Faculty Panel Discusses How Catholicism Affects Voters

Social and religious issues can lead to conflict for some

The latest installment of Sacred Heart University’s Heart Challenges Hate series, “Catholics and the Vote,” focused on the Catholic vote and religious teachings of the church and an individual’s moral conscience. Politicians often seek Catholics’ votes during elections—especially at the federal level—which means Catholics served a vital role in the outcomes of the presidential election. However, Catholics’ points of views are very diverse.

Michelle Loris, chair of Catholic studies and associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, sat down with four panelists for the question-and-answer session. Nancy Dallavalle, associate professor of religious studies at Fairfield University, spoke first, offering that a Catholic politician is someone who is baptized. It does not matter if they are liberal or conservative, outspoken or reserved, she said; the Catholic Church does not discriminate in terms of position. Politicians do not become Catholic once they begin legislating, she continued. Politicians who truly are Catholic would have already lived a tradition for some time. “I think lots of people can tell if a Catholic politician is lively in that tradition, or simply is doing this for a particular position,” said Dallavalle.

Daniel Rober, advanced lecturer for the Catholic studies department at SHU and assistant director of the Thomas More honors program, suggested there is potential for non-Catholic politicians to hold positions embodying aspects of Catholic social teaching in a more effective way than some politicians who are Catholic. “There is a kind of grappling with Catholic political ideas in the public square that go beyond the boundaries of the Church itself,” Rober said. 

Jillian Plummer, assistant lecturer for the Catholic studies department, expanded on these statements, saying that voters must decide whether to vote within their tradition, for the politician who is most aligned with their religious values. To this, Jennifer McLaughlin, an American history instructor, added that American voters should not let either political party, Democrat or Republican, define them as a Catholic voter.

“Just because someone uses certain terminology around their campaign does not mean that supporting them or not supporting them is going to lead to outcomes you want in terms of the world and life,” Rober said. “If you are going to take a very hard line about a lot of these things, you’re (going to) end up painting yourself into a corner of sorts, where you’re going to have almost no choice but to vote third party or sit an election out.”

Dallavalle added that focusing on one political issue as more important than any other is not Catholic. “A Catholic mind thinks about policy, thinks about structure, all at the same time,” she said. 

Plummer responded with a list of her “non-negotiable” political issues, such as support of the poor, immigrants, LGBTQIA people and more. “I think especially if you’re a person who maybe struggles with a candidate who supports abortion, you still have to open yourself up to really question: which politician is actually going to treat people as people?,” she said.

Many SHU students were first-time voters Nov. 3. However, for students whose political leanings are shaped in part by their faith, they may never find a political party that is a right fit. “Their religious faith can make that even more complicated for them, because they don’t necessarily see things as one size fits all, or ‘One is going to represent everything I believe or everything I care about,’” McLaughlin said. Dallavalle added that if the Catholic Church encompasses opposition to women, LGBTQIA people and others, students will begin to view the religion as a “haters club” and will have difficulty balancing religion and social issues. 

As Catholic voters, “We may rank intrinsically evil things in our minds or in our experiences and what we think is most important,” McLaughlin said. “But if your bishop is telling you, ‘Those things are important, but if we’re going to rank them, this is what you need to consider,’ that gives Catholic voters no choice, really.” She later added that the common good does not solely refer to those who American voters choose to include. The common good should bring everyone together, and political division has led people to forget this.

The entire talk can be found on Sacred Heart’s YouTube page.