Catholic Bishop Switches from Democrat to Republican

Catholic Bishop Switches from Democrat to Republican

A Rhode Island Catholic bishop said that he has changed his voter registration from Democrat to Republican because of the strong support for abortion and same-sex marriage on display at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in 2012.

According to CNSNews, Bishop Thomas Tobin, 65, who heads the diocese of Providence, RI, said, “The a-ha moment for me was the 2012 Democratic National Convention – it was just awful.”

Tobin was at a meeting of the Rhody Young Republicans in Providence. He has been a registered Democrat since 1969.

“I just said I can’t be associated structurally with that group, in terms of abortion and NARAL and Planned Parenthood and [the] same-sex marriage agenda and cultural destruction I saw going on,” he said. “I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

Tobin said he has changed his party registration but that the registration itself is not especially meaningful to him. He added that he was very disappointed by the recognition of same-sex marriages in his home state.

“I was profoundly disappointed that the state moved in that direction and that so many Catholic politicians abandoned ship on this issue,” said Tobin. “This was a critical issue and they let us down.”

Daniel Doherty, writing at Townhall, wonders, “How a Catholic priest could ever support a president, let alone a political party, that increasingly supports abortion-on-demand is beyond me.”

Admitting that many self-professed Catholics are not pro-life or committed only to heterosexual marriage, Doherty states:

But the truth is that the Democratic Party has shifted so far to the Left in recent years on the issue of abortion that pro-life Democrats are harder to come by. There’s simply no room for Bishop Tobin (or any Catholic leader or lay person) in the Democratic Party who is fully committed to defending the unborn. The Eunice Kennedys of the world are a dying breed. And Catholic leaders, it seems, are finally starting to realize this.

Weighing the issue of Catholic faith and political ideology, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air decides:

Our faith does not fit neatly into ideological paradigms.  At some point, though, one has to act publicly to express a danger in political and cultural direction. I would not be at all surprised if more Catholics reached that conclusion after the Democratic National Convention last year, either. Bishop Tobin has made a wise choice to act and speak as a shepherd for his diocese.

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