Hey Doug #4 - Mexico Has REAL Catholics

In spite of a federal push for abortion access, individual states in Mexico are standing up and protecting life.

LifeSiteNews:

The Mexican State of Colima has become the latest to reject an initiative by Mexican socialists to legalize abortion, in a 19-1 vote in the state Congress.

The representative who formulated the law, Adolfo Nunez Gonzales of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), attributed his loss to the influence of the Catholic faith in the state, which led the liberal Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to vote with the more pro-life National Action Party against the bill.

"It's not a secret for anyone that the Catholic Church is a sector with a lot of power and weight, and that, of course, what is said in a church one Sunday or whatever day the mass is done, influences the people to analyze it all week," he said. "PRI members are not foolish and know that if they have a good relationship with the Church, it can encourage the votes of many people."...

If only Mr. Kmiec had had the same conviction of faith and reason as his neighbours to the south...of course, they had the support of REAL CATHOLIC VOTERS!!

I wonder if Mr. Kmiec sees the same potential for reduction of abortions in the federal socialists in Mexico, as he sees in the social engineering policies of President Obama?

"If Catholics Were Catholic"

Matthew Warner has a new 'category' of post over at Fallible Blogma:

...If Catholics actually acted Catholic when we voted we could change the political landscape forever.

Catholics made up about 25% of the 123 million Americans that voted in the last presidential race - so about 30 million Catholics voted (of which there are many more that did not vote). And for our purposes, McCain and Obama pretty much split the Catholic vote - so about 15 million Catholics each. Obama won the popular vote by only about 8 million votes and it was even closer in battleground states.

In other words, for all practical purposes, Catholics have the power to easily cover that gap and decide pretty much any election…if we chose to stick together and fight for truth. No other demographic can really compare in terms of unity in belief (not in America or even the entire world).

The problem is that 1) there are many Catholics that claim to be Catholic but do not fully understand what that means and how it should affect their lives and voting, and 2) many Catholics believe they have to compromise on their values when it comes to politics. Basically, we need to catechize better and we need better Catholic political leadership to create a clear vision that unifies us.

Let’s be clear - it would take one election. In one election Catholics could change the entire political landscape forever....

We have the numbers. We just don't have the Faith.



St. Thomas More "The King's good servant, but God's first."

"Life Will Not Go On"

Jill Stanek at WorldNetDaily:

....For 35 years, the pro-life movement has been doing its best. We educate. We help mothers in crisis pregnancies. We stand along streets with our signs. We try to elect solid pro-life public officials and defeat dastardly pro-aborts. We introduce pro-life legislation and thwart anti-life bills. We go so far as to stand on sidewalks by abortion mill doors begging mothers to reconsider in a last-ditch effort.

But the pro-life movement is hobbled. We can get up after being knocked down as we were Tuesday, and we can walk, but we do so with a limp. We have been able to accomplish some things but never as they should be. On our own we'll never be vigorous, muscular, vibrant.

The collective Christian church in America must wake up and finally take responsibility for abortion. That's what Election Day 2008 showed.

The pro-life movement was actually born of necessity by a void in church teaching, and now the church is almost completely reliant on our para-church organizations and the government to handle the gravest human atrocity in all of history.

Find another genocide or catastrophe or war or famine or plague to match 1 billion people systematically killed in just a 20 year span, the number who have been murdered by abortion worldwide just in the past two decades according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, research arm of Planned Parenthood.

The church must stop abdicating responsibility to stop abortion to the pro-life movement and politicians. God's people are commissioned.

But since we are uneducated and compromised on the issue of sexual relations and abortion ourselves, it's no wonder our culture is uneducated and compromised.

It is your responsibility, pastor and church leaders, to teach your people that abortion is abominable, and before that to teach chaste living. And before that, at the risk of making my Protestant friends flip, to teach that the contraceptive/sterilization mentality, which considers children bad, not blessings, is also a component of the sexual demise of our country....

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Why New Orders Flourish

And the 'old' Nuns are well, dying out. Its the difference between Faithful exuberance and bitter self absorbtion.

From the DenverPost Letters:

As Catholics and supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, we appreciate Archbishop Charles Chaput’s clarification in Sunday’s Post that he is speaking as a private citizen when he takes issue with Sen. Obama and his supporters.

