President Obama’s Catholic Political Formation

President Obama’s political formation was steeped in the Roman Catholic left. At 25 years of age Barack Obama was involved in training Roman Catholics how to be politically engaged. By 1987, after two short years in Chicago as a community organizer, Mr. Obama was already well known in Chicago’s black Catholic circles. He had spent those years working for an organization that paid him from a church grant. He had surrounded himself with Catholic priests and congregations and became steeped in the social justice wing of the church (the left), which played a powerful role in his political development.

It should be no surprise that the Catholic Church is involved in training some for political roles that are not well aligned with its teachings. Keep in mind that the church is part conservative and part socialist. They need friends on all sides of the political spectrum. The church knows that people eventually tire of their political leaders. When the opposite political philosophy replaces them, church leaders will be close to their successors too, even if those successors have significant disagreements on some fronts with the church. While the political order may not fulfill the aims of the church in some areas, church leaders can accomplish other things in the meantime that are important to them. They will return to the other agendas when political conditions are favorable again. In the case of Mr. Obama, though he is opposed to Catholic Church teaching on abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, etc., he is aligned with the church concerning wealth redistribution and the socialist order that Rome promotes on a global scale.

Mr. Obama’s Catholic influences go back to when he was six years of age. His mother would occasionally take him to Mass and in 1967 enrolled him for a time at a Catholic school in Jakarta. In 1969 the young Obama was transferred to the state-run Muslim school.

When the Catholic bishops began to focus on the poor after Vatican II, they eventually created an anti-poverty and social justice program known as the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (again, a leftist organization). This became one of the most influential financiers of grass roots groups. Each year the church collects an annual offering for this organization. Donors often think that funds raised are used to provide necessities for the down and out. But instead, they are used for funding community organizing, often for radical agendas sometimes even at odds with Catholic teachings. This is a classic political tactic. The Catholic Church uses whatever tools are necessary to gain the support of the people, even if it is never intended to achieve the outcomes they ultimately desire.

Mr. Obama was in Chicago doing undergraduate studies when the church wanted to expand its influence and funded a project beyond Catholic parishes to the black Protestant churches. They hired an African American for the community-organizing task named Barack Obama.  Though he had little knowledge of Catholicism, the persuasive young Obama fit seamlessly into the Catholic cityscape and over time became very influential.

One of his mentors at the time was Gregory Galluzzo, a former Jesuit priest (presumably still a Jesuit). Galluzzo was a disciple of community organizer Saul Alinsky, an influential socialist during most of the 20th century. He wrote a book called “Rules for Radicals,” which provides instruction on how to organize radical social change and shape a more socialist society. Saul’s son David Alinsky wrote a tribute to Obama’s use of his father’s tactics in a letter to the Boston Globe. 

Back in Chicago, Mr. Obama’s office was in the Holy Rosary Parish church and he had very good access to the priestly centers of power in Chicago. Obama effectively evangelized for the church through community organizing to create discontent and therefore political change. But he also expanded their social programs to Protestant churches, including mega-churches. Mr. Obama maintained such close relations with the Catholic Church that many people actually thought he was Catholic.

In the late 1980s, the Catholic hierarchy had taken a conservative turn that elevated the culture wars that eventually put Mr. Obama at odds with the church on key social issues like contraception, abortion, and same-sex marriage. It may well be his close Catholic friends and his understanding of how to work with Catholic congregations that gained him the Catholic vote in 2008, despite priestly warnings against voting for him.

Yet, there is still a lot of common ground between President Obama and the Catholic Church, particularly in wealth redistribution and attention to the poor and “vulnerable.” This is a very Catholic way of looking at the world. It is also a socialist concept promoted by Alinsky.

While the poor are to be looked after, God’s plan is for it to be done by the churches and generous individuals, not through gigantic government social programs that keep the people poor and dependent on government handouts.

With Pope Francis, President Obama finds some synergy. At their meeting in March 2014, the two men discussed these things. The pope and the president have both been pressing for change concerning income inequality in their respective spheres. Socialism is a key element of one world government, which is essential to a one-world religion. President Obama will eventually leave the political stage, but the Catholic Church will still be there to influence the next shift of political leaders in the United States.

President Obama is helping the United States prepare to give life to the image of the beast.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15