As they do for every presidential election, America’s Catholic bishops are now preparing a detailed statement about how Catholics should think about key political issues in light of church teaching.
But does this statement have much meaning, even for Catholics. A new poll, just out, shows that only 16 percent of Catholics have ever heard of the statement and only three percent say they have read it. And say of those who had heard of it, 75 per cent said it made no difference to the way they voted.
Overall only four percent said the bishop’s statetment was a major influence on their vote or would have been had they known about it.
Catholics make up one in four American voters and are the largest voting bloc in American politics.
Are Catholic bishops wasting their time trying to educate catholics how to vote?
Do america’s Catholic bishops still have political clout, even with catholics?
what do you think?
Apparently not.
I wonder about that statistic though. Catholics- “1 in 4″… Really?
It’s a bit sad that people still can’t make up their own minds, and depend on their clergy, unions, etc. to prompt their choice, just like the olden days when people couldn’t read or write.
I am reminded “We get the government we deserve”.
Oh yes. One in four Americans are Catholics. They used to all vote democrat but, as they get richer, they are moving to support the Republicans. The fastest growing group are the Latin Americans. If they stick with Obama in 2012, he wins.
There is something strange that an autocracy would try to dictate to a democracy.