We had supposed that since the official archdiocesan newspaper last week included a voter guide supporting John McCain from a group calling itself Colorado Family Institute (different from the guide promoted by the U.S. bishops), the archbishop might, perhaps, be attempting to influence the choices of Catholic voters.

We honor the archbishop’s right to support the candidates and issues he believes best represent his deepest values, and applaud his recognition that not all Catholics will make his choices their own.

We also appreciate the respect for primacy of conscience in our decision-making, as enunciated by Josef Ratzinger, now our current pope, Benedict XVI, who wrote: “Over the pope, as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there still stands one’s own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else — if necessary, even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”

We are making our ballot choices as adults and as faithful citizens who have weighed the issues in light of the gospels and the justice teachings of our church. We encourage all Catholics to do likewise.

Sister Mary A. Coyle, Denver
Sister Mary Ann Cunningham, Denver

(h/t american papist)

Talking out both sides of their mouths, these fine examples of liberal rot have chosen to create their own catecheses. Good for them. Its obviously serving them well.

Thank God for ArchBishop Charles Chaput, standing up for truth and guiding his flock, as he should. Not forcing, but instructing. There aren't two kinds of Catholics. You either believe and love, or you don't. The rest are pretenders. This doesn't mean everybody agrees. It means all Catholics have the same Truth as the centre of their lives, and puts their love of God above all else .

Sorry 'Sisters', there's a good reason the young women aren't flocking to you!!
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National 'Catholic' Reporter OUTS Itself

National 'Catholic' Reporter has chastised the Bishops for their laudable efforts at catechizing American Catholic voters in what may turn out to be the most disastrous election for the unborn.

Nevermind that the Bishops have not backed a particular candidate and have been speaking on point about the Church's teachings on the value of life. N'C'R accuses the Bishops of being partisan. They are themselves using Democrat 'talking points' to try and DISCREDIT their own Bishops !

Its long past the time that any remaining 'authentic' Catholics on staff should find someone authentically Catholic to write for. Dioceses need to start canceling subscriptions immediately.

Bad enough that the Obamamaniacs are threatening to censor the secular media for actually asking questions of their candidates, but now the 'Catholic' media is going to censor Catholic Bishops on Obama's behalf? Are they nuts?

Too bad the Church doesn't have a copyright on 'Catholic'. I sick of the 'anti' squad wearing Catholic badges. Time to rout them all!!

Apparantly the road to Hell contains a lot of paper boxes.



(Maybe the National 'Catholic' Reporter will be the Obama nation's propaganda machine for the new 'American''Catholic''Church'! I suppose they have a list of 'good' Bishops ready to go....)

Real Catholic

Former Marxist-feminist-post modernist-ideologue, Fr. Philip Neri Powell explains:

Many of my friends from my days as a Marxist-feminist-postmodernist ideologue have been asking me lately how I can resist supporting an Obama presidency.

My answer--much to their horror--has been simple: "Because I used to be a Marxist-feminist-postmodernist ideologue, and I understand the party-line of the movement:

-- destroy the notion of objective truth with appeals to diversity, difference, and multi-cultism;
-- eliminate the possibility of rational discourse by elevating the affective above the rational;
-- convert all public political discourse into emotive appeals to race, gender, class, and sexuality;
-- define "freedom" as "freedom from constraint" and never as "freedom to do what is right;"
-- attack all secular opposition as "oppressive, self-centered, and fearful;"
-- attack all religious opposition as "superstitious, fundamentalist, and ignorant;"
-- use "white liberal guilt" to attack economic growth and prosperity;
-- feed over-educated narcissism with the prospect of ruling, finally, and ruling more than the meager resources of an English/women's studies department at a state university."

Why do I oppose Obama? Simple. His political positions are evil. This man believes that it is morally acceptable to kill children. He believes that it is morally permissible to attempt to kill a child in the womb, fail, and then leave the child to die once delivered alive. This man believes that all Americans should participate in his evil by being forced to pay for the genocide of abortion with federal tax dollars. That the overwhelming majority of children murdered in the womb are black seems not to concern him at all. He has promised to eliminate all democratically enacted laws against the murder of children by signed the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" if elected. This will enshrine the Supreme Court's 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade into federal law.

