Catholics to form 30% of incoming US Congress

December 19, 2008

Catholics will account for 30% of the American legislators taking their seats in Washington when the 111th Congress convenes in January, a Pew Forum survey finds. That figure is up slightly from the 28% Catholic representation in the last (110th) Congress, and dramatically higher than the 19% in 1961. Catholics are by far the largest single religious body in Congress, outnumbering the second-largest religious group, the Baptists, by more than 2-to-1. The Catholic presence on Capitol Hill is stronger than in the general US population; Catholics make up slightly less than one-fourth of the American adult population. Most of the Catholics in Congress are Democrats, with 115 being identified with the majority party and only 46 Republicans. the rest