Flynn urges Catholic voters to raise political profile
Ex-mayor leads push by church
CANTON -- Saying "we want our voices heard" on same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and other political issues that contravene church teachings, Raymond L. Flynn yesterday launched a new effort backed by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley to mobilize Catholic voters in time for the Democratic National Convention and the fall election.
"It has absolutely nothing to do with liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican. It's about being Catholic. That's what it's about," Flynn, formerly a US ambassador to the Vatican and mayor of Boston, told about 100 people gathered in the basement of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Canton. "We want to come together as Catholics and faithful and patriotic Americans to build a stronger country. We want our voices heard in the civic life of this country." The speech and discussion before a mostly supportive audience marked Flynn's first appearance in his new role as an officially sanctioned promoter of Catholic political values. Last week, the former three-term mayor was named by the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the political arm representing the archbishop of Boston and the bishops of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester, to help lead a nonpartisan voter education drive built around Catholic teachings.
Flynn is scheduled to travel to parishes statewide in the coming weeks, backed by O'Malley, who recently pledged "the church's complete cooperation." The voter mobilization campaign occurs amid an escalating debate about the role of religion in civic and political life this campaign season. Church leaders in Massachusetts have publicized the votes of legislators who opposed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and some bishops have suggested that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry should be denied Communion because of his support for abortion rights.
Flynn said churchgoers today have a responsibility to register their fellow parishioners to vote, educate friends about the issues, and inundate politicians and media with letters and phone calls.
"Prolife Democrats are not allowed a meaningful voice in the Democratic Party," Flynn said. "We are not getting involved in politics like we used to, Catholics in particular. As a result of that, we are allowing other people to make decisions about our values and our beliefs."
He urged Catholics not to be dispirited by the clergy sex abuse scandal or by critics who charge the church is crossing a constitutional boundary between religion and the public square. The audience included several legislative candidates who are campaigning to unseat incumbent state lawmakers who support same-sex marriage. Each made a brief pitch, skewering their opponents for not vigorously opposing gay marriage, and for promoting embryonic stem cell research, emergency contraception for women, and other social issues that conflict with church teachings.Most in the audience nodded and murmured their approval for the speakers, but in a sign of the divisions even within activist Catholic ranks, a few took issue with the emphasis on what they called a narrow agenda of abortion and gay marriage.
One woman said she wanted to hear more about special education. Another said she wanted to focus on getting families involved in the church. John Barry, a 42-year-old salesman from Hyde Park, surveyed the graying audience and said the message needed to be broadened to attract younger Catholic voters.
"I think a lot of people have been turned off by the Catholic Church," he told the crowd, urging church leaders to oppose more stringently the death penalty and the war in Iraq. "There are a lot of other prolife issues out there that people aren't even thinking about."
