A Reader Queries The Label "Roman Catholic Right"—The Bishops Seem Leftist Enough, After All
03/06/2015
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Re: Donald A. Collins’s article Democrat Asks: Where Is The Catholic Right On Immigration?

From: James Crowley (e-mail him)

As a conservative Roman Catholic I have to take exception with Donald A. Collins’ characterization of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and their affiliated organizations as “the Roman Catholic Right”.

Aside from their stands on moral issues such as contraception, abortion, and their imminently reasonable stand against so-called “gay marriage”, the bishops and their allies are for the most part Leftists solidly in the “progressive” camp.

They have pushed for government-run healthcare for years and were all in favor of Obamacare had it not contained certain objectionable features. They officially support more restrictions on the right to bear arms, oppose the death penalty for heinous criminals and are constantly agitating for more welfare and “social” spending programs. Their Open Borders stance is no surprise, as it's in line with most of the other Leftist organizations in this country.

See an earlier letter from James Crowley.

James Fulford writes: As both Don Collins and James Crowley would agree, American left/right politics doesn’t necessarily map well across either religious affiliation or immigration politics. It’s true that the USCCB has been called the “religious lobby of the Democratic Party”, and they have unsound ideas about the economy and the death penalty.

This is because they’re Bishops, rather than economists or criminologists, and thus don’t know what they’re talking about.

However, many of the organizations known as the “Roman Catholic Right” to progressives were founded and run by laymen, like Thomas Monaghan’s Becket Fund, or the Thomas More Society, which does good work on the War On Christmas.

They’re the ones who should be doing something about immigration—and mostly they aren’t.

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