That the MSM has chosen again and again to ignore, obfuscate, distort, and lie about his connections to domestic terrorists, international Marxists, local communists in Chicago, and his involvement with other radical left-wing groups like the vote-stealing ACORN cadre only adds to my deep suspicison and unease. Though these are more strictly political concerns and do not rise to the level of his promotion of child murder, they are nonetheless deeply distrubing to this American citizen.

Now, before you pop off in the comboxes about Catholic priests not being political, let me say this: at no time during my solemn profession as a Dominican friar in 2003 or during my priestly ordination in 2005 did I EVER renounce my U.S. citizenship; my right to free speech; my right to the free practice of my religion; or the free expression of my opinions in a public milieu. Nor should you take my opposition to the evil of the possibility of an Obama presidency as an endorsement of a John McCain presidency.

If you want me to support Obama you will need to demonstrate to me one thing and one thing only: how does the actual murder of 1.7 million children every year in the U.S. (and the inevitable increase in that number if B.O. is elected) outweigh any possible good that B.O. might do as a Marxist-feminist chief executive officer of the U.S.

All I can say at this point is: thank you God for constitutional term limits.

(h/t curt jester)

Thank-you Fr. Powell, and the 50 Bishops who have also spoken out. Where is everybody else?

AU HAS THROWN DOWN THE GAUNTLET- The Fight Is On!!

Deacon Keith Fournier:

...“Americans United for the Separation of Church and State” has formally requested the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Roman Catholic Bishop of Paterson, N.J., the Most Reverend Arthur Serratelli. I believe this is their first volley in a concerted effort to silence Catholic Bishops. They want to prevent them from teaching the unchangeable Moral Truth, revealed in the Natural Law and confirmed by medical science, that the child in the first home of the whole human race is one of us and that every procured abortion constitutes an intrinsically evil act because it is the taking of innocent human life. They accused the Bishop of “illegal partisanship”. We published Bishop Satarelli’s excellent piece “No Right to Life! No Freedom!” We republish it again today for our readers. It is only one of a number of articles and public statements coming from our beloved Bishops. None of these statements is “partisan” in nature. There are Democrats, Republicans and Independents who recognize the humanity of the child in the womb and seek to restore legal protection to our first neighbors.

Rob Boston warned that he and Barry Lynn were going to attempt to stop our Bishops from speaking and writing in a posting on the AU web site entitled “Texas Side Step: Bishops’ Letter Attacking Pro-Choice Candidates Attempts to Sashay Past Federal Tax Law”. In that posting they also singled out Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Fort Worth and Bishop Joseph F. Martino of Scranton. I would not be surprised to see these Shepherds suffer a similar treatment, along with the “the Lion of Denver”, courageously Pro-Life Archbishop Charles Chaput. Barry Lynn and Rob Boston’s interpretation of the Establishment Clause, Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is simply wrong. It is not faithful to history, it is not a proper reading of Constitutional law, it is not good for the public order and it does not promote or serve the common good. This clause was never intended by the American founders to prevent religious groups from full participation in the public square nor to censor out religious speech or the religious speaker from civic participation. It was never intended to stop Bishops from being Moral teachers....

This will separate the wheat from the chaff (I think I see Kmiec et al on the threshing floor already...)

Somebody's Getting It!

American Catholic:

The most accurate poll from the 2004 presidential election, the Investors Business Daily (IDB) poll, shows a phenomenal 20 point switch towards Senator McCain among Catholic voters . In the previous IDB tracking poll Senator Obama once held a commanding 11 point advantage among Catholic voters. In the latest tracking poll Senator McCain now has a nine (9) point lead among Catholic voters over Senator Obama. Senator McCain leads Senator Obama among Catholic voters 48% to 39%...

We Do Both

Thomas Peters of American Papist writes a good article covering the latest developments in the 'Catholic Obamites Apologetics'.

Catholics care about the mother, the child, and even the abortionist. This is not impossible with the Republicans. This IS impossible with the Democrats.

Charles Chaput, American Hero (Kmiec NOT)

LifesiteNews:

In an address delivered to a women's group last week, Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver strongly criticized Obama-supporting Catholic Doug Kmeic, and called it absurd for self-professedly pro-life Catholics to support Obama, "the most committed 'abortion-rights' candidate ... since the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973."

"To suggest - as some Catholics do - that Senator Obama is this year's 'real' prolife candidate requires a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse," said the archbishop, who emphasized that his address at the ENDOW ('Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women') dinner expressed his views as a private citizen, and not as a representative of the Church.

