Catholics, as a group, defied or ignored Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and other nationally prominent bishops who instructed them not to vote for abortion-rights advocates, including Barack Obama.
National exit polls of Catholic voters showed they gave Obama a 9 to 11 percentage-point edge over Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Nationwide, U.S. Catholics were more supportive of Obama than the rest of the electorate, giving him 52 percent of the vote to McCain’s 46 percent.
The 2008 presidential campaign and election highlighted a deep divide among U.S. Catholics, who make up nearly a quarter of the electorate.
Chaput had led a group of more than a dozen vocal bishops who argued that abortion, which he calls intrinsically evil, was the single-most important issue in the election.
Many Catholics resisted being single-issue voters.
“When bishops speak out and push a political party or view, people get angry. Catholics don’t like that,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “Chaput has not just expressed a moral teaching. He has adopted a political strategy — to criminalize abortion.”
“The election results didn’t surprise the Denver archdiocese,” spokeswoman Jeanette DeMelo said. “The top reasons for this vote are concerns for the personal realities of the country’s hard economic turn coupled with Sen. Obama’s attractive message for change.”
However, she said Catholics who faithfully attend Mass were less likely to vote for Obama.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its statement on “Faithful Citizenship,” said abortion is a critical issue but that Catholics could support candidates who don’t favor overturning Roe vs. Wade if they have other “truly grave moral reasons.”
The bishops also said church leaders must avoid endorsing or opposing candidates or telling people how to vote.
Internal Revenue Service regulations prohibit churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits from openly endorsing a candidate or party, although clergy are allowed to weigh in on ballot measures.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation plans to complain to the IRS and possibly the Federal Elections Commission over pre-election robo-calls about abortion and “pro-life” candidate McCain that were made by a Colorado Springs priest, the Rev. Bill Carmody, and a group called Informed Catholic Citizens, said foundation president Annie Laurie Gaylor on Thursday.
Archdiocese of Colorado Springs officials said they didn’t authorize the calls.
Some faithful don’t believe that church leaders’ speaking out is wrong. “The only thing the archbishop and priests have done is reiterate what we believe as Catholics,” said Donna Farrell, 59, of Broomfield.
