CatholicVote
Founded2008
Type501(c)(4) non-profit
FocusRoman Catholic political advocacy
Location
Area served
United States
Key people
Brian Burch (President)
Websitewww.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]

Structure

CatholicVote.org is divided into three organizations:

CatholicVote.org, a project of Fidelis, a Catholic organization.[6][7][8][9][10]

CatholicVote.org Political Action Committee is an affiliated non-partisan political action committee which assists selected candidates in their election campaigns. CatholicVote PAC is the group's connected political action committee; its goal is to "provide qualified candidates with direct financial support while working independently to mobilize voters to elect candidates whom we believe will be faithful stewards of Catholic social teaching and the common good."[5] In 2010, it made campaign contributions to six Republicans and one Democrat.[11]

CatholicVote.org Education Fund is a 501(c)3 tax-deductible program which comprises two units: the CatholicVote.org Education Fund and the CatholicVote.org Legal Action Fund.

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 fundamental 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]

Fidelis

CatholicVote.org is run under the umbrella of the Fidelis Center, a Catholic non-profit group. "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.[17] 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.[18] The advert was rejected by both NBC for airing during the Super Bowl[17] and CNN for airing during coverage of President Obama's first State of the Union Address.[19]

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

In 2010 CatholicVote.org organized a petition urging the United States Postal Service to move forward with issuing a Mother Teresa commemorative stamp despite opposition by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and similar groups.[20]

Controversy

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".[21] 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.[22][23] It quickly received a minimum of a million views on YouTube,[21] where it received a massive backlash due to the video's message.[22] On YouTube, "Not Alone" both received many more dislikes than likes[21][22] and received many negative comments.[23] Parodies of the video appeared very quickly.,[21][22] and many websites condemned it, calling the participants "bigots" or "anti-gay".[23]

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.' "[23]

In June 2022, CatholicVote.org urged parents to check out any LGBT-themed books at their local libraries so that no children will be able to see them.[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
  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
  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
  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 NBC rejects pro-life ad using Obama
  18. ↑ Facing Tough Washington Climate, Abortion Foes Move Debate Online
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ "US Issues Mother Teresa Postal Stamp". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 1 2 3 4 "CatholicVote says controversial video sparked outpouring of thanks". Catholic News Agency. July 2, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  24. ↑ Falcon, Russell (2022-06-11). "Catholic group launches 'Hide the Pride' anti-LGBTQ library campaign". The Hill. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
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