Posted on 03/07/2007 1:41:55 PM PST by madprof98
A Catholic newspaper is telling readers that Catholics shouldn't support White House hopeful Rudy Giuliani because of his support for allowing women access to abortions.
The National Catholic Register's editorial urges anti-abortion voters to choose another candidate other than Giuliani.
"A Republican party led by a pro-abortion politician would become a pro-abortion party," according to the editorial that appears on the Web site and is set to appear next week in the newspaper's print edition.
Editors say "they hope that pro-lifers will 'be reasonable,' not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and go along quietly," but "we won't."
"When they ask us to 'be reasonable' and go along with a pro-abortion leader, they assume that there is something unreasonable about the pro-life position to start with," the editors wrote. "Were sorry, but we dont see what is so unreasonable about the right to life.
"What looks supremely unreasonable to us is that we should trust a leader who not doesnt only reject the right to life but even supports partial-birth abortion, which is more infanticide than abortion," according to the editorial.
[snip]
"Would a pro-abortion president give us a pro-life Supreme Court justice? Maybe he would in his first term. But weve seen in the Democratic Party how quickly and completely contempt for the right to life corrupts. Even if a President Giuliani did the right thing for a short time, its likely the party that accepted him would do the wrong thing for a long time," the editorial reads.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Republican party had better come forth with a decent candidate. Not a leftist in republican's clothing. Please, never again any more Giuliani's, McCain's, Bloomberg's, or Rell's.
A genuine conservative please, otherwise I'll stay home or vote for mickey mouse.
Catholics used to be all democrats, this is changing, due to the parties changing. Old Catholics might still vote democrat, but wisely, all new Catholics can't. Democrats are now the party of the devil, if you see it clearly.
What is that, like the MTV version? Where Catholics stop following their faith and start acting 'real'?
Did you know that the Catholic Church opposes the WOT?
You are confused.
The Church is heavily predisposed against war. However, there exist criteria for what constitutes a just war, and the application of those criteria is left to the prudence of the individual.
Would it be fair to call you (I assume you're a Catholic) a cafetaria Catholic because you favor the WOT?
Learn to read -- I said I was Catholic -- learn to spell -- and the short answer is 'No'.
The Church isn't telling anyone how to vote. A newspaper is. It's a "Catholic" newspaper because it professes to cover news of interest to Catholics and to advance a Catholic worldview.
The same reason that pro war bishops and priests are not rebuked.
Thank you, that was clarified by another FReeper.
Thank you, that was clarified by another FReeper.
That would imply that there is no official position on the WOT, and that it is up to individual bishops and priests to decide whether they support the war or not. But that hardly sounds like speaking "out of turn and beyond their authority".
Time to re-examine their tax exempt status.
Nah. You're spinning. Santorum was beaten by Casey a pro-life Democrat.
Because religious institutions have become political, they are fading from the scene as we speak. There was a time when religious institutions were primarily concerned with the salvation of souls, but today those institutions have become political partisans -- either left wing or right wing, but partisans, none the less. As such, they cannot survive. And, if we look around, we are already witnessing their demise in the news every day.
You are better defined as an Irish Catholic. Do whatever you want and then go to confession and make it all better.
from: http://www.ewtn.com/vote/brief_catechism.htm
10. What if all the candidates from whom I have to choose are pro-abortion? Do I have to abstain from voting at all? What do I do?
Obviously, one of these candidates is going to win the election. Thus, in this dilemma, you should do your best to judge which candidate would do the least moral harm...
===
However, the website I cited also provides the following guidance, which is relevant for the GOP primaries:
===
4. If I have strong feelings or opinions in favor of a particular candidate, even if he is pro-abortion, why may I not vote for him?
As explained in question 1 above, neither your feelings nor your opinions are identical with your conscience. Neither your feelings nor your opinions can take the place of your conscience. Your feelings and opinions should be governed by your conscience. If the candidate about whom you have strong feelings or opinions is pro-abortion, then your feelings and opinions need to be corrected by your correctly informed conscience, which would tell you that it is wrong for you to allow your feelings and opinions to give lesser weight to the fact that the candidate supports a moral evil.
3. If I think that a pro-abortion candidate will, on balance, do much more for the culture of life than a pro-life candidate, why may I not vote for the pro-abortion candidate?
If a political candidate supported abortion, or any other moral evil, such as assisted suicide and euthanasia, for that matter, it would not be morally permissible for you to vote for that person. This is because, in voting for such a person, you would become an accomplice in the moral evil at issue. For this reason, moral evils such as abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are examples of a disqualifying issue. A disqualifying issue is one which is of such gravity and importance that it allows for no political maneuvering. It is an issue that strikes at the heart of the human person and is non-negotiable. A disqualifying issue is one of such enormity that by itself renders a candidate for office unacceptable regardless of his position on other matters. You must sacrifice your feelings on other issues because you know that you cannot participate in any way in an approval of a violent and evil violation of basic human rights. A candidate for office who supports abortion rights or any other moral evil has disqualified himself as a person that you can vote for. You do not have to vote for a person because he is pro-life. But you may not vote for any candidate who supports abortion rights...
i am Roman Catholic and i am pleasantly surprised to see them take a stand on politicians who are Catholics in name only.
are the running for the republican nomination?
The church has not taken an "official" position on the WOT. It is against terrorsim always and against war usually.
No it won't be fair. As Cardinal Ratzinger wrote shortly before becoming Pope there can be a legitimate difference of opinion among Catholics about the war.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.