Last week I wondered aloud concerning the Catholic vote. In 1984 Reagan, in a electoral landslide, captured 54% while Bush, twenty years later is splitting the Catholic vote 50/50 with Kerry.

That Kerry is a Catholic himself would seem to me to be worth something more than 50%. But that’s beside the point of my query. Bush is not doing as well as Reagan did twenty years ago. At least not polling-wise. Seeing that Bush is doing better among black voters gave me pause to think perhaps a broader trend in this direction included other Democratic groups as well.

Obviously that’s not the case. But thanks for the posting anyway, Peter.

The author does a good job of exposing Kerry’s votes in violation of all of the fundamental ethical views of the Church - gay marriage, unlimited abortion, etc. - so I will not repeat them. But, here are a few observations to consider.

1. Bush seems to be more Catholic than Kerry himself, essentially quoting John Paul II’s "culture of life" as opposed to the "culture of death." Bush is lined up with Church doctrine to a large extent.

2. All voters should reject a man who trumpets his faith as an altar boy and in the jungles of Vietnam, but whose record and stance on public policy rejects all of the beliefs of that well-touted faith. He is a woefully unprincipled man who should just admit he’s a bad Catholic and shut up about his faith.

3. His stance on abortion - "I wouldn’t personally have an abortion, but I’m going to support it for public policy especially with tax money." - smacks of Stephen Douglas and others who made the same argument for slavery. "I wouldn’t personally own a slave, but if the people in Massachusetts want to . . . " This sort of moral relativism and nihilism is a cowardly attempt to appease everyone. Is it right or not? If you’re going to sin, sin big! At least Barbara Ehrenreich proudly proclaims her abortions as a positive good and is honest about it.

As a Catholic myself, it is such an insult and an embarrassment to have a public official like Kerry out there calling himself Catholic. It’s not just a name! John Kerry stands for NOTHING, and as I read somewhere else, he might be more at home in the "Church of What’s Happening Now."

As a Catholic myself, I don’t like Kerry. He may be Catholic in name, but he is opposed to everything the Catholic Church stands for.

If he is elected, the Catholic Church in America will find itself in a very tough spot -- how would the bishops react when the man running the country professed to be Catholic but was opposed to most important Catholic teachings? No matter how they would respond, there would be some lay Catholics who would be upset and might even leave the Church. We’ve seen a little of this during the election season, with some bishops saying that Kerry shouldn’t take communion, some saying that even voting for a pro-abortion politician is a mortal sin, and others trying simply to keep the peace. Each of these reactions alienated some lay Catholics; imagine what would happen if Kerry were to be elected!

If for that reason alone, I’m hoping and praying Bush wins.

I’m not surprised but horribly disappointed by the 50% of Catholics that are going to vote for him. A sad commentary on the state of American Catholicism. I do know several Jewish people who are not voting for him because he is such an unprincipled Catholic.