Texas bishops up the ante
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
TechnoratiTwo Texas bishops, Kevin Farrell of Dallas and Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, have issued a strongly worded joint statement about the priority of abortion as a moral issue in this election season. Contrary to many interpretations of the U.S. bishops' Faithful Citizenship document, which holds abortion as one very important issue among many others, Farrell and Vann argue that "there are no 'truly grave moral' or 'proportionate' reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by abortion each year." In other words, according to these bishops, you may choose to vote for a pro-choice candidate if all in the race are pro-choice, but if one is pro-life, Catholics are obliged to vote for that candidate no matter what her position is on other issues.
The bishops go on to list a number of intrinsic moral evils that would disqualify a candidate from a Catholic voters deliberation: "legalized abortion, the promotion of same sex unions and 'marriages,' repression of religious liberty, as well as public policies permiting euthanasia, racial discrimination, or destructive human embryonic stem cell research." That's quite a list, though I must admit it seems odd to equate civil recognition of same-sex couples with abortion and euthanasia, which according to Catholic teaching are forms of murder.
Texas, of course, is hardly a battleground state, but news that the bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joseph Martino, ordered that a letter with similar conclusions be read at all Masses on October 4 and 5 (replacing the homily) in his diocese may provoke a swing to the GOP in that battleground state.
Or it may provoke a backlash among Catholics, many of whom do not want their bishops telling them how to vote.
Comments (4)
Bob Wagoner your wrong
By Paul (not verified) on Wednesday, November 19, 2008I'm sorry Bob. But your dead wrong. Abortion is the top issue and how can a Catholic argue otherwise? you mention social programs etc. etc.. Our position is it is better we all live in cardboard boxes in an abortion free world than worry about anything else, bear your cross Bob, we butcher a million children a year, and to say it's not going anywhere? What about the rights for abortion survivors, passed under current administration, what about the partial birth abortion ban? passed under current legislation and upheld by the Supreme court!, under the republicans there are now more pregnancy crisis centers than planned parenthood centers. Sorry but you need to wake up Bob. Now the anti-christ that's been elected is going to force catholic hospitals perform abortion, force out parents right of concent or at least notification of a minor getting an abortion, it's bad catholics like you that hinder the pro-life movement. If anyone should skip communion, it's people like you. Tonight I will pray for your troubled soul.
Texas bishops up the ante on abortion.
By Bob Wagner (not verified) on Thursday, October 30, 2008I once voted the way these two Bishops from Texas are obligating their flocks to vote, and will never again make that mistake. The Bishops in placing this obligation on their people seem to forget the primacy of conscience over all Church teaching, with the exception of dogma. The only American bishop that ever addressed the issue of life in all its magnitude correctly was Cardinal Bernadin. Even John Paul II embraced Bernadin's seamless garment of life ethic. How sorely I miss Bernadin's influence and leadership.
Abortion has and will remain an issue that will only be reversed by the Supreme Court. No legislative tactic has worked in the past to reverse the decision made by the court in the '70's. We have a majority of conservative judges on the Supreme Court, and still, they have not reversed Roe vs. Wade. Whether anti-abortion legislators occupy Congress or not, the abortions still continue unabated, nothing changed. There are other issues that are just as severe and life-threatening as abortion. Everything from the suspension of habeus corpus rights, legislative directives in support and promotion of torture, the suspension of much needed social programs, along with the many cuts that have affected health care, Medicare, Social Security, and, now the effects of 25 years of Republican deregulation of the banking industry are destroying the lives of many people, from infancy to old age. In good conscience, I could and would not vote for McCain even if the Pope insisted on it.
I would not be one bit surprised if the IRS took away the non-profit status of the dioceses which these two bishops lead.
To Tired of it all
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, October 28, 2008It will end when Catholics start acting like Catholics and truly become a people of life!
Don't vote for Pro-aborts!
When will it all end? Nov.
By Tired of it all (not verified) on Thursday, October 23, 2008When will it all end? Nov. 4, thankfully. Two more Bishops crossing the line, not trusting their flocks to make a faith-filled decision, and injecting their personal views into the body politic.