I am sharing it with you and, with Austin Ruse, ask that you send an email of thanks and gratitude to Archbishop John Myers for his recent article in the Wall Street Journal (Excerpts of his article were posted here yesterday). I sent my email to him minutes ago.
Dear Colleague,
We continue reporting on the vital question of whether Catholics may vote
for a pro-abortion politician. While specifically Catholic, this ongoing
analysis can be helpful to all people of faith in wrestling with this
question. We report today on a brave Archbishop and a conference held last
week in Washington DC.
Spread the word.
Yours sincerely,
Austin Ruse
President
Action item: I am providing a link to Archbishop John Myers Wall Street Journal column from Friday:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110005634
Read this wonderful teaching document and then send an email of thanks to this brave man who no doubt will come under attack from those on the left. You can email him at archbishopnewark@gmail.com This is vitally important. I am looking for 500 messages from all over the world and from all faiths. Do not hesitate. Do it now.
_____________________________________________________________________________
CULTURE & COSMOS
September 21, 2004 Volume 2, Number 7
Voting Questions Continue, Abortion Dominates
The question of whether or not Catholics may vote for pro-abortion candidates in light of a note by a prominent Vatican cardinal has continued to gain steam in the last week. One American Archbishop published a column in a national newspaper saying that in practical terms no issue exists today that would trump the issue of protecting the unborn. And at a major conference in Washington DC addressing the same question, several prominent Catholic scholars emphatically declared abortion and the protection of human embryos to be the preeminent issue for Catholics voters.
As reported in last week's Culture & Cosmos, many media outlets have reported that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in a recent memorandum addressed to US Bishops, gave approval for voting for pro-abortion candidates as long as the voter agreed with the candidate on other serious issues. The debate hinges on the proper definition of the phrase "proportionate reasons," a term used in the memorandum that has specific meaning within Catholic moral theology. Ratzinger, the Vatican's leading theologian, said any vote for a pro-abortion politician is cooperation in "evil." But a person who votes for a pro-abortion politician may receive communion if he voted that way for "proportionate reasons."
Newark Archbishop John J. Myers attempted to answer the question of what such proportionate reasons could be in a column published in Friday's edition of the Wall Street Journal. "[F]or a Catholic citizen to vote for a candidate who supports abortion and embryo-destructive research, one of the following circumstances would have to obtain: either (a) both candidates would have to be in favor of embryo killing on roughly an equal scale or (b) the candidate with the superior position on abortion and embryo-destructive research would have to be a supporter of objective evils of a gravity and magnitude beyond that of 1.3 million yearly abortions plus the killing that would take place if public funds were made available for embryo-destructive research. Frankly, it is hard to imagine circumstance (b) in a society such as ours."
Myers emphasized that abortion could not be spoken of in the same way as other social justice issues. "Certainly policies on welfare, national security, the war in Iraq, Social Security or taxes, taken singly or in any combination, do not provide a proportionate reason to vote for a pro-abortion candidate."
Ave Maria School of Law sponsored a gathering of scholars Thursday to address questions surrounding Catholic politicians and abortion at the National Press Club in Washington DC. With well over 300 in attendance, Father Richard John Neuhaus, the publisher and editor of First Things, made a pointed statement on the priority of abortion. "Is it permitted to vote for someone like a Kerry? Rome and the Bishops have been abundantly clear that abortion is not one of many issues. This is singular and it does have priority. . . . Any well instructed Catholic has had it repeatedly, insistently, persuasively, winsomely, lovingly put on his or her conscience that we have a moral obligation to positively protect innocent human life."
Princeton University professor Robert P. George, also speaking at the conference, offered an in-depth critique of attempts by Catholic politicians like former New York Governor Maria Cuomo to justify their pro-abortion position. George stressed that promoting the pro-life position is not an imposition of one's religion because it is a position derived from natural law. "The Church teaches that the right to life is a fundamental norm of justice and human rights that can be understood even apart from divine revelation and Church authority."
Copyright, 2004 --- Culture of Life Foundation. Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
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