Enthusiastic about getting federal money for local purposes
Representative Joe Moakley, who for a half-century was the proud quintessence of the South Boston Irish Democrat, died of complications from leukemia today. He was 74.
Mr. Moakley was born, reared and lived his entire life in South Boston.
He proclaimed himself a “bread and butter” politician and said he followed the adage of his mentor, Speaker Tip O’Neill.: “All politics is local.” Moakley helped bring home federal money for cleaning up Boston Harbor, for heating the homes of the poor
and for the “Big Dig,” the rerouting of a Boston highway into a tunnel in one of the largest public works projects in American history. “He was unabashed when it came to trying to get federal money for Boston,” said a House colleague.
“He never apologized for a dime of it.”
Moakley stated his personal and political allegiances simply. “As soon as we’re born, we’re baptized into the Catholic Church, we’re sworn into the Democratic Party and we’re given union cards.”
Source: David Stout, New York Times
May 29, 2001
Religious affiliation: Catholic.
Moakley : religious affiliation:
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What’s an adherent?
The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.
Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.
Source: Adherents.com web site 00-ADH11 on Nov 7, 2000