Archbishop Chaput made his remarks as he spoke about his recently published book, “Render Unto Caesar,” in which he delineates the role of Catholics in the political life of the nation. He then mentioned Prof. Doug Kmeic's book, “Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question about Barack Obama,” in which Kmeic had quoted part of Chaput's book and claimed that the archbishop's reasoning and his are "not far distant on the moral inquiry necessary in the election of 2008."

"Unfortunately, he either misunderstands or misuses my words, and he couldn't be more mistaken," said the archbishop in reply. Kmeic, whose "strong record of service to the church" the archbishop commended, recently went public with his support of Obama, and has encouraged Catholics to vote for the virulently pro-abortion Obama as a morally viable option.

"His activism for Senator Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress prolifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn," continued the archbishop...

Loud Confused Catholics

Deal Hudson:

When is the last time a bishop's statement on abortion resulted in several days of protest from pro-abortion Catholics? The joint statement issued last Friday by Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth and Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas has done just that. No doubt the forceful clarity of the bishops' message elicited the outcry.

The protests began on Sunday when the statement was read from the pulpit by Rev. Tony Ruiz, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in downtown Dallas. Some two-dozen parishioners walked out and went to the local media to lodge their complaints about "political endorsements."

The next day, the Dallas Morning News carried the story on the front page of its Metro section. "The silver lining was that the article contained a link to the bishops' statement," said Karen Garnett, executive director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, Respect Life Ministry of the Diocese of Dallas.

Garnett told me that the subsequent protest on Wednesday afternoon in front of the diocesan chancery attracted the same number of people who had walked out of the Mass at Holy Trinity. Bishop Farrell, who was out of town on Wednesday, has offered to meet with the protesters.

"Too many parishes do seminars on 'Faithful Citizenship' that don't put the life issues first. We've been dealing with that problem for 35 years," added Garnett.

Olivia Franklin, a member of Holy Trinity for 15 years, heard Father Ruiz read the statement. "I'm thrilled that he read it, and I hurried out the door to tell him thank you. This is the truth, and we need to hear the truth."

Franklin had recently attended four seminars at Holy Trinity on "Faithful Citizenship." At these sessions she was told "one could in fact vote for a pro-abortion candidate if one was not voting for them for that reason." She raised objections to what was being taught, only to be told it was just her opinion.

There have been over 40 statements to date issued by bishops this election season. Some responded to comments made by Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, about the beginning of human life. Others responded to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's appearance on Meet the Press when she, too, misrepresented the Church's teaching on abortion...

(Hopefully those people will be advised as to appropriate steps to take before receiving communion..)

Herod For President

BISHOP FINN:

..If the candidate has addressed their legislative assembly, urging opposition to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, then it must be concluded that this candidate wishes Catholic voters to be complicit in infanticide. Rejection of this Act, which would require that a baby who survived an unsuccessful abortion attempt be cared for and not laid aside to die with no medical assistance, is a convincing example of the numbing of our moral sensibility. The candidate who supports this fatal neglect of life and asks our vote, asks too much of any fellow human being.

Our country is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a “walk over the cliff” is millions more human lives for many more years to come.

A candidate who asks us to add our weight to such a destructive momentum in our society, asks us to be participants in their own gravely immoral act. This is something which, in good conscience, we can never justify. Despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation: This we should never do...

(h/t american papist)

Which politician is asking Americans to participate in his GRAVELY IMMORAL ACTS in exchange for supposed money in their pockets?

Which politician is asking Americans to be bought and paid for by Herod?

Extremist Catholic Yahoos

Robert George on dissident Catholic voters for Obama:

Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.
Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals-even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals - who aggressively promote Obama's candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.

What is going on here?...

(Excellent article pointed to by proecclesia)

"Poll: Most Americans Want Abortion Restrictions"

ZENIT:

A U.S. nationwide poll shows that almost all Americans thing abortion should be restricted.

The poll was conducted for the Knights of Columbus by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between Sept. 24 and Oct. 3. It aimed to enable comparisons of the views of Catholic voters with those of the general electorate.

The poll asked respondents to state which of six statements came closest to describing their opinion on abortion.

Only 8% of U.S. residents chose the statement saying abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants during her entire pregnancy...

Voting Guide

Agnus Daily has a voting guide for Catholics that even Doug Kmiec cannot misinterpret...

