The pollsters have it wrong. News articles after the Nov. 4 presidential election stated Barack Obama received 62 percent of the Catholic vote.

I, on the contrary, would say he received 0 percent of the Catholic vote. The pollster should have used some kind of litmus test to determine the validity of the so-called Catholic by asking respondents such questions as when they last attended Mass, and if it was not the previous weekend, perhaps to exclude them from the poll.

I’m sure investigative inquiry of that nature would not fit the purpose of the poll because it would appear to go counter to the pollsters’ agenda. I would guess more than 50 percent of the respondents would be eliminated with just that one question.

You have to understand the semantic difference between my version of Catholic and that of the pollsters. I identify a Catholic as one who practices his faith rather than one who simply calls himself one of the faith.

Catholicism requires obedience to certain universal and traditional moral tenets, as explained and ordered by the teaching authority of the church, its bishops.

Archbishop Charles Chaput, in his book,“Render Unto Caesar,” states unequivocally that being right in matters of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing and health care can “never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life.”

Certainly, many “amateur theologians” will attempt to “speak for the church” in this respect, as in the recent statements on talk shows by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, and more Locally, the explanations and maneuvering of the likes of Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

Vladimir Lenin had an apt title for people of this ilk when he coined the term “useful idiots” Undermining the teachings of the Catholic Church and advancing agenda of those who enable the abortion movement certainly disqualifies one from being called a “Catholic.”