Christian Coalition takes aim at Boston

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 22, 1995 by James G. McManus

BOSTON - Pat Robertson's 1.7 million strong Christian Coalition, moving to draw Catholics into its fold, brought its conservative political agenda to the heart of Democratic liberalism last week to promote a subsidiary group, the Catholic Alliance.

About 400 people braved a Dec. 9 snowstorm to hear Ralph Reed, who heads the national coalition from its Virginia base, lay out common ground between Catholics and conservative evangelical Christians on hotly debated political issues.

But in a state that sends half a dozen of the nation's most liberal politicians to Washington - including Ted Kennedy and the openly gay Barney Frank - some participants wondered if the Catholic Alliance could take hold here. Political events normally draw large crowds in Boston - City Council candidates easily attract more than 400 to spaghetti-supper fundraisers.

"I don't go straight down the line with any one person or party," said Mary Lou Burke, who said she just finished a degree in theology at a Boston-area graduate school. Burke attended the conference with a friend to find out more about the alliance's agenda. "I think, like anything, there are things about the coalition that ring true. It is trying to get a foothold here, but it is much stronger in the South and the Midwest."

Organizers of the Catholic Alliance say they want to create a grassroots political machine capable of influencing state and federal legislation on such issues as abortion, school choice, welfare reform and government spending. Said Maureen Roselli, a former congressional aide and executive director of the alliance:

We are another vehicle for Catholics - a grassroots organization to effect public policy."

However, several bishops and lay Catholic organizations have warned that the coalition is trying to enlist Catholics for the Republican Party's agenda. They note that the coalition has staked out positions on capital punishment, welfare reform, immigration and health care that conflict with statements of the bishops' conference and Pope John Paul II.

In response to the alliance gathering, a group of 65 local Catholic organizations from across the country issued a statement Dec. 7 criticizing Robertson's attempt to "use Catholics as a front for a rightwing agenda."

The statement, issued by local chapters of Call to Action, Dignity, CORPUS, Women-Church, Catholics for a Free Choice and other social action groups, warned: "The Christian Coalition has expressed wholehearted support for the death penalty and for increased spending for weapons of death and destruction."

The new Catholic Alliance's agenda "represents the antithesis of our core beliefs and those espoused by the leadership of the Catholic church, including Pope John Paul II in his recent visit to the United States," the group stated.

In the Christian Coalition's home state of Virginia, Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond has barred the alliance from distributing literature at parishes.

Robertson, a 1988 Republican presidential candidate who appears regularly as host of his "700 Club" TV show and who founded the Christian Coalition as a political arm, met the pope at an inter-faith gathering hosted by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York.

While the Christian Coalition has had some successes in local elections in the South, it was unclear whether the group's Catholic wing could appeal to large numbers of voters in the Northeast.

Paul Nagy, a New Hampshire resident who is the coalition's Northeast coordinator, asserted that the coalition "is not a Bible Belt phenomenon." But he acknowledged that, at the parish level, many priests have not welcomed alliance activists to distribute literature or sign up new members since organizing began in October. But Nagy said the group would focus on recruting lay Catholics. Throughout the day, organizers distributed sign-up cards asking for attendees' names and addresses, as well as their parish and pastor's name.

Nagy said Republicans benefit most from the Christian Coalition's organizing efforts, and throughout the conference, the new Catholic Alliance appeared to affirm the Republican Party's political agenda.

Pope John Paul II's photo appears in the front of the coalition's November/December magazine, Christian America, with an article titled "The Crucial Catholic Vote." Inside the cover, the magazine contains an advertisement for Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich's latest video.

The Boston archdiocese, however, took an arms-length approach to the alliance meeting. John Walsh, spokesman for Cardinal Bernard Law, said the archdiocese neither supported nor opposed the group. The alliance, he said, "is an independent group of laypeople who have banded together for political purposes. There are no official connections between the archdiocese and this group." Massachusetts Catholic Conference officials did not attend the conference.

No prominent New England politicians - many of whom are Catholic - turned out for the conference, despite the prospect of meeting hundreds of political activists. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, a scheduled speaker and antiabortion Catholic active in the Democratic Party, failed to attend.