The Catholic Servant

Catholic Servant: There has been a lot of discussion about the influence of the Church in the public square. Do you really think the Church has an impact or are we just a voice to listen to sometimes? Shaw: The Catholic Church in the United States does not have the political influence that it probably once had from the 1930s to the 1950s. It's not... entirely a toothless tiger, but its influence has diminished. Why is that? It has to do with the composition of the Catholic electorate. Catholic voters divide into two groups: practicing Catholics and non-practicing Catholics. The practicing Catholics tend to vote in a manner that corresponds to the Church's traditional position on issues like abortion or aid to non-public education. The non-practicing Catholics do not vote with the Church on these issues. They vote much more like unchurched American voters and whatever it is that influences them. It's highly desirable, for reasons that have nothing to do with politics, that the Church get more of its members back into regular practice of their religion. One consequence of doing that apparently would be to heighten the Church's political influence once again. But until the Church finds a way of re-evangelizing its own members, I'm afraid it's going to remain relatively impotent in the political arena. Catholic Servant: Many people despair at being in a culture that does not seem to respect any forms of Christianity, and some almost lose hope that we will make much of an impact. What do you say to people who have been working in the pro-life movement for 25 or 30 years? Shaw: It is very frustrating. Sometimes it appears that, in fact, we've lost control of the crucial institutions of the culture, in fact surrendered control, to a relatively small number of radical secularists. I'm speaking of the media, the courts and the academic community where religious values don't have a very large voice. I take a tremendous interest in the current Catholic debate of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Pope's document on Catholic higher ...Read More