The Ultimate Swing Vote

     So, all the election data is in and organized, and as a lot of papers and analysts noted pre-election, it appears as though about half of Catholics voted Democrat.  This makes me both happy and sad.  On one hand, it means that despite the relatively massive crush between Republicans and Catholic leadership, American Catholics are still pretty much thinking independently regarding their politics.  Most support gay marriage and birth control, and will choose health care for all over lower taxes. So that makes me happy; there are liberal Catholics out there- like just under 40 million of them.  Woot!  Holla at you!  (Does anyone even say that anymore?  Well, whatever.  I'll holla if I want to.)
    Then on the other hand, the numbers show that about half of Catholics are voting Republican, which is a pretty distinctive shift from how Catholics used to vote.  Just a generation or two ago, Catholics were pretty much solidly Democrat.  These were the blue collar Irish and Italian immigrants that were pro-union, and naturally, as Catholics, had no issue with big government.  This generation who were interested in social justice and saw the value of multiculturalism, ushered in the changes of Vatican II.  But it seems like the very minute Vatican II came into play, the backlash  is taking the American Church to places it has never been before.  With the American bishops so fervently condemning Democrats for supporting women's issues and homosexuality, it makes me feel like the Church is more interested in condemning "sinners" than they are fighting for peace and helping the poor.  I don't remember Jesus doing much condemning of people at all.
Oh, except for church leadership.  He did a lot of condemning of them.
     So now there is this "Year of Faith" that is supposed to clue people into the real meaning of Vatican II.
RIGHT.  The real meaning.
Ugh.
Meanwhile, the Pope is calling a meeting of the bishops in an attempt to address this issue of people leaving the faith is droves.  Hmmm...what could be driving them away?
I wonder though.  It is the younger generation of Catholics that tend to be more conservative  (or, "brown nosers", as I like to call them)  Does that mean that eventually the old generation will just die off and it will just be me and Colbert waiting around for Mardi Gras and watching Godfather movies?
That would be pretty awesome actually.