The U.S. Catholic bishops took a beating at the polls. Not only was President Obama reelected, despite their attacks on him, the bishops also lost on state referendums on same-sex marriage.

Though we may feel as if we share little more than a zip-code with the voters beside us, in truth we share that great American feast and tradition: the ballot box. Nov. 6 is our festival day.

We have to engage. After all, Jesus spent a lot of time talking about the real stuff of his world -- day laborers and unjust judges, widows and orphans, strangers and immigrants, abused women and exploited workers, redistribution of wealth and reconciliation with enemies.

This has been happening to me my entire life. My "Catholicism" seems to rest on my belief about one single, solitary scenario: what to do about an unexpected pregnancy. How, in a world filled with as much trouble as ours, did my faith get reduced to that singular question?

Nothing is ever simple when it comes to Catholicism and politics. In 1996 and 2004 neither party's candidate was invited to the Al Smith Dinner. This year, conservative Catholics have been inundating the host, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, with demands to disinvite President Obama.

When a Catholic candidate speaks about his or her faith, it's more important for voters to concentrate on their policies, rather than trying to worm their way into the person's soul.

Even while affirming an indispensable role for the private ordering of the economy, Catholic social teaching demands state intervention when necessary to provide for the common good of all.

(RNS) President Obama's support among Catholic voters has surged since June, according to a new poll, despite a summer that included the Catholic bish...

Whatever your political beliefs, it must have come as a surprise to hear that Cardinal Timothy Dolan would be offering a benediction at the Democratic National Convention as well as at the Republican one. What gives?

The Church can, and should be, a powerful advocate for the common good in our country. Cardinal Dolan's actions are jeopardizing that advocacy.

Heading into the fall campaign, many evangelicals remain wary, or at least unenthusiastic, about the presumptive Republican nominee. Tapping an evangelical for running mate might have assuaged their anxieties.

Everyone agrees that the "Catholic vote" is important. Candidates court it and pundits analyze it. But no one seems to know what (or who) it actually is. Or even if it exists.

Bishops have urged Catholics to be single issue voters -- that issue being of course the sexual politics of an anti-abortion and anti-gay rights agenda. The century-old Catholic social justice tradition in America has been pushed to the side.

There are in fact two very different Catholic voices that elected officials in New York and elsewhere around the country have to navigate: the big "C" voice of the Catholic bishops, and the little "c" voices of Catholics in the pews.

By Daniel Burke Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) As Democrats conduct a grim postmortem on Tuesday's (Nov. 2) elections, some liberal leaders s...