Posted on 10/23/2010 1:06:09 PM PDT by marshmallow
NEW YORK – New York’s Catholic Bishops are telling the state’s Catholics this year that the right to life must be their first concern when they step into the voting booth in November, not party loyalty or other issues where good people may differ in opinion or judgment.
The pastoral letter “Our Cherished Right, Our Solemn Duty,” signed by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and seven other New York state bishops, says Catholics must be “cautious” when they cast votes this election, so as “not to be guided solely by party loyalty or by self interest.”
While state and national officials will have great influence on issues important to the voting Catholic, such as foreign policy, war and peace, the right to life, education, and “how we treat the poor and the vulnerable,” the bishops emphasize that “not every issue is of equal moral gravity.”
In fact, the bishops make clear that while it is “rare” for a candidate to agree with the Church on all these issues, it is the right to life that has to rank number one in Catholics’ minds at the voting booth.
“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,” they state.
“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,” they continue. “As Faithful Citizenship teaches, ‘Those who knowingly, willingly, and directly support public policies or legislation that undermine fundamental moral principles cooperate with evil.’”
(Excerpt) Read more at thebulletin.us ...
It’s about time they start hammering on this. Too, too many, including the clergy have ignored the fact that the left panders to the “pro-choice” crowd for their votes. The Left thinks that they automatically get the Catholic vote just because of their belief in “Social Justice.” And, in many cases, they do.
> the right to life must be their first concern when they
> step into the voting booth
This should be a no-brainer.
But most people are so branwashed by the government schools and marxist universities and pro-death media, that they have to be reminded that without life, all of the other “rights” are meaningless.
There is something I don’t understand about my church, they’re right on pro life, yet so wrong on most politics.
Most of the time they’re useful tools of the agrarian reformers, i.e. marxist revolutionaries.
Betcha pflegler in chicago is pro life, yet calls for the murder of gun shop owners. ((dunno if he is in fact pro life, i’ll have to check, but its been my experience with the catholic left to be so))
“…It’s about time…”
And long overdue…Abortion is Proxy to Infanticide, which leads to societal destruction, and the idea of devaluing life then willingness for Genocide!
As for this concept of “Social Justice,” is just fraud and code for Marxism wrapped in societies need to please their leaders who behave as demigods; see rule one!
...also post #5 has some clarity.
A lot of it is that they confuse the duties of "society" with the duties of "the State." This is an error the USCCB makes in almost every one of their policy pronouncements.
And the USCCB has no canonical authority to make these policy pronouncements. None whatsoever.
Do click over here (Link) to get the distinction I'm talking about.
The public policy wing of the USCCB should be disbanded.
Thanks for the explanation, bump for later read.
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