Catholics of the 112th Congress

The National Catholic Register recently produced a list of all Catholics in the upcoming 112th Congress.  The article, Meet the Catholics in Congress,  states that 28% of members in the new Congress are Catholic.  With a number like that, you would think that there would more pro-life and conservative ideas coming out of Washington.  However, the article also states how the member voted on pro-life issues since 1997.



In the 112th Congress, there will be 24 Catholic Senators.  4 will be new Senators, 19 are current Senators, and 1, Pat Toomey (R-PA), served previously.  Mr. Toomey served as a Representative for Pennsylvania's 15th District from January 3,1999 to January 3, 2005.  He will be replacing Arlan Specter as a Senator for Pennsylvania.  Of the 20 Senators (to include Mr. Toomey), only 5 have voted pro-life more than 50% of the time.  This includes Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) who has voted pro-life 68% of time.  I am being generous to include her as a pro-life senator.  At least she has voted pro-life more than half the time, although for Catholic it should be 100%.

In the 112th Congress, there will be 126 Catholic Representatives.  30 are new, 94 are current, and 2 served previously.  Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) served as the Representative for Pennsylvania's 8th District from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007.  He will be taking that seat back from Patrick Murphy who has held that seat since he took from Mr. Fitzpatrick.  So we have Fitzpatrick (2005-2007), then Murphy (2007-2011), and Fitzpatrick again.  Steve Chabot (R-OH) served as the Representative for Ohio's 1st District from 1995 to 1999.  He lost the seat to Steve Driehaus for one term and is now going back.  Same type of situation as Fitzpatrick/Murphy in PA.  Of the 96 (to include Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Chabot), 43 have voted pro-life more than 50% of the time, 26 of which 100% of the time.

So, most Catholic Senators and Representatives vote against life.  Our country is founded on the individual rights of each person.  Rights not given by the Government, but by the Creator.  It says so in the Declaration of Independence, although President Obama has seemed to drop the "endowed by their Creator" part.  Just to clarify, when the word creator is capitalized, it is referring to God.  So, it a ashame that Catholics, who ought to be the strongest pro-life voice, vote against it when they are elected to U.S Senate and House.  However, there is some hope.  The outgoing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has only been pro-life 1% of the time.  The incoming Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), has been pro-life 100% of the time.  Support you pro-life members of Congress and speak out against those who are not.

The voting percentages of each member was compiled by National Right to Life