[Coleus]

I just knew where she was leading considering she writes for the Bergen Record; it's just the same liberal mantra, nothing different. The world is full of problems not addressed when a republican is in office and during the 8 yrs. of the stain maker everything was just great.

[Williams]

According to Kerry, God tells him to be a liberal, created homosexuality, and all those embryos are just going to waste.

[elizabetty]

Why is it people who do not believe what Catholics believe want to be Catholics? I am astounded by this idea that you can say you are a devout Catholic but I do not abide by its principles. I guess that is it, John Kerry in his religion, like everyhing else, is unprincipled.

[kimosabe31]

Yet Catholic kerry supporters are being told they must put aside their opposition to Bush's policies, which many of them have reached on moral grounds, and vote for a man who they believe has done some rather immoral things...

Any catholics that feel they have chosen on "MORAL GROUNDS" to support kerry are as terribly confused as the lady that wrote this column.

[browardchad]

For the record, I am pro-life. I believe life begins at conception and therefore, abortion is wrong.

Not wrong enough to overcome her liberal mindset, obviously.

(Thanks for posting -- great job with the links!)

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[NYer]

Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics

THE FIVE NON-NEGOTIABLE ISSUES
These five current issues concern actions that are intrinsically evil and must never be promoted by the law. Intrinsically evil actions are those which fundamentally conflict with the moral law and can never be deliberately performed under any circumstances. It is a serious sin to deliberately endorse or promote any of these actions, and no candidate who really wants to advance the common good will support any action contrary to the non-negotiable principles involved in these issues.

1. Abortion

The Church teaches that, regarding a law permitting abortions, it is "never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or to vote for it" (EV 73). Abortion is the intentional and direct killing of an innocent human being, and therefore it is a form of homicide.

The unborn child is always an innocent party, and no law may permit the taking of his life. Even when a child is conceived through rape or incest, the fault is not the child's, who should not suffer death for others' sins.

2. Euthanasia

Often disguised by the name "mercy killing," euthanasia also is a form of homicide. No person has a right to take his own life, and no one has the right to take the life of any innocent person.

In euthanasia, the ill or elderly are killed, by action or omission, out of a misplaced sense of compassion, but true compassion cannot include intentionally doing something intrinsically evil to another person (cf. EV 73).

3. Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Human embryos are human beings. "Respect for the dignity of the human being excludes all experimental manipulation or exploitation of the human embryo" (CRF 4b).

Recent scientific advances show that often medical treatments that researchers hope to develop from experimentation on embryonic stem cells can be developed by using adult stem cells instead. Adult stem cells can be obtained without doing harm to the adults from whom they come. Thus there is no valid medical argument in favor of using embryonic stem cells. And even if there were benefits to be had from such experiments, they would not justify destroying innocent embryonic humans.

4. Human Cloning

"Attempts . . . for obtaining a human being without any connection with sexuality through 'twin fission,' cloning, or parthenogenesis are to be considered contrary to the moral law, since they are in opposition to the dignity both of human procreation and of the conjugal union" (RHL I:6).

Human cloning also involves abortion because the "rejected" or "unsuccessful" embryonic clones are destroyed, yet each clone is a human being.

5. Homosexual "Marriage"

True marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Legal recognition of any other union as "marriage" undermines true marriage, and legal recognition of homosexual unions actually does homosexual persons a disfavor by encouraging them to persist in what is an objectively immoral arrangement.

"When legislation in favor of the recognition of homosexual unions is proposed for the first time in a legislative assembly, the Catholic lawmaker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against it. To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral" (UHP 10).

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[dsc]

"These dire warnings are part of an attempt by both the Bush campaign and conservative bishops to deliver the Catholic vote for the 2004 Republican ticket."

So, "the Bush campaign" is issuing orders to bishops? How come they haven't ordered every bishop to make similar announcements?

"In other words, Bush is endorsed by God."

Well, yeah. Or at least he's doing a much better job of trying to abide by God's commandments.

[Lexinom]

Two words: Cognitive Dissonance.

Fact: Horror of horrors, one of the two men running for president is more godly than the other.

[DaveMSmith]

Just a few things:

The author neglected to mention the Archdiocese of Boston has filed denounciation of Kerry for Heresy

Kerry insists on using 'articles of faith' when describing his pro-abortion and pro-homosexual positions when actually they are defined as natural law. I supposed 'articles of faith' polled better.

[PrepareToLeave]

How inspiring to witness these bishops and priests taking a stand like this. Abortion is the #1 issue and to vote for anyone who will prolong this murderous act is to share in it. I pray that the other Christian faiths will be more vocal in admonishing their flocks.

www.preparetoleave.com

[Aquinasfan]

What other issue can outweigh 1.3 million abortions in America each year?

None, not even war. 40+ million dead since 1973.

[SuziQ]

The archbishop did not name names, but his message is clear: Catholics can't vote for John Kerry. Since Catholics make up one-quarter of the voting population, Myers would hand the election on a silver platter to President Bush.

Good gracious, I sure HOPE so!!

The NY Times had an article about this yesterday, or the day before. It won't be long before folks start screaming about separation of Church and state, and denial of tax-exempt status. I'd say discuss that action against the Catholic Church only after all the black churches that John Kerry has been in this year have been discussed. I haven't seen George W. Bush in any Catholic pulpits, has anyone else?

[animoveritas]

Talk about logic fallicies. A sixth grader could see right through the emotional argument.

[B Knotts]

The archbishop did not name names, but his message is clear: Catholics can't vote for John Kerry. Since Catholics make up one-quarter of the voting population, Myers would hand the election on a silver platter to President Bush.

No...it is Kerry who would hand the election to President Bush.

No one is stopping Kerry from accepting the teaching of the Church, and becoming pro-life.

[jwalsh07]

Equating pacifism resulting in genocide to the killing of the unborn is an argument bereft of morality and logic.

[Dominick]

But Myers says in his article that it's a numbers game: What other issue can outweigh 1.3 million abortions in America each year? Sadly, other issues do rival those numbers. Millions have died in civil wars in Africa in recent years, and genocide is happening in the Sudan right now. Millions have died from AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and millions continue to be infected around the world. Millions could die in a military showdown with North Korea, for instance, if nuclear weapons were used.

None of which Kerry would do anything different than Bush, no wait I take that back. Kerry would skillfully negotiate over nothing while these atrocities take place.

IMHO, Bush isn't a shining star here either, there hasn't been much action in Sudan like there should have been. Bush is also not a 100% pro-life candidate, however, a pro-life vote for anyone BUT Bush is an effective Vote for Kerry.

I may also remind this boneheaded author that Clinton negotiated the paper-tiger agreement with the PRK, and they promptly added to the PRK national stock of toilet paper.

[airborne]

I think Kerry said it best-

"I'm a politician who just happens to be a Catholic."

[ArrogantBustard]

Looks like the author cannot, in good conscience, vote for either Pres. Bush or Sen. Kerry. She must find some other candidate to support. Or decline to vote.

[NewJerseyJoe]

The bishops aren't telling voters who to vote or not vote for. They're reminding adult Catholics of important things they should already know and which they already should be using to guide the moral decisions in their lives.

Of course, any "pro-life Bergen Record writer" has been indoctrinated enough by her employer to know what she is and isn't allowed to write. By trying to have it both ways, she fails miserably at both. She is the wrong writer in the wrong newspaper at the wrong time.