Arriving at the "Proper" Moral Choice: Pittsburgh Catholics for Obama and the Issues of Social Justice (original) (raw)
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This MA thesis argues that in crafting a nuanced stance on 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama’s “pro-choice” position, and by bringing to attention other key issues in his platform which coincided with important ethical concerns of Catholic thought, Pittsburgh Catholics for Obama (PCO) made various interventions into a public sphere where positions of progressive Catholics had not been prominently featured during the last decade. In order to understand the phenomenon of PCO both within and beyond its immediate political contexts, this project pursues three frames of inquiry which correspond to the thesis chapters. The first chapter situates PCO within the context of the theoretical issues raised by the debates that have ensued in the last thirty years on the question of religion and the public sphere, and secularism. The second offers a socio-historical perspective that places PCO within the post-Vatican II history of American Catholic political participation, thought and activism. Finally, the third chapter undertakes an ethnographic account of PCO’s activism in order to provide a description and analysis of the group’s engagement with the public sphere. The thesis shows that PCO positioned itself at the edge between a separatist Catholic culture and a political culture of the “common good” that seeks alliances and compromises with other political and cultural groups with whom it can share Catholic-informed but not restrictive principles of Catholic social teaching. By bringing together refined methods of grassroots activism in combination with the crafting of thoughtful public arguments that amplify particular tenants of Catholic social teaching, PCO carved out a space in the public sphere where its members could support a “pro-choice” presidential candidate while remaining loyal to Catholic ethical traditions.
This study inevitably uses only a small portion of the data available, restricting itself to three aspects of the survey findings: – The proportion of Catholics who report that a particular presidential candidate was favored by leaders of their church. – The proportion of Catholics who reported that their church leaders favored a particular candidate and yet voted for the other candidate. – The God image and political choices of Catholics who report that religion is very important to them in their political decision-making.
In this volume—an update of his 1991 treatment of the same topic— Stephen Krason draws upon his considerable expertise in Catholic social teaching and American politics to present a concise but thorough analysis of contemporary American ideologies from a Catholic perspective. Beginning with a review of his previous findings, he proceeds to outline Catholic social thought, and then to examine recent representative expressions of those ideologies currently dominating American public discourse: liberalism and conservatism. Having assessed their main ideas and policies in light of Catholic teaching, he concludes with a discussion of whether and to what extent conscientious American Catholics can identify with one or the other of these ideologies in their present form.
"The Transformation of Ourselves and the World": Politics, Government, Catholics
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has become a spokesman for American bishops on political questions, and his 2008 book provides a full account of his position. Archbishop Chaput acknowledges that his book emerges from his personal experiences, and is not an effort to articulate a “grand theory.” This present study attempts to undertake his questions through the lens of political theory. The archbishop’s arguments do not withstand careful analysis on historical or political grounds, but he is quite right to articulate the need for a “grand theory.” Beginning from moral agreement with the archbishop about the political relevance of Catholic faith, this study clarifies the choices Catholics face in American politics in order to chart the way toward a more ambitious theory of Catholic political action.
Public catholicism: An American prospect
Theological studies, 2001
Interaction between Catholicism and public life in the United States is nothing new. Nor is this local church's concern for the poor. Can that concern, evident from the historical record and from public-opinion research, become a public advocacy of racial, social, and ...