"A nation's budget is a moral document," said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Fla.

Bishop Frank J. Dewane called both the House and Senate health care bills “seriously flawed.”

In September, the pope will beatify a bishop and a priest filled in the country's decades-long civil war.

Churches do much more than feed the hungry and clothe the naked.

Affecting the outcome of specific elections, however, is not the only way Catholics can influence the social and political direction of the nation.