AmP Poll: Did your parish talk about health care reform?

Last week, the US bishops undertook an unprecedented effort to inform Catholics in 19,000 parishes about the problems in the current health care reform bill.

Their effort also aims at mobilizing Catholics to contact their elected representatives requesting that they vote down the current health care bill unless critical aspects of it are fixed (pro-life, etc).

The health care bill will probably be voted on this week, which means last weekend was the best chance to contact Sunday Mass-attending Catholics.

So .... did your parish heed the call of their bishop? Let's find out!

(please note the options proceed in descending order from most supportive to least support of the bishops' message. I've even included an option that your parish is contradicting the clear message of the bishops that the current health care reform bill ought to be strongly opposed.)

Please help me get the word out about this poll. As always, I'd like to get as large a sampling as possible. Fr. Z is running a very similar poll on his blog. You are welcome to vote in his poll as well.

It is not yet too late to ensure the US bishops' materials get into the hands of American Catholics.
You can help make that happen!

AmP Poll: Do you support Obama's health care bill?

AmP Weekend Poll: Do you support the current form of Obama's health care bill?

As always, please explain the reasons for your vote in the comments below, and then send end the poll around to your friends, Twitter, Facebook and/or blog! I'd like to get the widest sampling of Catholics as possible. Thanks, papists!

update: there's a glitch in the poll software I'm using which means you have to visit the blog homepage to see it appear correctly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

AmP Poll: What topics are you most interested in?

I realize this is back-to-back polls, but yesterday's AmP poll was very useful to me and I think today's will be even more helpful.

Please note that I am not only asking what were your favorite AmP topics, but also am curious as to what would be your favorite topics should I redirect focus. This helps me know what brings you back to AmP day after day.

Again, I'm not promising changes - I like the topics I discuss currently - but I am open to giving more attention to other areas that need it.

If you can't see the poll, click here and scroll down until you do.

AmP Poll: What kind of reader are you?

The last AmP poll ("What do you think of Notre Dame's invitation to Obama?") received over 3,000 votes.

It strikes me that these polls are extraordinary opportunities to understand the AmP readership better - and thereby - serve you better in my blogging.

One question I sometimes struggle with in choosing my stories and style of reporting, is what kind of readership I have? Now don't get me wrong - I've always blogged about what I want - just take a look at my semi-regular posts on Dubai. Luckily us papists have plenty in common.

Nevertheless, I think this new poll topic is a way for me to begin getting a better picture in my head of what your background is on these issues:

As always, please feel free to use this poll topic as a jumping-off point for discussion. If you can't see this poll click here and scroll down until you find it.

AmP Poll: What do you think of Notre Dame's invitation to Obama?

For the latest posts, scroll down or click here and scroll down. Notre Dame scandal updates here.

As always, please feel free to explain your vote in the comment box and spread the word.

(if you can't see the poll - click here.)

AmP Poll: What do you think of the official Legionary response?

We've been discussing this question closely for about a week.

[Note: this post will remain at the top of the page today. If you can't see the poll click here.]

Time to poll the AmP audience:

And feel free to explain your choice of response in the comment box below.

AmP Poll: Was SC priest right to suggest confession for Obama voters?

You can vote in the AmP Poll at the bottom of this post. But first, the details....

Michael Paulson at Articles of Faith:

The pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville, SC, is urging parishioners who voted for Barack Obama not to present themselves for Communion unless they go to confession first because they have cooperated with "intrinsic evil'' by voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights over a candidate who does not. The Rev. Jay Scott Newman told the Greenville News that he doesn't intend to deny anyone Communion, but made it clear that his view is that Obama voters should not present themselves without seeking penance first "lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.''

The relevant passage from Pastor Newman's letter:

Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

Before I get into the reactions, my four observations:

1. not quite: The common teaching on this matter has been that it gravely wrong to vote for a pro-choice candidate because you support their pro-abortion stance. This is the common conclusion drawn from, for instance, Cardinal Ratzinger's famous letter. Fr. Newman seems to be arguing that an Obama vote in this case is wrong not because it representes formal cooperation, but because it is a case of material cooperation (because their vote helped elect him)
2. actually: People who vote for a pro-choice candidate despite there being a pro-life candidate in the running, circumstances being equal, I would say have a poorly-formed conscience ... however, that does not mean they are culpable of any sin if they honestly attempted to inform their conscience, or were misled by third parties, etc.
3. moreover: individual parish priests should take the lead from their bishops when it comes to the pastoral implications of forming the consciences of their parishioners. There's a reason why no other priest in America has apparently done something like this - a priest ought not to exercise this level of admonition about issues still genuinely up for discussion.
4. finally: it seems to be that a nation of Catholics that elects Obama by a majority needs education, guidance and leadership about its faith. There are good and bad ways to go about it, and telling people they have just committed a mortal sin isn't the best way. Try teaching them for four years, and if this keeps happening .... well, that's another story.

