If the exit polls following last week’s GOP primary in Ohio are an accurate indicator of the current and future support that candidate Santorum can count on, it is clear that he will have the likely backing of Protestants, especially from its evangelical wing, but that appeal to many, perhaps even a majority, of his fellow Catholics, will be tenuous at best. While few would have thought this would be the case, Santorum’s appeal to Catholics as a voting bloc to date has been marginal.

In the CNN exit polls following the Ohio GOP primary, self-identified Catholics, who constitute about one-third of the electorate in the state, gave Gov. Romney a 43-31 percent advantage. Asked to comment on this development, John Green, a Professor of Political Science at Ohio University, opined: The margin of Romney’s win is surprising, given Santorum’s traditional Catholicism. But is it?

I submit that candidate Santorum is facing the likelihood that his less than fervent reception by Catholics is in large part due to the weakening of traditional bonds that once glued the Catholic voting bloc together. The contraception kerfuffle notwithstanding, Santorum is looked upon by many “Progressive” Catholics as too dogmatic when he speaks about abortion and religious influence in American life. To the mindset of Vice-President Biden, and Secretary of HHS, Sebelius, both nominally “Catholics,” Santorum’s message is that of a modern day Savonarola. I have no doubt that the Obama administration will use this tack if Santorum ever becomes the nominee.

Another “gaffe” that has been repeated by his opponents to Catholic audiences is Santorum’s comment about the late President John Kennedy’s practice of his Catholic faith. To Santorum, Kennedy’s appearance before the Southern Baptists convention in Houston, in which he disavowed his adherence to his religious principles for their endorsement, demonstrated beyond cavil that Kennedy’s Catholicism was for public consumption only. This has only heightened liberal Catholic animus and sharpened their interest in highlighting the dangers in nominating the radical Santorum. To Catholics of the modern era, such criticism of their secularized but martyred saint is tantamount to heresy, but to those who know the details of Kennedy’s religious habits, one might agree with the words of one eminent Catholic jurist I know: “He wore on his sleeve.”

The upcoming primaries in Alabama and Mississippi this week may prove pivotal in more ways than one for the GOP contenders. Former Speaker Gingrich must do well in these states, but given his personal history, and his conversion to Catholicism from his Baptist roots, I do not expect that he will. Santorum, the open and unabashed Catholic, speaks to their concerns about the moral decline in America in the manner that attracts contemporary Baptists and evangelicals, and I believe he will win decisively in both states.

In the end, Santorum has injected into this primary the plank that religious belief is an important staple of American life. Whether or not this message will resonate with more than one group in the general election is uncertain, but I cannot help but believe that Santorum’s greatest achievement to date, perhaps his only one, has been to refocus of the role of God in our lives.

                                          —- Comments —-

That Santorum is “too Catholic for Catholics” is one way of putting it. Another way is a legal way. Putative Catholics unsupportive of Catholics such as Santorum simply are unfathtful to the very definition of a Catholic: “I believe in the . . . Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints . . . .” The Church and the Saints are opposed to abortion, to contraception, and to those that hear but do not believe in Catholicism.

Of course a hedonist like John F. Kennedy cannot be a sample Catholic.