AP: Catholics and GOP at Odds on Immigrants

From Associated Press via The Boston Globe:

NEW YORK -- The national immigration debate is muddying Republican relations with Roman Catholics, swing voters who make up about one-quarter of the American electorate.

While Catholic bishops and many Republican politicians share opposition to abortion, they are often split over the specifics of immigration changes. Church leaders are challenging, and in some cases even vowing to defy, the tougher enforcement proposals by Republican lawmakers.

The issue highlights roadblocks that the Catholic view creates for Republicans and Democrats. Catholics are generally conservative on personal issues such as marriage, but tend to be liberal on social justice matters. This limits the appeal of both major parties, and leaves Catholics "politically homeless," said the Rev. James L. Heft, president of the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California.

"I'd like to see more prolife Democrats," Heft said, ''and social justice Republicans."

Immigration is not the first issue to split Republican and Catholic leaders.

Pope John Paul II opposed the US war on Iraq and the death penalty, for example.

But the latest differences have emerged only months before much of the Congress, which is now controlled by the Republicans is up for reelection.

The rifts also have arisen as the Republicans and Catholics had seemed closer than ever.

"Right now, a higher proportion of Catholic voters would identify with the Republican Party, or some of the themes that the Republican candidates have been using," said David Leege, a professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and a specialist on Catholics and politics.

But the impact of the immigration debate is unclear.

"The jury is out on the Catholic vote in long run," Leege said.

Catholics, who had once been perceived as solidly Democratic, have been moving toward the Republican Party for the past 25 years or so.

[More]

My Comments:
I think the jury is still out on whether there will be a rift between Catholics and Republicans on the issue. I mean, what is the GOP position on illegal immigration? There doesn't appear to be a coherent one.

President Bush's position is probably fairly close to that of the Catholic Bishops (my own views more closely mirror those of the President than they do the views of the Repbulicans in Congress). The Senate Republicans are still looking for some sort of consensus on the issue. And the House Republicans have passed a bill (with the help of Democrats looking to make political hay out of the issue) that seems quite draconian in some ways. So then, how can Catholics be "at odds" with the GOP over an issue about which the party doesn't appear to have a clear vision.

And let's not forget that the other day, I posted a story that said most Catholics have more "conservative" views on illegal immigration than do the Bishops. So, again, it is not altogether clear to me that this issue will be the wedge that drives Catholic voters away from the GOP.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this issue:
Catholic Bishops to Left of Flock on Immigration

Illegals Aren't Criminals, Cardinal McCarrick Says

Chairmen Sensenbrenner, King, Hyde Release Open Letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops on Immigration

Hillary Clinton Makes a Pitch For Catholic Voters

Charleston, SC Diocese Takes No Position on Immigration Reform: "A Prudential Issue"

President Bush Meets with Archbishop Chaput to Discuss Immigration Reform

Rep. Peter King: Hillary Should "Go to Confession"

Bishops Take Position Against Immigration Reform