Some issues morally ‘non-negotiable,’ says ’06 Catholic voter’s guide

National Catholic Register (via Catholic Online) ^ | 8/21/2006 | Tom McFeely

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EL CAJON, Calif. (National Catholic Register) – The 2006 version of Catholic Answers Action’s Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics became available in late July.

Like the previous version distributed in the 2004 election cycle, the 16-page guide identifies five “non-negotiable” issues that Catholic Answers says should take precedence when Catholics are deciding how to vote.

The issues are abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning and homosexual “marriage” – all of which must be universally opposed by the Catholic voter.

“On most issues that come before voters or legislators, the task is selecting the most effective policy to implement or apply a moral principle. Good Catholics must embrace the principles, but most of the time there isn’t a specifically ‘Catholic position’ on the best way to implement that principle,” the guide states.

“But some issues concern ‘non-negotiable’ moral principles that do not admit of exception or compromise,” the guide continues. “One’s position either accords with those principles or does not. No one endorsing the wrong side of these issues can be said to act in accord with the church’s moral norms.”

The guide lays out the case against each of the five non-negotiable issues that it says Catholics must oppose, citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) and several other recent Vatican documents pertaining to the political responsibilities of Catholics.

The voter’s guide includes a section on how to discern which candidates conform most closely to church teachings on the key issues, stressing that Catholic voters should “not vote for candidates who are right on lesser issues but who will vote wrongly on key moral issues.”

Jimmy Akin, director of communications for Catholic Answers Action, said that as in 2004, the guide will be distributed in booklet form and through downloads from Catholic Answers Action’s Web site (www.caaction.com). And as in 2004, when 10 million of the guides were distributed, Catholic Answers Action plans to run full-page ads in national media like USA Today to promote public awareness of the publication.

Tom Nash, director of special projects for Steubenville, Ohio-based Catholics United for the Faith, applauds the focus the guide gives to its five “non-negotiable” issues.

“Some issues are non-negotiable because they regard the fundamental right to life, without which there are no other rights because one is not alive to exercise them, a grim reality that is manifest in the millions of persons killed via abortion and other means,” Nash said. “There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion regarding the resolution of many other problems, including dealing with poverty and waging war, but not with regard to fundamental issues like abortion and euthanasia.”

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There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion regarding the resolution of many other problems, including dealing with poverty and waging war, but not with regard to fundamental issues like abortion and euthanasia.”

The bottom line...