Catholic Power, Christian Nationalism, and the Fight for Our Freedom
By Christopher Wimbush, Interim President, Catholics for Choice & Publisher, The Overreach Monitor
From our earliest days, Catholics for Choice has tracked how a small group of powerful Catholic actors — most notably the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — exerts outsized influence on public policy. We’ve documented how conscience is manipulated, doctrine becomes law, and theology is too often twisted into a tool of control. As you heard from Ashley last week, we are continuing and expanding that legacy by launching The Overreach Monitor.
We built The Overreach Monitor because the landscape has shifted, and it wasn’t by accident. In a post-Roe America, we are confronted by a political environment that has been meticulously engineered by Catholic extremists and their allies. They have spent decades laying the groundwork for a rollback of reproductive rights, religious freedom, and democratic values. Now that moment has arrived, and the danger is multiplying because of an emerging authoritarian movement that cloaks itself in Christian language while undermining the very foundations of pluralistic democracy.
The Overreach Monitor exists to meet this moment with clarity, conscience, and courage.
The Threat of White Christian Nationalism
Let’s be clear: white Christian nationalism (WCN) is not a fringe ideology — it is a coordinated political strategy. It seeks to replace democratic norms with a theocratic vision of power, using religious rhetoric to justify authoritarian control. Religious liberty scholar Amanda Tyler calls white Christian nationalism “the single biggest threat to America’s religious freedom.” Historian Robert P. Jones warns that a “desperate, defensive, mostly white Christian minority” is determined to keep political power as its cultural influence wanes.
This movement is often portrayed as purely evangelical, yet it is essential to recognize the significant and distinct role played by Catholic actors, particularly those within the hierarchy. From Supreme Court justices influenced by Catholic legal theory to bishops advocating against abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights, there exists a uniquely Catholic strand of this movement that not only possesses institutional weight but also operates with theological justification.
This influence is striking: the six Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe were raised Catholic. Moreover, one in seven hospital beds in the U.S. operates under Catholic directives, giving the church the authority to override doctors’ medical judgment.
Yet these hard facts collide with another reality too often buried:
The faithful majority is not the fringe. But in the halls of law and policy, bishops and their political partners claim to speak for “the church,” and lawmakers rarely check the math. The Overreach Monitor exists to correct that record.
Consider the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision to grant full legal rights to frozen embryos. The chief justice justified the ruling by quoting Genesis and warning of “the wrath of a holy God.” The consequences were immediate: IVF services were suspended, families were thrown into limbo, and a precedent was set for religious doctrine to override medical care. Catholic legal groups and political strategists celebrated the decision as a breakthrough. The ruling jeopardized fertility care for countless families — Protestant, Muslim, Catholic, and secular alike — and revealed the endgame of WCN: a theocratic veto over intimate medical decisions.
Or look to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where local officials passed a “Christian heritage” resolution that invites constitutional scrutiny. Or to school voucher programs channeling public funds to sectarian institutions. Or to January 6, when insurrectionists waved crosses and weaponized religious imagery as they tried to overturn a democratic election. The combination of religious overreach and political authoritarianism endangers reproductive freedom and the democratic frameworks that safeguard it.
As an Episcopalian who leads a Catholic organization, I anchor our response in conscience — a bedrock principle affirmed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Deep within [one’s] conscience [one] discovers a law which [one] has not laid upon [oneself] but which [one] must obey.” WCN flips that teaching on its head, demanding that the government override personal conscience with ecclesial dogma. That is an affront not only to pluralistic democracy but to Catholic moral theology itself.
What The Overreach Monitor Delivers
The Overreach Monitor is a real-time resource built for this moment of coordinated Catholic political overreach. It does not just explain the threat; it equips our allies with tools to confront it.
The Overreach Monitor is ready to deliver:
Timely briefs on emerging developments in legislation, litigation, and Catholic institutions that demand immediate attention.
In-depth investigations that will illuminate the flow of money, messaging, and influence throughout Catholic healthcare, legal networks, and political campaigns.
Engaging spotlight stories that highlight the experiences of individuals who face barriers to care or rights due to religious restrictions.
Forward-thinking trend tracking that will connect seemingly isolated incidents — such as pulpit-driven electioneering or hospital refusals — to paint a comprehensive national picture moving into the future.
This is reporting in service of action. We do not exist to theorize; we exist to expose, clarify, and mobilize.
Our mission is clear: We challenge the misinformation from the Catholic hierarchy, expose religious overreach, and strive to make information more accessible to those fighting for our democracy. We confront the spread of Christian nationalism carried out in the name of our faith, empowering advocates, public officials, journalists, and faith communities to sever the threads of clerical power before they unravel our rights.
Why It Matters for You
The Overreach Monitor was built with three communities in mind — each already confronting the effects of Catholic political overreach, whether they know it or not.
If you work in reproductive rights, health, or justice, you need The Overreach Monitor to decode the deeper Christian nationalist logic behind anti-abortion legislation, hospital policy restrictions, and public disinformation. We show how Catholic doctrine is leveraged spiritually and strategically, and how that strategy shapes the care people can access.
If you work in religion, The Overreach Monitor reveals how the Catholic hierarchy — 277 bishops, not 53 million Catholics — routinely invokes theological authority to justify extremist policies. These views do not reflect the beliefs of most Catholics, let alone all people of faith. Our watchdog helps reclaim religious discourse from those who would use it to exclude and control.
If you care about democracy, regardless of your profession or faith, The Overreach Monitor is essential reading. It tracks how “religious freedom” is being distorted into a license to discriminate, and how clericalism is quietly embedded in the courts, public education, and health systems that shape civic life.
In every case, The Overreach Monitor connects the dots — and hands you the pen.
Let’s Get to Work
Authoritarian movements succeed when people stop paying attention. That’s why The Overreach Monitor exists — to make sure none of us are caught off guard again.
So, here’s what you can do:
Subscribe if you haven’t already — and forward The Overreach Monitor to colleagues, journalists, and organizers who need it.
Cite it in op-eds, policy briefings, sermons, or subcommittees. Our work is public because our movement is collective.
Submit a tip. If you’ve seen something at a parish, in the hospital, or on the floor of your statehouse, we want to know. The watchdog is strongest when its community is watching, too.
We’re not just sounding an alarm. We’re building a record. And in moments like this, history belongs to those who document it and dare to push back.
So read it, share it, and be ready — because The Overreach Monitor is only as powerful as the people who use it.