{"id":15661,"date":"2011-02-10T09:04:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T14:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?p=15661"},"modified":"2017-05-03T19:07:52","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T00:07:52","slug":"what-makes-catholics-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes Catholics Different?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here is an interesting piece from Tuesday\u2019s Washington post:<\/p>\n

Catholic Republicans\u2019 political beliefs challenged by their faith<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to contrast my favorite two paragraphs from the piece with a response given to that paragraph over at America magazine\u2019s In All Things<\/em> blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First Michael Gerson, whom I understand to be a Republican himself:<\/p>\n

What influence is this shift [towards more Republican Catholic representatives] likely to have? Judging from the broader behavior of Catholics in American politics, not much. A century ago, many Catholics voted Democratic out of ethnic solidarity. Today, most Catholics vote almost exactly like their suburban neighbors. Catholics are often swing voters in elections precisely because they are so typical. So it was a sign of the times when last year a poll found 58 percent of Catholics sympathetic to Tea Party protests<\/a>. [link original to quote]<\/p>\n

There is something vaguely disturbing about the precise symmetry of any religious group with other voters of their same class and background. One would hope that an ancient, demanding faith would leave some distinctive mark. A reflection may move and smile, but it lacks substance and will.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And now Tom Maher in the America comboxes:<\/p>\n

Gerson understanding of what \u201cCatholic Republicans sympathetic to the Tea party movement\u201d is all about is a very narrow personal vision of Catholics, Republicans and Tea party members are all about.\u00a0 He shoudl [sic] begin with political realities rather than his own personal preconceptions.\u00a0 The reason Catholics are not differenciated from non-Catholics is that there is no basis for\u00a0being different.<\/strong> The facts unite many people to the same conclusion on immigration, poverty , health\u00a0 care and foriegn policy.\u00a0 All people do not come to the same political\u00a0concluions as Gerson or the author. [emphasis added]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, should we be concerned that Catholics look and act too much like everyone else?\u00a0 What are our options?\u00a0 A third party<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n

Brett Salkeld<\/a> is a doctoral student in theology at Regis College in Toronto. He is a father of two (so far) and husband of one.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is an interesting piece from Tuesday\u2019s Washington post: Catholic Republicans\u2019 political beliefs challenged by their faith I\u2019d like to contrast my favorite two paragraphs from the piece with a response given to that paragraph over at America magazine\u2019s In All Things blog. First Michael Gerson, whom I understand to be a Republican himself: What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2991,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[350,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brett-salkeld","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Makes Catholics Different?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here is an interesting piece from Tuesday's Washington post: Catholic Republicans' political beliefs challenged by their faith I'd like to contrast my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Makes Catholics Different?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is an interesting piece from Tuesday's Washington post: Catholic Republicans' political beliefs challenged by their faith I'd like to contrast my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vox Nova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-10T14:04:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-04T00:07:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett Salkeld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett Salkeld\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/\",\"name\":\"What Makes Catholics Different?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-10T14:04:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-04T00:07:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/a07d1f7349f4824e867fbaae886702d2\"},\"description\":\"Here is an interesting piece from Tuesday's Washington post: Catholic Republicans' political beliefs challenged by their faith I'd like to contrast my\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2011\/02\/10\/what-makes-catholics-different\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Makes Catholics Different?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\",\"name\":\"Vox Nova\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/a07d1f7349f4824e867fbaae886702d2\",\"name\":\"Brett Salkeld\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3846b7cd9a4284f4f5fda89bc37b939?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3846b7cd9a4284f4f5fda89bc37b939?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brett Salkeld\"},\"description\":\"Brett Salkeld is Archdiocesan Theologian for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina. 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