A Few Questions

Have you noticed how the media usually describe Catholic politicians who reject their Church's teaching as "devout Catholics" or, if they are a bit too far from Church teaching, as "practicing Catholics"? They are, of course, neither. A devout, practicing Catholic will accept the Church's magisterial teaching, especially that teaching which the Church declares to be based on divine law. The Church cannot change, and has never changed, divine law, and neither can the political authorities, the media, or any worldly entity. When the Church, for example, declares abortion to be an "intrinsic evil", it will remain so, regardless of the opinions of self-described "devout" or "practicing" Catholic politicians.

I believe it's important to realize that someone who supports abortion will likely support anything. After all, abortion is nothing less than the willful, dismembering slaughter of a living, unborn child, the most innocent of God's children. Every Sunday at Mass, we come together and pray the Nicene Creed in which we praise the Holy Spirit as "the Lord, the giver of life." To destroy a life given by the Holy Spirit, and to support the wholesale destruction of those lives, are serious sins indeed.

My next question: For whom should we vote in November, and what should be our deciding criteria? I found it interesting that a few days ago Joseph Cardinal Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, stated publicly that “a person in good conscience could vote for Mr. Biden.” I suppose that’s true, at least literally: yes, a person in good conscience can vote for Joe Biden, but the important question is, as a faithful Catholic, should he or she? But I really don’t believe Cardinal Tobin was thinking or speaking semantically. No indeed, he was providing Catholic Biden voters, like himself, with a convenient excuse.

The Cardinal's feelings toward President Trump become apparent when he continued by saying, “I, frankly, in my own way of thinking, have a more difficult time with the other option.” Wow! Your Eminence, in your “own way of thinking,” you really find it more difficult to vote for President Trump than to vote for a man who has supported abortion since it was “legalized” by the Supreme Count in 1973? You do realize that Mr. Biden has supported the slaughter of more than 60,000,000 unborn American infants -- that's 60 million for the numerically challenged. I’m sure you’re familiar with unborn infants — like Jesus on that day of Annunciation, or John who leaped in his mother's womb when the pregnant Mary and the unborn Son of God came to visit -- you know, like those unborn infants.

I suppose Cardinal Tobin is simply following the morally confusing recommendations found in the U. S. Bishops' document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship." Here the Bishops state:

"A Catholic cannot vote for a political candidate because he or she supports an issue considered an intrinsically evil act, such as abortion, euthanasia, deliberately subjecting workers or the poor to subhuman living conditions, or assisted suicide."

Does this mean I can indeed vote for such a person only if my reason has nothing to do with those intrinsically evil acts he might support? And did you note the use of the word, "considered"? Intrinsically evil acts aren't simply "considered" evil; they are evil. But then, as if afraid of picking sides, the Bishops add:

"At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate's opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity."

I can picture the Catholic voter asking, "Okay, Bishops, what's it going to be?" Are the Bishops saying we cannot vote for Joe Biden who has consistently supported, and continues to support, intrinsically evil acts? Or are they telling us we can overlook this if we don't like what his opponent says about the dignity of a murderer on death row? Would I be wrong to suspect that these statements were written not by moral theologians but by lawyers?

I support the Church's teaching on capital punishment, which is clearly described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2266 & 2267). Unlike abortion, though, capital punishment is not intrinsically evil. Morally, the two are very different acts.

I find it particularly interesting that Cardinal Tobin, the day after he seemed to support one presidential candidate over the other, defended his comments by saying: "I neither endorsed nor opposed anyone running for office. I simply reminded Catholics of our responsibility to take part in the elective process."

Okay, then, I guess I can say the same thing.