Chicago Catholic News: Politics and the pulpit: Cardinal George's inner circle includes Democratic and GOP voters

Politics and the pulpit: Cardinal George's inner circle includes Democratic and GOP voters

(POSTED: 12/21/09) As he tangles with Democratic Party leaders over the direction of health care reform, particularly relating to abortion, Cardinal Francis George can sound an awful lot like a Republican.

Whether he is or not is unclear. He won't talk about a partisan affiliation and, because he hasn't voted in a primary for more than a decade, there are no recent public records to provide a clue.

But an analysis by ChicagoCatholicNews found a number of Democratic voters in the cardinal's own inner circle -- and among rank-and-file priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago -- despite the party's strong support for abortion rights.

Among those who requested Democratic ballots in the February 2008 primary, which was held several months before Barack Obama secured the party nomination over Hillary Clinton on the road to the White House, are:

--Chancellor Jimmy Lago, a layman who holds the No. 3 job in the archdiocese, handling many of the day-to-day operations of the Catholic Church in Cook and Lake counties.

--The Rev. Raymond Baumhart, a Jesuit and former Loyola University Chicago president who serves as a "personal consultant" to the cardinal.

--John Gorman and Timothy Lyne, two of 10 active and retired auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese.

Curbing abortion was described by one of the cardinal's confidants as George's "No. 1 issue." (George, who serves as head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was so forceful in conveying the Church's stance on abortion before the November 2008 general election, some saw it as a tacit endorsement of the Republicans.)

But for some archdiocesan officials who have voted Democratic, things are more complicated.

Baumhart, for instance, said that while he abhors abortion, "there are so many important issues." The Democrats, in his view, better represent regular folks, while the Republican Party is more "the money party."

Another high-ranking archdiocesan official who voted Democratic in the last two election cycles said his voting involves, in part, feeling a connection to a particular candidate, like Obama. "It's sort of a people thing."

While abortion is an important issue -- and Obama supports abortion access -- the official added: "I don't think you can let that be the one-and-only item."

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry said he had the same kind of thought while voting for GOP presidential candidate John McCain in the general election.

"It was more than that," Perry said, referring to McCain's opposition to abortion. "It was everything, war and peace, the economy, health care -- all of those things."

Perry did not vote in the primary, he said, because he didn't want a party preference out there.

That's likely why the cardinal (pictured above) hasn't voted in a primary for years. And other bishops said that's been their practice as well, since they have to serve a flock of varying political stripes, and don't want to offend or be forever associated with a partisan group.

An exception is Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who according to Cook County records pulled Republican ballots in the 2006 and 2008 primaries. Through an archdiocesan spokeswoman, Paprocki (pictured below) declined to comment.

Public records show two other clerics in trusted archdiocesan positions pulled Republican ballots in 2008: the Rev. Daniel Flens, the cardinal's ever-present secretary; and the Rev. Thomas Baima, who helps run the Mundelein seminary that educates and trains future priests.

Flens would only say: "I never comment on my own voting and neither does the cardinal."

Baima could not be reached for comment.

Also declining to comment was Lago, the chancellor, who requested Democratic ballots in seven of the last eight primaries, according to records from the Cook County clerk's office.

"I'm not discussing my personal, private voting practices," Lago said via email.

Aside from the upper echelon of the archdiocese, ChicagoCatholicNews also sampled primary records of more than 50 rank-and-file priests and found roughly half pulled Democratic ballots in the 2008 primary. (Primary records for many of the remaining priests could not be found.)

Meanwhile, George and other Catholic leaders have come under fire recently for being such a powerful lobbying force in the Democratic-led health care debate.

But Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane said this isn't about politics, and the cardinal shouldn't be pigeon-holed as a Republican or a Democrat.

"I think the cardinal is really trying to stand for a principle -- it's not a partisan principle, it's the principle of life," Kane said.

By Robert Herguth, ChicagoCatholicNews
Contact: info@chicagocatholicnews.com

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