CatholicVote.org

Last updated
CatholicVote
Founded2008
Type 501(c)(4) non-profit
Focus Roman Catholic political advocacy
Location
Area served
United States
Key people
Kelsey Reinhardt (president)
Joshua Mercer (co-founder, vice president
Brian Burch (co-founder, senior advisor)
Website www.CatholicVote.org

CatholicVote.org is a conservative, [1] [2] [3] [4] non-profit political advocacy group based in the United States. While the organization acknowledges the authority of the Magisterium, it is independent of the Catholic Church. [5]

Contents

Structure

CatholicVote.org is divided into three organizations:

History

Domain name

The CatholicVote.org domain name was first used by the Catholic Alliance in early 2000. [12] The Catholic Alliance was a grassroots group of Americans who agreed with the platform of the fundamentalist evangelical Protestant Christian Coalition but wished to widen the Coalition's scope to include Catholics. [13] The Catholic Alliance, formed in 1995, held the website until mid-2002. The next owner of the domain name was Larry Cirignano, founder of Catholic Vote, later called Catholic Citizenship. He used the domain for six years until mid-2008. [14] [15] The Fidelis Center began operating the domain in October 2008, initially redirecting it to CatholicVote.com. The first published articles linked on the site included ones by co-founders Brian Burch and Joshua Mercer. The Fidelis Center subsequently sold the domain to Fidelis, a related, but independent 501(c)4 organization which operates the domain today. [16]

Activism

Marriage and sexuality

On June 25, 2015, one day before same-sex marriage became legal everywhere in the United States, CatholicVote.org uploaded a video onto YouTube called "Not Alone". [17] The video features Catholic people who oppose same-sex marriage defending this belief, saying that people should not hate or dislike those who oppose same-sex marriage. [18] [19] It quickly received a minimum of a million views on YouTube, [17] where it received a massive backlash due to the video's message. [18] On YouTube, "Not Alone" both received many more dislikes than likes. [17] [18] Parodies of the video appeared very quickly. [17] [18] According to Catholic News Agency, many websites condemned the video, calling the participants "bigots" or "anti-gay". [19] CatholicVote.org president Brian Burch said "literally tens of thousands of people are emailing, saying: 'thank you for speaking up for me. I don't agree with the Supreme Court decision, but I don't hate anyone.'" [19]

In June 2022, CatholicVote.org urged parents to check out any LGBT-themed books from their local libraries so that no children would be able to see them. [20]

Anti-abortion

"Imagine Spot 1" was the first release of the national media campaign "Life: Imagine the Potential" in 2009. In ten days it recorded over 700,000 hits. [21] The commercial centers around the story of President Barack Obama, showing an ultrasound image and saying that despite a hard childhood, the unborn child will grow up to be President of the United States. [22] The advert was rejected by both NBC for airing during the Super Bowl [21] and CNN for airing during coverage of President Obama's first State of the Union Address. [23]

A second commercial was also released in 2009, "Imagine Spot 2". This commercial featured Nelson Mandela. It aired in selected markets during the American Idol season 8 finale. [6]

Other activism

In 2010, CatholicVote.org organized a petition urging the United States Postal Service to issue a Mother Teresa commemorative stamp despite opposition by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and similar groups. [24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Politics Daily: Donald Trump, Family Values Conservative -- Believe It or Not". Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  2. ↑ Conservative Catholics rally against contraception mandate
  3. ↑ Boston Globe op-ed: Faith reduced to caricature [ dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Chicago Tribune: After Vatican rebuke, nuns celebrated". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  5. 1 2 CatholicVote About "CatholicVote Civic Action is inspired and organized by faithful Catholic laity. For this reason, we do not claim to speak for any individual bishop or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. We represent the voices of millions of Catholics across America who seek to renew our country and our culture, in full communion with and 100% faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church."
  6. 1 2 Anti-Abortion Ad Scores with 'American Idol'
  7. ↑ NY Observer: Anti-Rudy Catholics Plan Their Assault
  8. ↑ National Journal: Conservative Catholics' New Advocates [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ BeliefNet: New Fidelis Anti-Abortion, Anti-Gay Marriage Video
  10. ↑ NYT: A Fight Among Catholics Over Which Party Best Reflects Church Teachings
  11. ↑ Donation Recipients
  12. ↑ "CatholicVote.org Homepage – a project of Catholic Alliance". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on March 2, 2000. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  13. ↑ Djupe, Paul A.; Olson, Laura R. (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics. Infobase Publishing. p. 77. ISBN   1438130201.
  14. ↑ "CatholicVote.org – an association of Catholic voters in America". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on September 21, 2002. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Catholic Vote – Catholic Citizenship". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  16. ↑ "CatholicVote.com". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Gayle, Damien (July 4, 2015). "Anti-gay marriage video by US pressure group CatholicVote plays victim card". The Guardian . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Mortimer, Caroline (July 6, 2015). "'You are not alone': US religious pressure group releases video for Catholics 'victimised' by gay marriage ruling". The Independent . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  19. 1 2 3 "CatholicVote says controversial video sparked outpouring of thanks". Catholic News Agency. July 2, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  20. ↑ Falcon, Russell (2022-06-11). "Catholic group launches 'Hide the Pride' anti-LGBTQ library campaign". The Hill . Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  21. 1 2 NBC rejects pro-life ad using Obama
  22. ↑ Facing Tough Washington Climate, Abortion Foes Move Debate Online
  23. ↑ McFeely, Tom (2009-02-20). "CNN Punts Pro-Life Obama Ad". National Catholic Register . Circle Media Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  24. ↑ "US Issues Mother Teresa Postal Stamp". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
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