(h/t curt jester)

Canada's Bold Knights

LifesiteNews:

In light of the upcoming Canadian federal election, Natale Gallo, the President of the Canadian Association of Knights of Columbus, and Yvon Robert, the State Deputy for Ontario, have sent a letter to the 230,000 members of the KofC affirming the need to cast a vote that will "build a Culture of Life."

After addressing the moral obligation of citizens to promote the common good by means of their right to vote, Gallo and Robert said that the most important piece of information to know about a political candidate is "where they stand on life."

"Political leaders must be encouraged to serve the common good by crafting legislation that supports and defends life from conception to natural death," said the two men.

Gallo and Roberts confirmed that the promotion of the Culture of Life has always been at the "core" of the KOC's "mission" and noted how this was reaffirmed in August's Supreme Convention in Quebec City, where resolutions were passed "supporting the traditional definition of marriage" and opposing "abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia."

The two knights also described the process of "building a Culture of Life" as "being concerned about the most vulnerable members of our society - the unborn, the disabled and the elderly … and defending the authentic nature of marriage and family."

There was a sense of urgency in the letter regarding the importance of the October 14 election, when Canadians will have an opportunity to support pro-life political candidates. "The political choices we make today will have a profound impact on the character of our nation and the future we will pass on to our children," they said.

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If only the candidates were up to scratch!

Cafardi Resigns From Franciscan Board

American Papist *UPDATE* on Nicholas Cafardi story:

... Franciscan University of Steubenville issued a press release saying Cafardi's views did not reflect those of the University.

The University also quickly moved to distance itself and its president "stressed that Dr. Cafardi's resignation from the board of Franciscan University was voluntary and had in no way been requested by the University" and added that he was "grateful" for Cafardi's letter, as Deal Hudson chronicles. In fact, a group of University students protested a schedule lecture by Cafardi at Carlow College in Pittsburg.

Cafardi is the former dean of the Duquesne University Law School. He was quickly criticized for his public position, and you can bet Steubenville received plenty of complaints as well.

My take: I think Steubenville handled this situation very well, and Cafardi's (publicly) voluntary resignation was probably the best way to handle it.

I wonder what would happen if Doug Kmiec was still at Catholic University as he energetically seeks to convert Catholics into Obama supporters. I have noted that recent press releases for his Pro-Life Pro-Obama media center now include an asterisked line stating clearly that his views are his own and do not represent Pepperdine University.

And, as an aside, it's also fairly evident to me that Kmiec has given up his attempts to have an intellectual debate about his position - he's just part of the Obama faith outreach machine at this point.

previous story

Canadian Election in Catholic Perspective

ZENIT interviews Archbishop Terrence Prendergast:

...Q: There is currently a federal election in Canada. What are some of the issues and concerns faced by Catholic voters in the country?

Archbishop Prendergast: The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops proposed a short study guide for Catholics, urging them to get involved in the political process -- expressing gratitude to those who present themselves as candidates -- and giving four main points for those serious about bringing their faith to bear in addressing important issues at election time.

They consist chiefly in: 1) the right to life placed as the foundational principle grounding all others. For example, by opposing those who favor abortion, and by asking candidates whether they would vote in favor of euthanasia if a bill were introduced in Parliament; 2) giving priority to care for the poor and needy as a mark of respect for the dignity of each person from the moment of conception until natural death; 3) seeking clarity about the purpose of the war in Afghanistan; 4) and care for the environment as an aspect of the stewardship of creation.

Except for the introduction of the environment as an issue in the federal electoral campaign on account of the growing popularity of the Green Party, few of the themes enunciated by the bishops have been prominent in pre-election debate. In fact, there seems to be a conspiracy of silence in regard to the abortion question, all parties being either pro-abortion or unwilling to let the matter come up for discussion. This is most frustrating for those who espouse the cause of life.

Q: Catholics often feel homeless within the political process. One political party supports Church teaching on life and family, but not on social justice. Whereas with another political party the situation is reversed. How do Catholics reconcile these differences in the voting booth?

Archbishop Prendergast: Many Canadians seem to prefer a minority Parliament in which cooperation has to be fostered to bring about the common good. In that light, the values and principles of the individual Member of Parliament -- from whichever party -- should perhaps be given greater weight than the party he or she represents.

