On a recent trip to Pennsylvania, I enjoyed dinner with Kerry Kennedy- daughter of
Robert and Ethel Kennedy- and heard about her new book Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning.

She interviews the likes of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Bill O’Riley, Cokie Roberts, Nancy Pelosi and Martin Sheen on Catholics and politics in America.

This quote from Cardinal McCarrick caught my eye:

I
don’t believe you can be authentically Catholic without being committed
to the social doctrine of the Church. When I was in grammar school, we
had these little boxes to help the poor. That was good, but that is
half of it. The other half is to find out why there are so many poor
people and how we can do something to help them. –Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick

Check out this story in the National Catholic Reporter and here
in the Boston Globe that include a thoughtful discussion on the complications of “Being Catholic” in American politics today, as well as great stories from Kerry’s Catholic upbringing.

*This entry is cross-posted at the new Matthew 25 Network blog launched for the final push towards Election Day.