Moving to the White House

Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, has been named Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services. It looks like the White House is seeding the federal agencies with young, progressive and well-connected Catholics. Mark Linton, Obama’s director of Catholic outreach during the […]

Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, has been named Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.

It looks like the White House is seeding the federal agencies with young, progressive and well-connected Catholics. Mark Linton, Obama’s director of Catholic outreach during the election and a Catholic Relief Services veteran, holds Kelley’s job at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Though certainly not beloved by some conservative bishops, if election results are any gauge CIA has made great strides in its short history in telling Democrats to get religion and encouraging Catholics to look beyond the GOP lines on abortion and gay marriage. They were on the ground floor of this progressive religious revival.


Some liberal Catholics, too, have problems with CIA. Today, Catholics for Choice called Kelley’s appointment “a defeat for reason and logic and calls into question whether President Obama’s administration is serious about reducing the need for abortion.” Basically, they say she’s too pro-life for the job.

Before heading Catholics in Alliance, Kelly worked for nine years at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ national anti-poverty program. Vicky Kovari, the national field director for CIA, has been named interim executive director.

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