Dems Embrace Abortion, While GOP Picks a Big-Tent Uniter

Catholic politicians seem to be everywhere these days. In Virginia alone, the governor and attorney general are both Roman Catholic.

On the national level, Catholic politicians seem to be spilling out of every tabernacle in town. This is not surprising given that 24.5 percent of Americans are Catholic. Except for brief interruptions, American Catholics have remained loyal to the Democratic Party since the days of mass Catholic immigration when the party was quick to dispense desperately needed jobs and cash to struggling families in return for votes.

In the 1960s, the abortion issue first appeared on the political radar. Democratic politicians early on recognized that the abortion lobby was flush with cash, attracting liberal voters, and looking for a political party to call home. Finding a way to align Catholic voters and abortion-rights advocates was crucial.

In the summer of 1964, a meeting was held at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. It was attended by family members, political allies and advisers, and liberal American Catholic theologians and college professors. For a day and a half, the Kennedys and their cronies were coached by these Catholic leaders on how they could, with a clear conscience, accept and promote abortion.

The results of this conclave seeped their way into Catholic politics and churches across the country. Liberal priests no longer admonished politicians and parishioners who signed on to the pro-choice agenda. The then-very liberal United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) remained thunderously silent on the issue.

Today, the tide of opinion on the abortion issue is changing within the hierarchy of the American Catholic Church. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI both issued strong statements reaffirming the Church's commitment to the sanctity of life. Many of the bishops in the USCCB are beginning to hold accountable Catholic politicians who continue to support pro-abortion legislation.

Tom Daschle, the former senator and ex-nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, was raised as a Catholic. In April of 2003, he received a letter from the Archdiocese of Sioux City, S.D., ordering him to remove all references to himself as a member of the Catholic Church. This drastic measure, just short of excommunication, was invoked by Bishop Robert Carlson, in part because of then-Sen. Daschle's position on abortion and his role in inserting the mental-health clause in the partial-birth abortion ban.

Daschle, furious about the letter, stood on the floor of the Senate and berated the USCCB for its radical right-wing views. Anyone who knows anything about the USCCB must chuckle at that accusation.

Nancy Pelosi is another Catholic politician. The daughter of a Maryland congressman and Baltimore mayor, Pelosi, born in 1940, was raised in the lap of luxury. After marrying her fabulously wealthy husband, Paul Pelosi, in 1963, the couple moved to his hometown of San Francisco, whereupon, like good Catholics, they raised five children.

In 1987, Pelosi decided to run for political office and won a special election for California's 5th District congressional seat. In one of the most staunchly Democratic and liberal districts in the nation, she has been re-elected every two years. And she has done so by championing the very issues that the Catholic Church is constantly reminding its flock to avoid: homosexual relations, same-sex marriages, and abortion.

In January 2007, Pelosi became the speaker of the House of Representatives. She runs a tight ship and gives little quarter to her opposition. Who knew such ruthless control could be enforced, not by jackbooted thugs, but by a grandmother in high heels and South Sea pearls?

Pelosi stunned Catholic clergy and laypeople alike when she told Tom Brokaw in an interview that for centuries the Church has debated the moment at which a fetus becomes a human life. She further inflamed the faithful when she informed George Stephanopoulos that the hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars going toward family planning and birth control will help stimulate the economy. Will she be getting a letter from her bishop?

The majority of practicing Catholics are pro-life. For a president to be elected today, he needs the Catholic constituency. The Republican Party has often performed dismally in courting that vote. And while whites still constitute the majority of the U.S. Catholic population, the numbers of Hispanic Catholics continues to grow.

If the GOP could overcome its incomprehensible, unwelcoming stand on immigration and reach out to this burgeoning bloc of voters, what a lock that would be. Hispanic voters tend to be conservative on social issues. Of course there are issues to address: the borders must be secured and the huge numbers of illegal aliens must be accounted for. But the message of, "You are not welcome," must go.

The new chairman of the Republican National Committee might be the very man for the job. Michael Steele, like Pelosi, is a native of Maryland. Unlike Pelosi, Steele was raised in a family that struggled financially.

Steele attended Johns Hopkins University and law school at Georgetown University. He studied for the priesthood for two years. Although he eventually decided holy orders were not for him, Steele has remained a devout Catholic. Inspired by Ronald Reagan, he became active in the Republican Party. He was appointed chairman of the Maryland Republican Party and in 2002 joined the ticket as the nominee for lieutenant governor with gubernatorial candidate Bob Ehrlich. Their victory was a surprise -- Maryland had not elected a Republican governor since 1968.

Steele is a great pick for the RNC. The first African-American to hold that position, he is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment. While he opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, he believes it is critical to first secure the borders and only after that can we figure out what to do with the multitudes of illegal immigrants already here.

Smart, savvy, and charming, Steele could be just the man for the job. A moderate Republican who wants to revitalize the base and embrace a big-tent philosophy, his conservative, Catholic roots might just make that happen

Contact Robin Beres at (804) 649-6305 or .