Tag Archives: Catholics in politics

The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance issued a press release concerning spending on referenda in 2012 and this line caught my eye: “The Committee Against Physician Assisted Suicide reported the highest amount of expenditures for any ballot question committee, $4,027,098, in a successful effort to defeat Question 2. The largest donors to the committee were the Boston Catholic Television Center, $1 million; St. John’s Seminary Corporation, $1 million; Knights of Columbus, $450,000; and The Catholic Association, $420,000.”

If you have discerned that opposition to Question 2 the Death with Dignity measure was funded by the Catholic Church, go to the head of the class. And the ballot question, which had been way ahead in polling before an onslaught of television ads against it, lost. So what does this mean for the potency of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts politics?

I’ve written some academic articles in the past about Catholic politics in the state, including A Christian Coalition for Catholics? The Massachusetts Model (gated), in the Review of Religious Research. I haven’t updated my research much lately but there is now a very interesting blog post by Hester Prynne titled Catholic Citizenship: An Electoral Force? And Who are These Guys Anyway?