I'm compiling a list of Catholic Democrats.

Instead of just sitting back and watching all of the Catholic-bashing on DU, I've decided to fight back. I seek to improve the image of Catholicism on DU by compiling a list of Democratic members of Congress, Governors, etc., who share our Catholic Faith.

Here is a very small sampling of Catholic Democrats:

Wesley Clark
John Dingell
Jennifer Granholm
Ted Kennedy
John Kerry
Dale Kildee
Dennis Kucinich
Barb Mikulski
Bart Stupak

Feel free to add more names!

of LA - Roman Catholic

http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/public_square/catholics_in_politics.html

also:
Scroll down to 'Politicians' which has links to a variety of lists:

http://www.catholicsfordemocracy.org/node/view/5401?PHPSESSID=604697786b921140e282530c4a251d9a#politicians


Note that these are conservative & anti-choice websites, if 'ratzingerfanclub' didn't give it away! When I tried googling to get some lists, much of what pops up are references to those numbskull bishops seeking selective topical excommunications, or ant-choice webpages, when an atheist or 2 site for good company.

to talk to them about the other pro-life issues from a Catholic perspective? My congressman is Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and he has visited my parish several times. I'm glad he's concerned about life but I don't know where he stands on capital punishment. Of course he supported Bush's war.

and Nancy Pelosi. WAY too many Catholics in the House to list, even just listing the Dems, but here's the

Senate Democrats

Maria Cantwell, Washington
Joe Biden, Delaware
Chris Dodd, Connecticut
Richard Durbin, Illinois
Tom Harkin, Iowa
Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts
John Kerry, Massachusetts
Mary Landrieu, Louisiana
Pat Leahy, Vermont
Barbara Mikulski, Maryland
Patty Murray, Washington
Jack Reed, Rhode Island
Ken Salazar, Colorado

and the Senate Republicans:

Sam Brownback, Kansas
James Bunning, Kentucky
Susan Collins, Maine
Michael DeWine, Ohio
Peter Domenici, New Mexico
Mel Martinez, Florida
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania
John Sununu, New Hampshire
David Vitter, Louisiana
George Voinovich, Ohio.

The list Princess Turandot linked us to at ratzingerfanclub.com can be very useful -- for instance, why not e-mail every Catholic in Congress to oppose Bush's Social Security plans and talk about the importance of the program and how these programs care for the poor as Jesus said we should do, how this is all in line with the Catholic social gospel.

Approaching people as fellow Catholics allows a way to communicate with Republicans and find common ground. Some may be better than we think. I know that Sam Brownback is very involved with the Darfur issues; saw him discussing it on C-SPAN months ago and he's been working on it for years -- good for him! That's something to praise him for while urging his help in other areas. As annoying as Santorum can be, OTOH, he may have done some good things, too, things we could praise while pushing for more.

Now all we need is someone who knows how to set up a mass e-mailing program that just lists the Catholics in Congress. Next question, is anyone already doing this?

related to abortion. It's at

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/215804_joel14.html

and here are some great lines from it:

"How can a party of "values" cut off 300,000 poor kids from after-school programs? How can you be "pro-life" and leave one American in six without health insurance? How can you defend the "dignity of life" while permitting millions to fall out of the middle class?

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., has been Congress' most intense pro-life voice for a quarter-century. He is a "seamless garment" man. Smith has worked, as chairman of the House Veterans Committee, to expand health, education and housing benefits to veterans and their families.

House leaders recently took away the committee chairmanship from this champion of life.

It's as if they believe that life begins at conception, but ends at birth, or in early childhood, or when one comes home from war with an injury."

and I've met him a few times and I will say he is a nice enough guy...but he is a one trick pony. He made his name as an anti-abortion crusader and really little else in his 27 year career. He champions a lot of cupcake issues like ant-sex slave trafficking, which is a good thing but doesn't do his constituents in central NJ much good. I'm not sure why he keeps winning actually, I live in a really liberal area but I guess local dems are too lazy to put up real opposition.

He may be for veterans benefits but he is still in favor of this war, so his "pro-life" credentials are still suspect IMHO

I hear hes more moderate on some things and against the death penalty.

as was William Clay, the guy I worked for before.

I once attended a small meeting where he met with the admins at a hospital where I was working. He got onto the topic of not-for-profit organizations, and how many of the larger, prestigious ones have high rollers on their board, not just philanthropists committed to good deeds, but also corporate leaders who like to have the do-gooder stuff on their CV's. His point was that it was abt time that the corporate types started paying more than just lip service (i.e. donating $$ to the place they involve themselves with). He felt that what they needed to be more out front, doing was help spread the message of their particular NPF, and draw attention to its perspectives & goals. It was an interesting conversation.

He has a point. If you look at the Board list of many prominent charities, you see a lot of influential people whom you rarely see speaking out on the mission of their organization.

:)

He's Serbian and Serbs aren't Catholics by and large.

I knw many of them are Eastern Orthodox, but he's RC.

:)