The Catholic Church and Civil Disobedience

This State sanctioned murder of a innocent women must be stopped!

The Catholic Church accepts and sanctions acts of civil disobedience, if a civil law is contrary to God's higher law.

In fact, the early martyrs in Rome were doing this very thing - exercising their conscience against the state. The Church was active in the civil rights struggle in the early 60s, and also upheld the validity of Operation Rescue (in which I myself took part). I sat next to Archbishop Austin Vaughan of New York city at a Rescue rally once.

Furthermore, countless instances of Catholics (even the pope and priests) rescuing Jews from the Nazis in the 1940s are also examples of this civil disobedience / biblical and Christian obedience.

This is all because there is a Moral Law which states may not transgress. When someone is compelled to violate their Catholic, Christian conscience, he must disobey the state.

For reference, see the new Catechism, #1778-1796 and #2311 (on conscience).

From Dave Armstrong's Web Site....