Is America Ripe for a Catholic Political Party?

In June of this year, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to consider drafting a teaching letter on the Eucharist.  Like many ecclesiastical matters, there quickly developed a yawning gap between reality and perception with respect to what had actually taken place at the bishops’ virtual gathering. No letter was issued, and its stated purpose would be to instruct Catholics about the nature of the Eucharist.  But many commentators and much of the public saw the vote as a rebuke of President Biden because of his administration’s abortion policies.

The Failure of Politicians

This incident is by no means the first time that Catholic clergy and laity have suggested some kind of sanction for Catholic lawmakers whose positions do not comport with Church teaching.  In one of many such instances, last year, a priest in Rhode Island sent a letter to Catholic members of that state’s assembly who voted in favor of a bill that would protect abortion rights.  His letter stated that they could not receive communion, serve as lectors, or stand as godparents in his parish because of their vote.

On the matter of abortion, the Church’s position seems increasingly at odds with that of the Democratic Party, which in decades past had ample room within its tent for anti-abortion politicians.  With respect to a host of other issues, Catholic teachings are equally incongruent with several major planks of the Republican Party’s platform.

As elegantly pointed out by Matthew Walther in a New York Times op ed piece, the Church’s position on many issues, and the Catholic vote as a whole, does not easily fit within the camp of one party or the other and often runs against the dominant political stream. Rather, the Catholic position largely sits in the center of a deeply divided electorate.  As such, Walther argues that the United States needs Catholicism as a moderating force in an increasingly polarized political landscape.

The Catholic Vote

But as the country continues to pull apart, the question becomes whether or not the Catholic vote (assuming Catholics in the US will continue to vote in keeping with their understanding of their Church’s teachings) will be able to influence the position of either major political party as attitudes harden and power moves to the wings.  There seems to be less and less room in the Democratic camp for any anti-abortion position.  On the Republican side, increasingly strident anti-immigration, anti-social safety net, pro-death penalty positions, and sacralizing of the nation, gibe less and less with the bulk of Catholic teaching.

Taking a step back from the Catholic position, conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans seem entirely unwelcome in either party, yet taken together, they broadly represent the views of the majority of Americans.  They also represent the views of the majority of Catholics and their views could be seen to fit, more or less, with Catholic teaching.  This raises the question of whether or not it might be time for a Catholic political party in the US that can stake out this middle ground and provide a party for the increasingly homeless political center.

A Catholic Political Party

Catholic Americans comprise approximately 25% of the electorate and as such are indispensable to either political party in terms of electoral success.  Yet polls indicate that Catholics feel increasingly alienated from various Democrat and Republican positions.  The President himself has effectively made this statement in saying that he personally abhors abortion but seemingly must support the party’s position on this issue.

Rather than continue to contort themselves in order to support one political camp or the other, or be forced to choose the lesser of two evils, there could be a political party that represented the Catholic position on major issues.  This position tends to be more socially conservative than the Democratic stance and more economically liberal than the Republican one on most issues.  Why should American Catholics, who represent a critical demographic for both parties, be forced – almost more than any other group – to so deeply compromise on their positions to find a political home?

There has never been a major Catholic party in US history. Arguably, until the 1980 election, the Democratic Party was the de facto Catholic party, but any such coalescence around this pole seems shattered for the time being.  But outside the US, and particularly in Germany, there is good precedent for a Catholic political movement.

Lessons of Modern History

Until the start of Bismarck’s Kulturkampf (Culture War) in the 1870s, which sought to increase state control over schools at the expense of the Church, Catholics largely belonged to the major political parties of the day. The attack that Bismarck launched on the rights of the Church galvanized much of the Catholic population in Germany behind a Catholic party.

With Bismarck’s loss of the Kulturkampf, and his subsequent ouster from office, the Catholic party largely took the middle ground on most issues and became one of the staunchest defenders of democratic rights in Germany.  More importantly, the Zentrum, or Center Party, as the Catholic delegation was known, became indispensable for the formation of governing coalitions.  The Zentrum represented the Catholic position on most major issues but was not beholden to the Church hierarchy.

The Moderate Middle

The Zentrum’s role was pivotal for many of the most important issues of the day.  It could largely be credited with helping in the creation of the modern welfare state.  It opposed two major military spending bills as dangerous and almost immoral in their magnitude.  Had the Zentrum succeeded in defeating these bills, it is possible that the First World War might not have occurred. Once the war began, the Zentrum, along with other parties, passed a bill calling for a negotiated peace which would have almost certainly avoided the horrific carnage of the war.

During the interwar Weimar years, the Zentrum formed and led several governments that did much to address the problems of Germany after the armistice.  In a certain sense, it became a victim of its own success in that it had participated so consistently in government coalitions that it became associated with the problems of the Weimar years, as did many other major parties.  Under the stress of the Depression, the Zentrum started to pull apart and ultimately dissolved itself after the Nazi seizure of power.

Catholic Adenauer’s Influence

After the war, the Conrad Adenauer, arguably the father of modern Germany and a Zentrum politician, made the conscious decision to reconstitute the party not as a purely Catholic institution, but as a Christian organization.  The CDU/CSU that has governed Germany for most of its postwar history is the successor to the Zentrum.

During its initial incarnation, the Zentrum effectively and independently represented the Catholic position on many major issues of the day.  It straddled political divisions within Germany and largely acted as a safeguard for democratic rights and principles within this country.  At certain times and on certain issues, it sided with the parties of the left and at other times and on other issues with the parties of the right.  Mostly, it gave a united voice to Catholics who were largely concentrated around the periphery of the Protestant Prussian state.

Whither the US?

The situation in the United States is in many way vastly different from that of Germany 150 years ago.  American Bishops are largely respected and unimpeded in their freedom to state the Catholic case on any issue.  They are only limited by the perception in the public square that the Church is morally compromised institution.  There is very little likelihood at the moment that a bishop would be arrested and jailed as happened in Germany during the Kulturkampf.

In many ways, a Catholic party may be just as beneficial for the American Catholics and for the US as it was for Germany.  Power is moving to the political wings in the US and away from the middle ground, which is where the majority of Catholics and the majority of Americans stand.  As stated, the middle ground also largely represents the Catholic position.

When the middle gave in Germany, the National Socialists were able to take Germany.  While the achievements of the Zentrum could serve as an inspiration for a Catholic political movement in the United States, perhaps the cautionary note about the collapse of democracy in Germany is the more important one.  The Zentrum, itself became divided as the economic situation deteriorated in Germany and as the nation sought answers from the political extremes.  This resulted in the Catholic party becoming compromised and no longer able to hold the center or democracy for the nation.

Catholics in the United States are becoming divided not necessarily because they disagree so deeply with one another, but more because they are being drawn apart by the political drift of the country. The middle is giving, even in terms of Catholics in America. If the current two party system cannot support the middle, then perhaps a Catholic party in the United States deserves serious consideration; not only for the good of Catholics, but for the good of America.