Sister Mary E. Bendyna is executive director and senior research associate for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is an expert on the Catholic Church and religion and politics.

The Rev. Thomas O’Hara is the elected provincial superior of the United States Province of Priests and Brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He oversees the work and welfare of more than 500 priests, brothers and seminarians in the U.S. Province. He can comment on issues of Catholics and politics, especially in old-line Catholic […]

Elizabeth McKeown is a professor of theology at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. McKeown focuses on American studies. She is co-editor of Public Voices: Catholics in the American Context (Orbis Books, 1999).

The Democratic National Committee has tried to present the party as friendly to a range of faiths and has been planning a specific outreach to Catholic voters, a community the Democrats could once take for granted. In September 2006, former Democratic Party Chairman David Wilhelm launched an effort called Faithful Democrats, billed as “an online community of Christian Democrats.”

In 2004, political conservatives launched another Republican-backed initiative to attract Catholics: a National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, designed as an alternative to the traditional National Prayer Breakfast, which has a largely evangelical Protestant character. The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast became a premier event for Republican leaders, and President Bush addressed the gathering on April 7, 2006.

The Republican party has made a strong push to draw Catholic voters. The Republican National Committee has a “Catholic Team” designed to recruit Catholics voters. The mission statement of the GOP Catholic Team says: “The Republican Party makes it possible for Catholics to uphold both the culture of life and social justice in a way […]

Jim Towey is a Catholic who succeeded DiIulio as head of the White House’s faith-based program, serving as director until he left that post to become the president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., in July 2006. On Aug. 3, 2006, President Bush appointed Jay Hein, president of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research in Indianapolis, as Towey’s […]

John K. White is a political science professor and fellow at the Life Cycle Institute at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

David Leege is an emeritus professor of political science at Notre Dame University and spends much of the year in Arizona. Leege is a leading expert on Catholic voting patterns.