A New Kind of Catholic Candidate

The image of a classic Catholic pol is Mayor Richard Daley or someone very much like him. Daley built and ran a political machine that used patronage and politics to deliver government services to his constituents and re-election victories to himself. His son has carried on the tradition and it is a proud one, if not altogether free from certain legitimate objections to its cronyism and occasional corruption. Political machines, and the Catholic politicians who led them, governed most major cities in the Northeast and Midwest. The machine-building Catholic pol, however, is giving way to a different kind of Catholic candidate. In Virginia’s largely rural 5th congressional district, Democrat Tom Perriello is challenging incumbent Republican congressman Virgil Goode. Charlottesville is not Chicago, and Perriello is no Daley. Yet, Catholicism is at the heart of the young activist’s campaign as surely as it was when Mayor Daley went to Mass each morning on his way to City Hall. Perriello’s campaign biography puts his faith front and center, stating: "From and early age, he was taught that a strong faith is a lived faith. His parents raised him to believe that to whom much is given, much is expected, and those lessons have shaped his lifelong commitment to service." Perriello went to Africa after graduating from Yale Law School, where he worked with victims of the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia. He went on to work in Darfur and Afghanistan as well. Returning to the U.S., he helped launch the group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which aims to bring faith perspectives into the work of socially progressive politicians. This non-traditional resume for a congressional candidate has yielded a notably fresh tone to Perriello’s approach to issues. On health care, he says that "every American deserves access to a doctor." Usually Democrats invoke rights-based legalese, saying that health care is a right. This has always perplexed me. None of us like going to see the doctor, but going to see the lawyer is even worse. His call for "justice-based security solutions" is the most felicitous expression of what Democrats feel about foreign affairs that I have seen, giving voice to the belief that George Bush’s bullying has not, in fact, strengthened our security and that long-term solutions to issues of war and peace must be rooted in a concern for justice. Perriello, like all candidates who are challenging an incumbent, has his work cut out for him. Congressman Goode earned his place in the national consciousness when he tried to forbid the first-ever Muslim congressman from taking the oath of office on the Koran. (Question: wouldn’t it make sense to have some make an oath on a book that the oath-taker considers authoritative, not the observer?) But, he has earned his share of pork for his district and he has an incumbent’s ability to raise tons of campaign cash. Still, Virginia elected a Catholic governor in 2005, with a biography similar to Perriello’s and 2008 is looking like it is not a good year to be a GOP incumbent. In a state with few Catholics, many still see the Catholic Church as a bulwark against any kind of excessive liberalism. The social activism of a new generation of Catholics, built on faith, directed towards the service of others, requiring sacrifice, may be the new ticket to political power. Observers should keep a close eye on Virginia’s 5th district race. Michael Sean Winters