catholics

(Via Slate Magazine.)

I don’t know that I’d go as far as Doug Kmiec, the conservative jurist who proclaimed that except on the “life issues,” Barack Obama is a “Catholic natural.” For a lot of Catholic voters, that would be like saying they love pizza except for the crust. Still, there is a lot for Catholics to like in Obama’s early opposition to the war, attention to social justice issues, and promise of reconciliation across so many divides. And his stance on abortion rights is identical to Hillary Clinton’s, so you’d think that issue be would off the table in the Democratic primary. Most of my Catholic friends are backing Obama, and two of my colleagues at Commonweal are on his steering committee. (”Gosh, I don’t know anyone who’s supporting Hillary,” said Pam Wonnell, a friend since we had Sister Mary Edna in the first grade who is active in her parish in West Virginia now—and was en route to volunteer in Obama’s Huntington, W.Va., office when I caught her.)

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