Catholics shouldn't be a sure bet for either party. Our votes should be a matter of a conscientious decision that involves judging candidates, issues and effects on the common good across a range of issues.
The future of Catholicism may not rest in the expressions of extreme conservatism afoot today, but the larger point should not be dismissed. Catholicism in the U.S. is in many ways a fractured enterprise.
U.S. Catholics are starting to see the type of climate action for which the pope has called, and the type of leadership promoted by the synod process that Francis has identified as the way forward for the church today.
Louisiana Bishop Douglas Deshotel's move to excommunicate a Catholic deacon who left the church after his son was molested by a priest was devoid of the humanity of Jesus.
The Texas attorney general's move against Annunciation House is essentially a lawsuit aimed at Catholic social justice teaching and Gospel values. But people who take Gospel instructions to heart can fight back.
Allowing priests to marry is hardly the answer to all of the church's demographic challenges or the broader and deeper problems of clerical culture. But it would be a significant step toward honesty and consistency.
Cardinal Robert McElroy recently urged Catholic universities to use Laudato Si' as central to their missions. This approach is required to truly live out church teaching on integral ecology, solidarity and justice.
