CatholicVote Head to Newsmax: Catholic Dems in Congress 'in Violation of the Church'

Roman Catholic Democrats in the House and Senate ''are in violation of the church they claim to serve,'' CatholicVote.org President Brian Burch told Newsmax last week.

According to Pew Research and reported in Congressional Quarterly, there are 77 Catholic Democrats in the House and 14 Catholic Democrats in the Senate. 

In what clearly signaled an effort in the coming midterm elections to draw attention to their records, Burch spelled out how their positions in Congress on issues such as abortion, taxpayer funding of abortion, and religious liberty put them at odds with their church.

''They call themselves Catholic but do not practice faith in any meaningful way,'' said Burch. ''[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, [Senate Democratic Whip Richard] Durbin, and Joe Biden all hold themselves out to be practicing Catholics.''

But all three, he quickly added, ''work against the teachings of the church.''

Burch specifically singled out Biden, only the second Catholic president in U.S. history, for ''holding himself out as a devout Catholic but has a problem with his integrity.''

Like many other modern Democrats, Biden follows the same position on abortion initially sculpted by the late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo (father of present Gov. Andrew Cuomo) — that he is ''personally opposed to abortion,'' but won't impose his views on his constituency.

''On no other issue except abortion do [Democratic Catholic politicians] 'silo' themselves and not apply their 'personal' views to public policy,'' he added.

In so doing and ''in holding themselves out as devout,'' Burch told us, ''Biden and other Catholic Democrats play us as fools.''

Along with the abortion stands of Biden and other Catholic politicians, the CatholicVote.org president cited as signs of their conflict with their church taxpayer funding of abortion (which Biden formerly opposed but now supports) and what he called the ''coercion of conscience'' of people of faith.

He specifically pointed to the court battle over the Catholic group known as Little Sisters of the Poor as an example of ''[t]he reach of the federal government to coerce people of faith such as the Little Sisters of the Poor to carry health insurance that directly conflicts with their faith [by providing for contraception and abortion].''

Of the 14 Democratic senators who are Catholic, only West Virginia's Joe Manchin is still considered pro-life.  The last pro-life Democratic U.S. Representative, Dan Lipinski of Illinois, was defeated in the primary last year in which his abortion stand was the key issue.

CatholicVote.org is a 501(c)(4) organization representing millions of Catholics across the U.S.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.