CNN aired a segment, today, about Mitt Romney having been heckled in a crowd by someone who suggested Romney is a pretender when he says he is Christian. The heckler will not be voting for Romney, of course; the heckler wants a Christian in office.

Can I question Mitt Romney's Christian credentials? [self-checking: oh, yeah... we're Catholic here] I do not recognize Romney's professed status as a Christian, given his Mormon faith; though I recognize his right to say he is Christian. We could debate that sometime if Romney and I ever have a private opportunity to engage in religious discourse (I haven't had an engaging sit-down with a Mormon missionary in awhile). Either way, that has nothing to do with Mitt Romney's ability to execute the office of President.

To use a Glenn Beck line, The Real Story Here (hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws using that) is the religious Right (emphasis, of course, on Right) is still reeling from two major defeats: one, George W. Bush was not the stalwart the religious right had wanted; and two, the religious right got their butts handed back to them in the 2006 mid-term elections. My prediction is that they are going to get very ugly this year, more so than in 2004; especially since the so-called religious left is finally starting to assert itself.

Politically-conservative Catholics, though, will have to come to terms with Mitt Romney this season. On the one hand, they're in bed with the likes of the Christian Coalition. On the other hand, Mitt Romney is looking very attractive to politically-conservative Catholics. [Note to Bill Donohue, though. This is what real religious intolerance looks like.]

To be fair, Mitt Romney says he's pro-life, a turn-around from an earlier position, and he professes an ideological commitment to strong families. I would hope these are consequences of his Mormon faith; and I respect him for that.

I would respect him even more if other tenants of his Mormon faith were reflected in his politics. Let me give you an example. Did you know that, if a Mormon family loses his/her job and becomes unable to support his/her family, the church community would step in to support the family until they get back on their feet? This is done, of course, with the proviso that the Mormon family prepares itself for lean times, when they can, by storing 10% of their grocery purchases as non-perishables they can turn to in those lean times. Fair enough. The point is Mormons believe that the community should support the family within their community that is unable to support itself.

If I had an opportunity to meet with Mitt Romney for a chat, I would ask him why that principle does not translate into his politics. After all, Romney's own stated approach to balancing the budget (at least he's discussing that important issue) is to cut entitlements.

To be fair again, Romney did not actually say, "cut entitlements." He said he would not add new entitlements and that he would "reform entitlements." But forgive me for cynically viewing a Republican's use of the phrase, "reform entitlements" to mean, "cut entitlements" or that he blames the poor for needing the entitlements in the first place. Besides, Bush already "cut entitlements" so much during his Administration, entitlements have to be added; if only to restore the social safety net that existed before he started tinkering with them (and Clinton and the GOP-controlled Congress before Bush).

If Mitt Romney could restore the economy to a level where the overwhelming majority of people now living in poverty would have an opportunity to thrive, I would be all for that. But common sense says that people living in a poverty need a boost -- even with a newly-empowered economy -- in order to stop "just surviving" before they have a chance to pursue thriving. That, and Mitt Romney's language about restoring economy is too focused on the corporate supply side of the economy. I would hope we've gotten over, by now, the lie that consolidating wealth among affluent corporations translates into greater income, and more balanced income/cost-of-living ratio, for average Americans.

Another important tenant (not sure whether they actually call it that) of Mormon faith is that families are supposed to spend intentional quality time together. Does that mean that Mitt Romney is going to ensure families' heads have an opportunity to earn a living wage so they do not have to spend excessive time working just to keep their family surviving? So far it does not look that way.

Here's my deal. I do not think the Mormon faith possesses the fullness of truth that exists in the Catholic faith. But I do believe that the Mormon faith possesses important parts of the truth that, should he apply them to his politics, would make his Presidential bid an exciting one. So I'll do this solid for Mitt Romney. I will not use his faith against him. I will, however, use against him his inability to recognize the full range of issues -- social, political and economic -- that impact government's obligation to the common good.