THE PING!PRO-LIFE
A child is a gift, not a choice
Posted on 10/29/2004 4:50:14 AM PDT by SLB
CHEYENNE (AP) -- A Roman Catholic congregation is being told that voting for pro-choice candidates in next week's election would be a mortal sin.
The Rev. Tom Cronkleton, of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, said he has a moral obligation to remind his parishioners of their duty as citizens and as Catholics to vote for people who will represent them.
"There are five pre-eminent issues -- abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem-cell research, human cloning and so-called homosexual marriage," Cronkleton said. "How the candidates stand is a reason to vote for or against them."
In a bulletin insert on Sunday, Cronkleton said, "Being a Catholic sometimes is difficult, and being a Catholic voter is not an exception. We have to live by faith and moral principles and not by political affiliation or personal like or dislike."
He encouraged the congregation to stop by the church to pray before voting.
But at least one member of the congregation dislikes being told how to vote.
Joan Easley said at least one person walked out of the church during Sunday's sermon, and she would have walked out had she not been there with her 80-year-old mother.
"It was disturbing," she said. "I don't support abortion, but I also don't support going over and bombing and blowing up families either."
A lifelong Catholic, Easley said it is not the first time she has felt out of synch with the church's positions. But she said she has dealt with her disagreements quietly.
"They (the church) are the ones who have introduced me to the love of Jesus Christ, and I feel that they have the ability to give me the complete faith," she said.
"As far as the church doctrines, sometimes I have a problem with them. But you've got to suck that kind of stuff up."
But the language she heard Sunday was too hard to swallow.
"They're actually putting their personal feelings on our religion," she said. "I don't think we should be judged on the personal feelings of a priest."
As a nonprofit organization, the church walks a fine line in its ability to speak to voters about the morality of their choices. The Internal Revenue Service does not permit nonprofit groups to endorse candidates or try to influence the outcome of elections.
A Roman Catholic pro-choice group based in Washington, D.C., Catholics for a Free Choice, has gone on the offensive against the archdiocese in Denver to try to halt its expressions of politics from the pulpit. The group is challenging the archdiocese's tax-exempt status.
"Nonprofits can't get away with this by avoiding the candidate's name and using the word 'pro-life,'" said the group's president, Frances Kissling. "There are two candidates -- one is pro-life and one is pro-choice. By saying to vote pro-life, they have said to vote for George Bush.
"If they say you cannot vote pro-choice, that is a statement of opposition, and that is illegal."
Please see 120
THE PING! All of the pro-abortion candidates that I'm aware of supported "going over and bombing and blowing up families". If one wants to cast an anti-war vote, John Kerry is NOT the guy.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum."
Amen.
I say read #14 Below: (Note: This is dated 2002 but was online for at least a couple years before, IIRC)
I say, YES!
Except in the case in which a voter is faced with all pro-abortion candidates (in which case, as explained in question 8 above, he or she strives to determine which of them would cause the let damage in this regard), a candidate that is pro-abortion disqualifies himself from receiving a Catholic¡¦s vote. This is because being pro-abortion cannot simply be placed alongside the candidate's other positions on Medicare and unemployment, for example; and this is because abortion is intrinsically evil and cannot be morally justified for any reason or set of circumstances. To vote for such a candidate even with the knowledge that the candidate is pro-abortion is to become an accomplice in the moral evil of abortion. If the voter also knows this, then the voter sins mortally.Fr. Stephen F. Torraco, PhD
Father Torraco is currently Associate Professor of Theology at Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the Executive Director of the Society for the Study of the Magisterial Teaching of the Church (SSMTC). He is an instructor in Theology as well as Chaplain for one of SSMTC's affiliates, the cyberspace based Regina Coeli Academy, and a member of the faculty of Catholic Distance University in Hamilton, Virginia. He also serves as a consultant for the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, and for the Cardinal Kung Foundation in Connecticut. He is the author of various books and articles in moral theology, medical ethics, the social teaching of the Catholic Church and the spiritual life.
http://www.ewtn.com/faith/QA/expertslist.htm
Is George W. Bush pro-life or pro-choice?
As Pope John Paul II explains in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), When it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects.¡¨ Logically, it follows from these words of the Pope that a voter may likewise vote for that candidate who will most likely limit the evils of abortion or any other moral evil at issue.
The question is NOT the 'red herring' you trot out, rather it is: "Which candidate will most likely limit the evils of abortion, Kerry or Bush?"
So Deacon, how say you, Kerry or Bush?
Badpacifist -- you said it all....15 years of Catholic education, regular mass attendence, and an undying faith in Catholic teaching has been undone by the actions and moral relativism of the current American Catholic church, and the inability of the leaders of the Church at home and in Rome to stand for the principles they used to hold sacred.
If a New Catholic Church is formed, I'll be there in a heartbeat - but until then, I can not in good conscious remain in this Church.
To paraphrase a famous Anglican we all love: I didn't leave the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church left me!
I agree 100% with Father Cronkleton. A Catholic cannot in good conscience vote for anyone who promotes and supports the killing of unborn babies in the womb.
Yes it is a sin. That's why I'm voting for Michael Peroutka - the only real Christian in the race.
Yes it is a sin. That's why I'm voting for Michael Peroutka - the only real Christian in the race.
I believe that every person in America of voting age is aware that the Democrat's party and their candidate for President of the USA, are committed to appoiting Judges that will enable the atrosity of abortion forever, despite the fact that 40 million unborn humans have died since the diabolical decision in the Roevs Wade decision.
I believe these voters are aware that if Kerry is elected, another forty million unborn humans will be slaughtered over the next three decades, just as the previous three and on and on until God's patience runs out and he intercedes.
Those who vote for Democrats, knowing their agenda on abortion, are willingly abetting this abomination. Whether Christian or not, they are committing a mortal sin. They also forfeit the right to legitimatly call themselves human. Human nature is diametrically opposed to such shameless actions, and stunned to the core to discover that the souls of the black robed manipulators entrusted with dispensing justice, are blacker than the robes they wear. As are the souls of politicians who would appoint more of the same, or block the appointment of merciful Judges.
See www.sspx.org
That's how I was raised in the Church. There was no *discussion* about abortion. The Church was very clear in its position and imbedding that into the hearts and minds of the congregation.
But today? There are no rules. The R.C. Churches have become P.C. Churches. Parishoners claim to be Catholic, yet they support homosexuality, abortion, divorce, etc. To me, it is as wrong as girls wanting to be Boy Scouts, and boys wanting to be Girl Scouts. The few are disruptors, and they want the rules loosened or changed to accommodate themselves.
It's interesting that this guy says that when none of the candidates are simon-pure, pick the least bad one. I know some vehemently disagree.
A lot has been made of abortion, and it is worthy of a lot of attention, but do they advocate letting other sins or "sins" of a politician slide under the radar? What about politicians who want to be permissive on, not abortion per se, but sexual promiscuity? drugs? liquor? cigarettes? pornography? Etc.?
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