculty at Georgetown, a Catholic university, summed up the Catholic opposition to the proposal: “We would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.”

And then there is the “nuns on the bus tour” to decry the Ryan budget’s slashing of programs for the poor.  This week, the nuns reprised the tour, criss-crossing Ohio just in time for the vice presidential debate. “He clearly has not been where I’ve been," Sister Simone Campbell, an organizer of the tour, told MSNBC of Ryan. “He just is out of touch.”

The Romney campaign rolled out a Catholic outreach effort much later than the Obama-Biden campaign and has been hurt by the stridency and harsh rhetoric of their right-wing Catholic supporters.  The Romney campaign continues to approach nervously those who tell undecided Catholics they will go the Hell or be denied Communion if they vote for the President.