Catholics are prototypical swing voters. Traditional Catholic positions do not fit easily into Democratic or Republican Party platforms. The Catholic Church - whatever that means - has generally been opposed to abortion, war, the death penalty, torture and, theoretically, supportive of worker rights.
And while the "official" positions at the diocesan, national and international levels might be maddening, the positions of individual Catholics are even more confused. It is possible at a mass to see a Democrat in a union jacket give the sign of peace to a Republican with a Chamber of Commerce tie. And it is possible to see the votes of Catholics blow from party to party each election night. It is a beautiful and a maddening thing.
Catholics disproportionately populate swing states and districts. And it is this demographic good fortune that allowed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to force passage of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. But with that impressive political power play, the Catholic bishops and Catholics everywhere now also have a responsibility to go to the wall in support of national health care. As Colin Powell once said in another context, "If you break it, you bought it." It is the bishop's war now.
For weeks and months, bishops across the country have been advocating for something like the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. In many cases, parish priests took to the Sunday pulpits and argued in support of such an amendment. In my local parish, pro-life propaganda is conveniently located next to the baptismal font near the church entrance. And many Catholics found fliers underneath their windshield wipers following Sunday services.
And this, of course, was the pressure needed to solidify Stupak's block of Democratic pro-lifers.
But there is another side to this deal. The Catholic Church has long been a strong advocate for the poor. It funds thousands of hospitals and social service agencies. And it has long been an advocate for a national health care system.
And now that it has gotten all that it could ever ask for in the House health care bill, it is time for the Catholic Church to put up or shut up.
Does it really want national health care? Well, now it is time for those very same priests who argued for Stupak-Pitts to make similarly strenuous arguments from the pulpit in favor of national health care. It is time for those same Catholic bishops who cornered Speaker Pelosi in Washington to corner Catholic senators and voters and press them to support and vote for health care. I'll bet that there is at least one somewhat moderate Catholic senator who could be made to feel uncomfortable by an after-mass phone bank or a call from the cardinal.
I am very skeptical of any involvement of my church in politics. I would much prefer that the church maintain an aloofness from the political system. Politics should be informed by morality and faith but not controlled by it.
But that is all water under the dam now, isn't it?
And the bishops' health care compromise did not come without a cost for the bishops. They must now take every dollar that they were planning on spending in support of pro-life messaging in the health care debate and spend it on supporting the bill's final passage.
And individual Catholics now also have a responsibility. Most Catholics I know just love being political fence-sitters. Many loved poking holes in Bush on his way down. And many now enjoy pointing out the deficiences of President Obama.
But we are no longer neutral. Our church made a deal. And any Catholic who now voices opposition to health care can shove it. We have wanted health care for a long time. The entire national government bent for our support.
And now it is time for all Catholics to throw their full support behind the bill.