Religious Affiliation in the United States House of Representatives 2019

Six decades after John F. Kennedy became the get-go Roman Cosmic president, his political ascent still reverberates in the American electorate. Generations of Catholics who had long been marginalized in the political process were emboldened to seek office, prompting a wave of Catholic lawmakers in the decades that followed.

Academic observers attribute the ascent influence of Catholics to a new prominence in public life that emerged later Kennedy'southward election. The number of Catholics in Congress has risen by roughly l percent since the Kennedy administration and in recent years, Catholics have consistently been the single largest religious denomination in Congress.

Members of all Christian faiths — a wide swath that includes Baptists, Episcopalians, Mormons and those unaffiliated with a specific denomination — equate to at to the lowest degree 87 percent of Congress. But it is Catholics, the biggest Christian denomination, who will concur at to the lowest degree 29 percent of the seats in the 117th Congress and two of the almost powerful offices in regime. With President-elect Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi both Cosmic, at that place will exist a power dynamic not seen since the early 1960s when Kennedy and John Westward. McCormack made history as the first Catholic president and speaker.

"Information technology's emblematic of this long-term tendency of Catholics running for part, getting elected to part, staying in office and being politically successful to the point that you could take so many Catholics in positions of power in Congress," said Matthew Green, who chairs the politics section at Catholic University of America.

Catholics too have a growing influence on committee gavels. Seven House committee chairs are Catholic, upwardly one from the 116th Congress. The group includes leaders with broad jurisdictions: Rosa DeLauro on Appropriations, Richard E. Neal on Ways and Means, Frank Pallone Jr. on Energy and Commerce and Jim McGovern on Rules.

The rise of Catholics in Congress has even outpaced the number of followers of the organized religion in the nation. The Pew Research Center in 2022 found that only twenty percent of Americans identified as Catholic, compared to 29 percent of lawmakers on Capitol Colina.

"Congress often is a lagging indicator of the changing religious makeup of the country," Green said. He noted that Catholics were historically underrepresented in the Congress until the subsequently part of the mid-20th century.

Nigh Catholics — including large numbers of Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants — were kept in a "religious and urban ghetto" in the 19th century, according to Rev. Matt Malone, the editor-in-principal of the Jesuit magazine America.

But that changed after Kennedy's election to the highest role in the nation. "They were now being educated, moving into the middle classes, they were going to college; it makes sense at present that they were likewise running for Congress, in places where traditionally they hadn't," Malone said.

Religious makeup of the 117th Congress

While Catholics go along to dominate much of the rank and file in Congress, Protestant leaders will still be prominent in the 117th Congress: Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are all Baptists. And unspecified Protestants — Christians who do not identify with a specific denomination — make upwardly the 2nd-largest religious bloc behind Catholics at 20 percent.

Orthodox Christians, the smallest non-Protestant Christian denomination in Congress, will see their totals rise from 5 to seven, including incoming Indiana freshman Republican Victoria Spartz, a Ukrainian immigrant, and returning Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is an Antiochian Orthodox Christian.

Jewish lawmaker totals volition be largely unchanged — and will depend on the outcome of the Senate runoff elections in Georgia, where Jewish Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff is challenging Republican Sen. David Perdue, a Methodist. Yet, there was a notable shift in where Jewish lawmakers were elected in 2020.

While New York'due south Jewish senator, Charles Eastward. Schumer, is returning as Senate Democratic leader, the state is losing half of its Jewish delegation, including influential Firm members such as Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey, who is retiring. Strange Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel was defeated in a primary by Jamaal Bowman, i of xx lawmakers who identify as unspecified or nonreligious. In Massachusetts, Jake Auchincloss, who is Jewish, was elected to the seat being vacated by boyfriend Democrat Joseph P. Kennedy III, the grandnephew of the nation's first Catholic president.

Like their Jewish counterparts, the demographics of Cosmic lawmakers are also changing. The growth of Cosmic lawmakers following the Kennedy administration drew from descendants of the European Catholic diaspora. But Hispanic lawmakers are increasingly coming into the fold to succeed white Catholic lawmakers. Hispanic Catholics, who will account for 31 of forty Hispanic Firm members and four out of the five senators, are finding a place in Congress as a new group of Catholic lawmakers.

In the House, California's Pete Aguilar volition be the Autonomous Caucus' vice chairman, replacing outgoing Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico every bit the highest-ranking Hispanic Catholic in Autonomous leadership. Luján is joining the Senate's incoming freshman class.

From a policy standpoint, Catholics have i of the biggest tents in Congress. Cosmic lawmakers range from being known for their strict stances against abortion like New Bailiwick of jersey Republican Christopher H. Smith, to progressives who cite their organized religion in social justice causes such as New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Experts say that given the broad worldview of Catholics, those in leadership positions may not always agree on policy positions, just there is a fundamental shared language of organized religion.

Biden and Pelosi have both invoked their faith in public life. Biden regularly attends mass and quoted the widely known Cosmic hymn "On Hawkeye's Wings" during his November. seven victory speech communication. In a December 2022 news conference, Pelosi had a heated exchange with a reporter: "I don't hate anybody," she said. "I was raised in a Catholic house. We don't hate anybody, non anybody in the world."

The steady growth amidst Catholics in politics likewise speaks to how American Catholics view their faith equally integral to public service, according to John Carr, Georgetown University's director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. He points to a instruction from Pope Francis that "true-blue citizenship is a moral obligation. … Catholic organized religion, Catholic culture, Catholic experience is about getting involved and trying to brand things better."

That's a indicate New York Autonomous Rep. Tom Suozzi has taken to heart. The co-chairman of the National Prayer Breakfast readily draws a parallel to his Catholic organized religion and politics. "The most fundamental concept of the Catholic religion is to detect the common good, to serve the common good. That's what politics really should be about, is to really serve the common expert," he said.

Ryan Kelly contributed to this report.

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Source: https://www.rollcall.com/2021/01/01/catholics-rise-prominence-religion-congress/