The Catholic Roots of Obama’s Activism

Introduction

In the article, “The Catholic Roots of Obama’s Activism,” from the “New York Times” published on 22nd March 2014, Jason Horowitz (2014) paints President Obama as very close to the Catholic Church, ideologically. Horowitz wrote the article in the wake of President Obama’s visit to Europe and Italy in particular, where he had held a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday March 27, 2014. In this article, President Obama’s inclination towards community organizing in his 20s is depicted as pro-Catholicism. In the front page article, Horowitz (2014) talked about the close link between the president and his mentors in organizing programs. Greg Galluzzo and Gerald Kellman as well as the Catholicism culture in which Obama was brought upon have had a substantial impact on his political ideology.

Obama’s Social Organizing and Catholicism

President Obama’s frequent references to Cardinal Bernardin, who was a key Catholic clergy in Chicago, along with his close connection to the church’s Campaign for Human Development in 1980s are some of the key pointers to the president’s inclination toward Catholicism. Horowitz (2014) indicates that the ties between Obama and the Church reached the stage where the youthful Obama was efficiently persuading the community to adopt Catholic Church doctrines and even worship at the church. In the article, a more accurate analysis of Obama’s organizing programs discounts Horowitz’s perception of the Catholicism in the president to some extent. However, Obama’s organizing mentors in Chicago beginning with Alinsky are believed, according to article, to have played a critical role in the president’s adoption of the church’s ideology of empowering specific members of the society during h...

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...piraling out of control, for six years now, Obama has transformed the social landscape of America by redistributing national resources to previously marginalized communities and reformed laws that overburden vulnerable groups and minorities.

Conclusion

Generally, the article portrays Barack Obama as one individual whose political ideology of social justice traces back to his 1980s’ involvement with pro-Catholicism community organizing programs in Chicago. Regardless, Horowitz is sufficiently clear that as the Catholic Church supports human rights and greater level of freedom from discrimination, Obama’s social justice policy is too liberal to be welcomed. In conclusion, the need to be responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups is shown as one of the main policies that binds President Obama to Catholic Church, especially under the relatively liberal Pope Francis.