A Thoughtful Response to Kmiec's Commonweal Article

I mentioned yesterday I was toying with doing a quite detailed response to Prof Kmiec latest rant in Commonweal magazine. American Papist has done a good bit of that possible post here at An open letter to Doug Kmiec (on behalf of the “right-wing Catholic blogosphere”) I think it is very civil and thoughtful.

I urge all to read it that thinks his claims have any merit. I might still do a full rebuttal especially since I saw on a very nice and well done Friar's blog that he found the article "compelling". Sadly for those that did not follow the Kmiec saga in close detail I suspect many will also find it compelling.

A few other thoughts that might not as be thought full or clear as the American Papist but I shall give it a try.

I think we are sort of seeing the climax of Prof Kmiec Martyr act here. As I posted yesterday he has been rightly been called on it before. Such as this case when a non Catholic observer sort of pointed out his silliness when he was getting all high and mighty with a Catholic that dare disagree with him over at Slate.

I find this perhaps the weakest of his articles he has presented.

When he says that this so called Catholic right wing is trying to poison Obama/ Vatican relations by making FOCA a "wedge” issue between the Church and the incoming Obama administration I just throw up my arms in frustration. Can one imagine what the reaction would be if a Catholic Jurist (or anyone) proclaimed not to talk about disagreements with the Vatican over Iraq because it is an attempt by Left Wing Catholics to poison relations between the Vatican and the Bush Administration. They would be laughed out of the room.

The problem people have with Kmiec many have is that he has switched so many positions. I think the last straw was when hemade the argument that Obama and McCain position were both "pro- choice" because McCain wanted to the return the issue to the states. The fact that this has been Kmiec's position in the past (including in Congressional testimony as recent as 2006) just shows one example of an unexplainable conversion experience.

As to FOCA I also have to think that the readers of even the progressive Commonweal are not going to buy that the concerns over the Freedom of Choice Act is being manufactured by "Right Wing" blogs. The fact is the blogs have have being parroting the Bishops line not the other way around. If they believe that well they have been living under a rock.

I still have hopes for Prof Kmiec of being a important voice as to Faith , Politics, and Catholic Social Justice Issues. He has not exactly gotten off to a great start IMHO with his vast generalizations and slamming of conservative and republican Catholics. A group that I find often have diverse views and are truly trying to engage their Faith and all aspects of Catholic Social Justice.

Prof Rick Garnett of Notre Dame pointed out what is becoming frustrating more and more theme among political Catholics in this election season post Kmiec's question, and other things . . .
It seems to be a premise of many of these "for whom should Catholics vote?" discussions that "on every issue that matters, other than abortion, the election of Sen. Obama will actually yield meaningful policy actions that are edifyingly in concert with the Church's social teaching, while the election of Sen. McCain will actually yield meaningful policy actions that are distressingly in conflict with the Church's social teaching." But, this premise is false.
It is false because it ignores, or at least downplays, the political, social, cultural and economic realities that will almost certainly prevent dramatic changes with respect to most matters, and so it overestimates the "good" stuff about an Obama administration that, it is proposed, outweighs the "bad" stuff. It is also false because Sen. McCain's views (or, more precisely, the policies likely to be pursued by his administration) on a number of matters -- not just abortion -- are, in terms of consonance with the Church's social teaching, preferable to Sen. Obama's. Or, so a faithful, reasonable, informed, non-duped, non-Republican-hack, Commonweal-and-First Things-reading Catholic could conclude. It's a sad thought, but . . . I'm not sure that productive conversations -- even among friends -- are possible so long as this false premise is assumed.

The distressing theme that the the good Prof is talking about is repeated often and sadly no doubt will be in the future. That is besides abortion the Democrats and their policies should be assumed to much more in concert with Catholic Social Justice thought than the Republicans or their candidates. The fact as Prof Garnett points out that McCain actually was in the front lines of many huge Catholic Social Justice Issues and this is ignored is well maddening. Needless to say Prof Kmiec failed to point this out also.

I did not find Kmiec's argument at all convincing as to Obama and Catholic Social Justice concerns outside abortion(Please note the abortion issue is a critical part of Catholic Social Justice). It all seemed rather vague. However as to Catholics, Social Justice, and the Public square it did not help matters that Kmiec in his writings were feeding stereotypes of conservative and Republican Catholics.

I understand he was one of Obama chief Catholic advocates and much of this was just politics. However I do have some hope that since the election is over Kmiec can serve some role in making this a more fruitful debate.