Catholic Democrats are starting to feel the heat so they’re preparing a “scorecard” to show that they more closely adhere to the legislative priorities set out by the US bishops than Republicans do. Notice the phrasing of that: legislative priorities. Not Catholic teaching. They’re not the same thing. A legislative priority is one person’s idea of how to implement Catholic teaching, but there may be a different idea that embodies Catholic teaching just as much. One can more effective than the other in accomplishing the goal, but it doesn’t mean either is outside the bounds. Meanwhile, some legislative policy positions, like being for abortion, are just plainly violations of Church teaching.
