Catholic Democrats - President Obama and Catholics in America

President Obama and Catholics in America

In 2009 the group applauded efforts by the Obama Administration to reach out to Catholics, particularly in a major policy address President Obama made at Georgetown University on April 14, 2009, and in his commencement address on May 17, 2009 at the University of Notre Dame. Catholic Democrats later launched a national Letter of Support for President Obama, Notre Dame, and Catholic higher education that was signed by thousands of Catholics across the country. The group also launched the website, Catholics for Notre Dame, which housed the statement of support, a video called Catholic in America, and a tool for individuals to send letters to the editor. They helped organize a reunion for the Catholic priests and community organizers who hired President Obama to work in a Catholic church rectory on the South Side of Chicago in 1985. They also worked with local Democratic officials in South Bend the weekend of the Notre Dame Commencement to organize a welcome rally for President Obama and a food drive, in the spirit of national service struck at the Inauguration.

In the summer of 2009, Catholic Democrats launched the website, "Pope Greets Hope" to celebrate President Obama's first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on July 11, 2009. Dr Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats, blogged from the Vatican during the meeting, which followed the release of the papal encyclical Caritas in Veritate and the G8 Economic Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, earlier in the week. In August 2009, the organization paid tribute to the late Senator Edward Kennedy, who had been a great inspiration to the founders of the group. The group has more recently paid tribute to Sargent Shriver, founder of the Peace Corps, and Fr Thomas Kaminski, a Chicago priest who was president of the community development organization that hired Barack Obama in 1985.

In September 2009, the leadership of Catholic Democrats met with the White House Domestic Policy Council in an effort to find creative and constructive solutions to decreasing the number of abortions in the United States.