From a Zenit interview with Brian Burch, president of Fidelis:
Q: An estimated 54% of Catholics voted for Barack Obama, despite the strong stand of over 50 heads of dioceses against candidates who support abortion. How did Obama successfully win the majority of the Catholic vote?
Burch: The notion of what constitutes the "Catholic vote" is widely debated. While Obama won the Catholic vote overall 54% - 45%, among Catholics who attend mass every week, McCain won 55% - 43%. Clearly the main reason Obama succeeded overall was the fact that Catholic voters echoed the concerns of the rest of the electorate in citing the economy as their top issue.They concluded that Obama’s economic policies would benefit them more, and ignored the teaching authority of many bishops who explained that concerns about the economy do not justify a vote for a pro-abortion candidate.
Translation: What mattered to most was that the trains run on time.
Q: Did the strong stance of the episcopate have any noticeable affect on the election? What could the Church have done more of?
Burch: The results of the election seem to indicate that, for the most part, Catholic voters ignored the guidance of their bishops. The results simply do not show any dramatic shift away from the larger trends seen during the past several election cycles.One area of concern was the document "Faithful Citizenship," which was used by many organizations to improperly justify support for pro-abortion candidates. The shortcomings of the document forced many bishops to issue their own pastoral letters, leaving many voters confused. Regrettably, I believe the net effect of "Faithful Citizenship" was more confusion than clarity.
Translation: We need more Bishop Martinos.
I voted Libertarian. I would have voted Constitutional Party, but they didn't make the ballot. I didn't feel that either of the 2 main candidates passed on the life issue. McCain because he is a warmonger, and I didn't see a need for us to invade Iran or go to war in Georgia or stay in Iraq for 100 years for that matter. That being said I was very disappointed with the Bishops of Dallas and Fort Worth joint letter that was read on faithful citizenship that was read to us in October. They treat the election as a 2 person race. I say voting for the lesser of 2 evils is still evil especially when there are acceptable 3rd party candidates whom are more in line with Catholic teaching. If the Catholic people in this country rejected both parties if they fielded candidates not acceptable to our values that would force the 2 parties to make a change. (No one is going to ignore 25% of the vote going somewhere else. They are going to start taking on catholic positions to win those voters back. Hence I think as long as the bishops say we have to ignore the evils of the war party and vote for them because they are against abortion they are going to get this reaction. They need to say we need to reject all evil even if that means voting for a 3rd party candidate unlikely to win.
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