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Michael Sean Winters

Left at the Altar: How the Democrats Lost the Catholics and How the Catholics Can Save the Democrats Hardcover – June 30, 2008

by Micheal Sean Winters (Author)

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In 1960, Democrats and Catholics united to elect John F. Kennedy, America's first Catholic president. As we approach the 2008 presidential election, the Democratic party is struggling to secure Catholic votes. For most of the twentieth-century, however, the Catholic vote was solidly Democratic. In Left at the Altar, Michael Sean Winters chronicles the rise and fall of this vital alliance, and offers compelling arguments for its revival. For the Democrats, the stakes could not be higher: The explosive growth of the Latino population will make the Catholic vote decisive in the twenty-first century. The stakes are high for Catholics, too: In their defection to the Republican party, Catholics have drifted from their traditional advocacy of core values including peace and social justice.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Sean Winters has worked as a speechwriter for top political candidates including General Wesley Clark (ret.), and is currently completing his doctorate in Church History at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has written for The New Republic, the New York Times, Washington Post, Washingtonian, Dallas Morning News, Slate.com, and America, and has appeared as a commentator on “ABC News” and “Capital Sunday.” He lives in Washington, D.C.

Product details

Publisher : Basic Books; First Edition (June 30, 2008)
Language : English
Hardcover : 256 pages
ISBN-10 : 0465091660
ISBN-13 : 978-0465091669
Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #457,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #556 in Political Parties (Books)
- #918 in History of Religion & Politics
- #965 in Church & State Religious Studies

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11 ratings

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Anthony Bosnick

Helps the reader understand why Catholics are no longer so enticed by the Democratic Party

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2016

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Winters offers a very helpful analysis of how the Democratic Party which once held the hearts and minds of the majority of Catholics has come to the point today where this is no longer the case. The outcome of this is that if Republicans can run an intelligent and appealing candidate (which they are finding harder to do, it seems!), many Catholics would gravitate to them. Winters makes the point that the loss of Catholics to the Democrats is largely related to the Democrats' strong embrace of a pro-choice (can we now say "pro-abortion") position as evidenced in the 2016 platform. The Republican Party could win the Catholic vote if they shifted a bit to the ideological center and also promoted issues such as the common good, the dignity of the human person, and solidarity. That shouldn't be too hard to do, but somehow it seems unlikely unless the Republicans wake up to the possibility that there is another way than the hard right.

One person found this helpful

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Michael DeMarco

A must-read for fans of MSW's columns

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2017

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I wanted to read this book because I have been reading Michael Sean Winters's column in the National Catholic Reporter for some time. I was impressed throughout by the depth of his knowledge, as well as his passion for implementing the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Though somewhat dated (I would include in that assessment his musings on same-sex marriage, which he rejected at the time of writing), it is a well-organized, cogently written, and page-turning book. For those who are MSW fans based on his columns, this is essential, but it is also worth reading for all Catholics and Democrats, as well as anyone concerned with achieving positive social change and elevating public discourse.

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Greg

fine writing style

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2018

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The book includes seven chapters of history, beginning with when the Democratic Party's approach to ethics and the Catholic community were most in sync and continuing as that synchrony diminished. Then follows a chapter on strategy recommendations based on three themes of Catholic Social Teaching and a chapter on the importance of the Latino community as the swing vote for the next generation. Very accessible, moves along quickly, practical (not preachy), fine writing style.

One person found this helpful

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Beth

The subject is beginning to bore me

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

It's better than o.k. but I get tired of the less progressive view and probably will not read another book like this one.

Helpful

Well written book--but the thesis is wrong

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2008

Winters is a good writer, and this is a thoughtful and engaging book, although it does slant left. Essentially, the bulk of the book is a history of Catholics and the Democratic party. This part is outstanding.

There is only a short chapter or two at the end which dealt with the future of the Democratic party and Catholics. This surprised me, given the title.

Winters suggests that the huge, new population of Catholic Hispanics in the United States will eventually create a solid majority of Democrats. "Hispanics may change America...The Catholic Left...can lead the way by making local parishes into effective melting pots" (p 220).

His sympathy for the new immigrants is touching, but I doubt he's right about their connection to the Democratic party.

How can practicing Catholics vote Democratic so long as Democrats insist on abortion on demand?

Winters says "the Left must challenge the Church to put less emphasis on changing the law and more emphasis on changing the culture. The Left must say that although the Church is free to try to persuade women not to abort, it cannot coerce them" (p 187).

There is nothing unclear about Catholic teaching and belief about abortion. You can pick up a Catechism of the church in any bookstore and it will tell you that Catholics believe abortion is a terrible moral wrong. It is the murder of a child. By allowing its legalization 40 million babies have been killed. Catholics cannot vote for anyone who supports abortion.

The Democratic party has tied itself to gay marriage and abortion.

So, what will happen to those millions and millions of Hispanics flooding the US? Right now, many vote Democratic because of immigration issues. Polling suggests many do not even know which party supports abortion.

But wait. Sooner or later these immigrants will reach the middle class, and once they do, if they remain Catholic, they know they can't vote for anyone who supports abortion.

So I believe Winters is simply wrong in his conclusion.

One thing his book did not emphasize was the history of anti-Catholicism in America. There are only a few pages and a very brief mention of the Know Nothing party whose party had only one plank: to stop Catholic immigration.

Nor does he mention the issue which has been the flash point for anti-Catholicism the last 150 years--public funding for Catholic schools.

Public schools originally taught Protestantism and anti-Catholicism. Simple as that. They used the King James bible and a curriculum which sometimes called the pope the anti-Christ.

As recently as 1971 the Supreme Court Justice William Douglas wrote, in regards to funding Catholic schools: "In the parochial schools Roman Catholic indoctrination is included in every subject. History, literature, geography, civics and science are given a Roman Catholic slant. The whole education of the child is filled with propaganda. That, of course, is the very purpose of such schools...That purpose is not so much to educate, but to indoctrinate and train, not to teach Scripture truths and Americanism, but to make loyal Roman Catholics."

Actually, things haven't changed that much. I believe many Democrats today would deny funding to Catholic schools for exactly the same reason.

25 people found this helpful

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ARGTop Contributor: Pets

interesting as history and as guide going forward.

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2017

quite insightful and thought provoking. interesting as history and as guide going forward.

Helpful

Andre L. Foster

How Obama can win

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2008

This book is really smart. It goes all the way back to FDR and the New Deal to discuss how Catholics have been involved politically with the Democrats. I hope Obama and his campaign team read it - Obama did badly among Catholics in the primaries. Hillary beat him 70%-30% among Catholics in Pennsylvania. This book will give him ideas about how to win them back. The last chapter on Latinos is especially good.

14 people found this helpful

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Peter P. Fuchs

Falwell Admirerer Gets Democrats Wrong

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2010

All you have to know to understand the odd point of view of this book, and its significant omissions, is that the writer has turned out to be an admirer and de facto defender of Jerry Falwell and a lot of his Republican exploits. This hardly seems to be based in any kind of analysis of day-to-day normality of everyday Catholics actually being more liberal than people understand. Rather it is based in the odd brew the author has cooked up in which the vastly reactionary positions of the Catholic Church nowadays can somehow be seen as less reactionary than they are. It is a rabbit-out-of-a-hat attempt, which has little to do with real Democratic Party thinking. All this from a scribbler who recently careened into the realm of cringe-worthy hyperbole by assailing President Obama with the words J'Accuse. Thus, the only meaning to "left at the altar" in this regard, is that the author feels like a jilted bride whose fabulous lace dress was disrespected, and hardly a modern day Dreyfusard.

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