Catholic representation in US Congress hits all-time high
January 04, 2013
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Catholic representation on Capitol Hill has reached an all-time high, with 163 members of the new 113th Congress identifying themselves as Catholic.
A new study by the Pew Forum found that the overall Catholic membership of both houses of Congress was up by 7 members, and the proportion of Catholics in the legislature had jumped from 29.2% to 30.6%.
Catholics form by far the largest single religious bloc in Congress. Although Protestants, taken as a single group, maintain their majority status with 56% of the membership, no single Protestant denomination is close to the size of the Catholic bloc.
There are 136 Catholics in the House of Representatives and 27 in the Senate. The Democratic Party enjoys a comfortable edge in Catholic representation in both houses: 75- 61 in the House and 18- 9 in the Senate.
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Posted by: -
Jan. 08, 2013 8:15 PM ET USA
This is simply a silly article. Any politician can call himself a "Catholic" and the Pew Forum buys it? For those pro-abortion Catholics in Congress who might be impressed by a phone call from their bishops, perhaps the bishops should consider implementing Canon 915 as to admission to Communion.
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Posted by: Defender -
Jan. 06, 2013 3:27 PM ET USA
It does seem that we need to know what kind of Catholic each politician is. There are: 1. In name only types; 2. Every once in a while types; and 3. "Real" Catholic types. Perhaps it's now time for a Catholic political party?
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Posted by: garedawg -
Jan. 05, 2013 12:42 PM ET USA
Given the record of so-called Catholic politicians, I'd say that this is very bad news.
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Posted by: DrJazz -
Jan. 05, 2013 6:46 AM ET USA
Now...if they would only vote like Catholics.
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Posted by: aclune9083 -
Jan. 04, 2013 10:57 PM ET USA
Given this contingent of well-catechized, faithful Catholics in Congress, we should all expect to see a reversal of the rush to government-funded abortion/contraception on demand; government-mandated homosexualization in the schools, K-12; elimination of religious freedom through the government health care law....Oh, wait, pardon my innocence. Anyone can call themselves Catholic. It must somehow resonant with the 50+% of those "Catholics" who voted for barry soetoro in the last election.