Electing even a small minority in the House of Commons with sound ethical considerations will open the door to the possibility of affirming life, for example, through introducing legislation to reduce and eventually proscribe abortion, or in preventing legislation to introduce euthanasia as a beginning. The steadfastness in witnessing to life will, I believe, ultimately prevail because it is of God.

Q: Over the past year, much attention has been drawn to Canada 's human rights commissions and tribunals, especially in light of Canada 's recognition of same-sex marriage. Several activists have launched complaints against Christians who advocate returning to the traditional definition of marriage. Have the human rights commissions and religious freedom been a topic during the election?

Archbishop Prendergast: The human rights commissions and tribunals have been a background issue, which, unfortunately, goes largely unnoticed due to the lack of interest by most of the mainstream media -- MSM. The MSM in effect sets the tone of what gets discussed; I discovered this last May when last year’s largest demonstration on Parliament Hill -- the March for Life -- received not a single mention in the MSM. Morning news reports urged people to avoid streets around the Peace Tower that afternoon because of a demonstration, without mentioning what the demonstration was about. A procession of 150 Falun Gong demonstrators merits front-page coverage; an 8,000-strong “March for Life” becomes a nonevent. We have much work to do to make the truth known.

Q: What are some issues that you, as pastor to the nation's capital, would like to see discussed this election?

Archbishop Prendergast: Besides the items mentioned above, I believe we need to bring the concerns of the marginal of society to the fore: particularly the state of poverty among our First Nations Peoples.

Q: What can lay Catholics do to ensure that the Catholic voice is heard during the election?

Archbishop Prendergast: Politicians tell me that the most important influence in their representation of the concerns of the electorate is what they hear when canvassing on people’s doorsteps. Clearly they are not hearing enough about concerns that our faith considers urgent. We need to become courageous in making known our concerns about life, the family and marriage to those campaigning for public office.

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NOT available on the MSM.

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Being Faithful

Bishop Blair (Toledo):

"..Over the last 30 years or more there has been a great upheaval in the life of our society. Consensus about fundamental moral issues has broken down, for example, with regard to the protection of unborn life and the very definition of marriage and family.

In the Catholic Church this tidal wave of cultural and social change has given rise to a situation in which some people claim to be Roman Catholic and yet dissent from fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church. Sometimes they do this in a public manner that is scandalous, sometimes out of ignorance of what their own church believes and teaches, and other times not.

Recently, in anticipation of the November elections, we have witnessed the spectacle of certain politicians who say they are Catholic yet publicly misrepresent the history and content of church teaching. Our U.S. Bishops’ Conference, as well as several bishops individually, were compelled to respond to this intrusion of politicians into the teaching office of the church.

Lest anyone be misled, it bears repeating that "since the first century the church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion." (Catechism, no. 2271) The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council defined abortion, together with infanticide, as an "unspeakable crime." (Gaudium et Spes, no. 51) And, "while in past centuries biological knowledge was often inaccurate, modern science leaves no excuse for anyone to deny the humanity of an unborn child. Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice." (USCCB, 9/9/08)

As moral teachers and leaders, what we bishops are calling for is a political engagement by the Catholic people "shaped by the moral convictions of well formed consciences and focused on the dignity of every human being, the pursuit of the common good, and the protection of the weak and the vulnerable."

.......................................................................

The Catholic community in America should be greatly encouraged by the forthright and instructive way in which the Bishops are standing up and defending their faith, and the American society as a whole.

NY BISHOPS CLARIFY PRIORITIES

In case Catholic Voters have been getting their catechism from Doug Kmiec and the like, The NY Bishops have released a statement to clarify Catholic DUTY:

"The document [issued by the bishops of NY] 'Our Cherished Right, Our Solemn Duty,' states that there are many important issues such as the right to life, issues of war and peace, the education of children and how we treat the poor and vulnerable. While all must be considered, 'not every issue is of equal moral gravity.'

'The inalienable right to life of every innocent human person outweighs other concerns where Catholics may use prudential judgment, such as how best to meet the needs of the poor or to increase access to health care for all,' the New York bishops’ document says.

'The right to life is the right through which all others flow. To the extent candidates reject this fundamental right by supporting an objective evil, such as legal abortion, euthanasia or embryonic stem cell research, Catholics should consider them less acceptable for public office.'"
(h/t americanpapist)
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There now. Everybody get that?