The vote of American Catholics is hotly pursued. There is nothing among Catholics approaching the unity of Jews (Democratic) or blacks (ditto). Their fluidity (a slight majority went GOP for Reagan, and Democratic for Clinton in 1996) make them prime targets of political recruiters. The Bush campaign is, we learn, attempting to woo uncommitted Catholics. The big question now arises: How is this done?
Although the most prominent full-time opponents of abortion are not Catholics -- e.g., Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Charles Colson -- the public identification of the anti-abortion cause is generally held to be Catholic. This is so because Catholic bishops are united on the proposition that abortion involves the taking of (unborn) life.
From this one would assume that the anti-abortion plank of the GOP, inherited from non-Catholics Ronald Reagan and George Bush, would draw heavily Catholic voters. The trouble here is that this is simply not self-evident. If the church were to act against Catholics who voted for pro-abortion candidates, practically the whole of Massachusetts would be excommunicated. Indeed, within the Democratic Party, the problem is for a pro-life candidate to wedge his foot in the door, as the late governor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania discovered when attempting to make a statement at the Democratic convention in 1992. To sway voters, the Catholic Church has to do other things. Again: Like what?
The most obvious, one would think, would be to break the stranglehold of the First Amendment establishment-clause absolutists who ban prayer at school, but recent polls seem to be telling us that the movement to restore prayer is equally strong with Protestants and Catholics, and anaemic among both.
Along come the Catholic bishops.
Joseph Califano, the prominent attorney and Democratic powerhouse, Cabinet secretary of health, education and welfare under Jimmy Carter, relentless foe of any liberalization of drug laws, crops up in the current issue of America magazine, a publication sponsored by liberal Jesuits. Joe Califano is a very shrewd Democratic cookie. What he does is enumerate positions on a number of issues which have been cited by the bishops as responsibilities of dutiful Catholics.