Now here's an interesting thing, the parishioners don't seem too upset, at least according to Fr. Newman. Remember who we are hearing this from, of course. I wonder if the parish leans heavily right?

More amazingly, one could conclude the local diocese of Charleston has Fr. Newman's back:

"Stephen Gajdosik, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, told The News that calling parishioners who voted for a candidate who supports legalized abortions to penance is a question of how best to deepen a flock's relationship to God and a move left up to local priests. He said such a move is appropriate and in line with church teaching."

"Newman said, "An uninformed vote is an irresponsible vote," and that no informed voter this year could have mistaken the candidates' abortion positions." [source.]

Charleston currently does not have a bishop, instead they have an interim apostolic administrator.

Anyway, let's talk about it. Is Fr. Newman, strictly-speaking, right or wrong? And if he is right, was he right to go about it in this way? After all, how you preach the truth is important as well. Oh and vote:

Poll stats here.

AmP Poll: Did Sarah Palin change your vote? {updated}

{updated 12:00pm - see below}

Online Surveys & Market Research

And as always, feel free to link to this poll (the wider sampling the better!) and discuss your response in the comment box below.

update: due to a request, I've added a fifth voting option to the poll (basically "undecided").

AmP Poll: Would you vote for a pro-choice Vice President?

Today's AmP Poll:

Online Surveys & Market Research

And as always, feel free to link to this poll (the wider sampling the better!) and discuss your response in the comment box below.

AmP Poll: Who are you voting for President?

With McCain winning the GOP nomination, and Huckabee out, who are you voting for President?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Posts on the 2008 Presidential race here. Trackbacks and discussion are welcome!

AmP Reader Poll: The '08 USCCB Nominees

Maybe it's my frustration with political campaigns, maybe it's my recent relocation to Washington DC (the veritable belly of the polling beast), or maybe it's the fact that I haven't had a new AmP Reader Poll in a couple weeks, but whatever the reason....

This Monday (Nov. 12th) the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will convene in Baltimore, MD for their annual meeting [Related: AmP's complete coverage of the Bishops in Baltimore].

The first order of business will be electing a president and vice-president (CNS has a brief here). In keeping with tradition, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago is expected to take over the presidency (having served as the vice-president of the USCCB this past year). In fact, it's pretty much a guarantee.

However, the quest to nominate a new vice-president is wide open, so to speak. Rocco explains the process:

Once the new president -- who'll take office after the meeting's close -- is chosen, the remaining nine nominees will face off for the deputy's post, with the two top vote-getters ending up in a head-to-head.

Now, of course, the Catholic Church is not democractically governed. "Truth," Cardinal Ratzinger famously said, "is not determined by a majority vote." (Don't believe me? It's on a t-shirt and so must be true!). But some things in the Church are democratically determined, such as the vice-presidency of the USCCB.

Well .... actually, we don't get a vote in that election either.

But what we can do is vote in this Reader Poll (and then tell our friends). Campaigning is welcome - within reason - and please feel free to explain your vote in the comment box so we can have some good discussion! Vox populi!

Can't see the above poll? Vote here.

Now, the head-to-head voting for committee chairs:

Can't see the above poll? Click here.

Can't see the above poll? Click here.

Can't see the above poll? Click here.

Can't see the above poll? Click here.

Can't see the above poll? Click here.

Thanks to Rocco Palmo who did the source reporting for this poll content. Brian Page of Christus Vincit has posted his picks here. "Domini Sumus" notes that "This may be the last year for where the terms for all the committee chairs end at the same thing. Plans are currently being proposed for 1/3 of the committee chairs to leave office each year."

As always, you are more than welcome to link to this poll. I'd like as wide a sample of St. Blog's as possible.

Related: After 3 years of abuse crisis, U.S. bishops' head ready for a retreat (CNS)

AmP Poll: Who conforms best to Catholic Social Teaching?

This week's AmericanPapist Poll is "Which [Presidential] candidate conforms best to Catholic Social Teaching?"

As always, feel free to link to this post and discuss your votes in the comment box. The more people who vote, the better grasp we can have on which candidate St. Blog's favors thus far.


If you cannot see the poll you can also vote here (and link to this version as well).
I found PollDaddy through Gerald's post (and really like the fact that you can embed it!).

AmP Poll: Presidential Candidates 2008, first run

An AmericanPapist Poll has been posted: Of these potential 2008 presidential candidates, who are you currently most disposed to vote for?

Voting will continue for about a week. If I have made any glaring omisisons please comment below or email me and I'll consider adding them. As always, this poll is not scientific and just for fun.

Go Vote!