Catholic leaders tell Gingrich, Santorum to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes
Catholic leaders issued a letter Friday to GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, themselves Catholics, urging them to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail. The letter, signed by 45 Catholic leaders says:
Mr. Gingrich has frequently attacked President Obama as a food stamp president and claimed that African Americans are content to collect welfare benefits rather than pursue employment. Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Santorum remarked: I dont want to make black peoples lives better by giving them somebody elses money.
At a time when nearly 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty, charities and the free market alone cant address the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. And while jobseekers outnumber job openings 4-to-1, suggesting that the unemployed would rather collect benefits than work is misleading and insulting, the letter adds.
This statement is urging prominent Catholics in the race to go back and look at church teaching, John Gehring, the Catholic outreach coordinator at Faith in Public Life, tells The Florida Independent, adding that the letter is also about poverty.
The Catholic bishops have been incredibly important in raising a prophetic voice that really challenges those who think that the free market alone can sort of solve our economic problems, Gehring says.
You have Catholic conservative leaders, like John Boener, Paul Ryan, Rick Santourm, Newt Gingrich and theyve all been looking to dismantle vital social safety nets, Gehring says.
Catholic leaders issued a letter Friday to GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, themselves Catholics, urging them to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail. The letter, signed by 45 Catholic leaders says:
Mr. Gingrich has frequently attacked President Obama as a food stamp president and claimed that African Americans are content to collect welfare benefits rather than pursue employment. Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Santorum remarked: I dont want to make black peoples lives better by giving them somebody elses money.
At a time when nearly 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty, charities and the free market alone cant address the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. And while jobseekers outnumber job openings 4-to-1, suggesting that the unemployed would rather collect benefits than work is misleading and insulting, the letter adds.
This statement is urging prominent Catholics in the race to go back and look at church teaching, John Gehring, the Catholic outreach coordinator at Faith in Public Life, tells The Florida Independent, adding that the letter is also about poverty.
The Catholic bishops have been incredibly important in raising a prophetic voice that really challenges those who think that the free market alone can sort of solve our economic problems, Gehring says.
You have Catholic conservative leaders, like John Boener, Paul Ryan, Rick Santourm, Newt Gingrich and theyve all been looking to dismantle vital social safety nets, Gehring says.
