According to Catholic theologians, there are five moral issues which are intrinsically evil and must never be promoted by the law. Intrinsically evil actions are those that fundamentally conflict with the moral law and can never be 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”. 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.
2008 Democratic Party Platform:
Page 50: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
2008 GOP Platform:
Page 7: “We assert the rights of families in all international programs and will not fund organizations involved in abortion. We strongly support the long-held policy of the Republican Party known as the Mexico City policy, which prohibits federal monies from being given to non-governmental organizations that provide abortions or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other countries. We reject any treaty or agreement that would violate those values.”
Page 20: “We lament that judges have denied the people their right to set abortion policies in the states and are undermining traditional marriage laws from coast to coast.”
Page 38: “Because the family is our basic unit of society, we fully support parental rights to consent to medical treatment for their children including mental health treatment, drug treatment, alcohol treatment, and treatment involving pregnancy, contraceptives and abortion.”
Page 45: “We oppose school-based clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for abortion and contraception.”
Page 52: “Maintaining The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life
“Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.
“We have made progress. The Supreme Court has upheld prohibitions against the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. States are now permitted to extend health-care coverage to children before birth. And the Born Alive Infants Protection Act has become law; this law ensures that infants who are born alive during an abortion receive all treatment and care that is provided to all newborn infants and are not neglected and left to die. We must protect girls from exploitation and statutory rape through a parental notification requirement. We all have a moral obligation to assist, not to penalize, women struggling with the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. At its core, abortion is a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life. Women deserve better than abortion. Every effort should be made to work with women considering abortion to enable and empower them to choose life. We salute those who provide them alternatives, including pregnancy care centers, and we take pride in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives.”
2. Euthanasia
Often disguised by the name “mercy killing,” euthanasia is also 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.
2008 Democratic Party Platform: Silent on this issue.
2008 GOP Platform:Page 52: “Respect for life requires efforts to include persons with disabilities in education, employment, the justice system, and civic participation. In keeping with that commitment, we oppose the nonconsensual withholding of care or treatment from people with disabilities, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on the margins of society.”
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.”
Recent scientific advances show that medical treatments that researchers hope to develop from experimentation on embryonic stem cells can often be developed by using adult stem cells instead. In fact, there have been no beneficial treatments to come from experimentation on human embryos… there have been over 72 cures and treatments to come from adult stem cells. 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.
2008 Democratic Party Platform:
Page 21: “We will lift the current Administration’s ban on using federal funding for embryonic stem cells–cells that would have otherwise have been discarded and lost forever–for research that could save lives.”
2008 GOP Platform:
Page 40: “Taxpayer-funded medical research must be based on sound science, with a focus on both prevention and treatment, and in accordance with the humane ethics of the Hippocratic Oath. In that regard, we call for a major expansion of support for the stem-cell research that now shows amazing promise and offers the greatest hope for scores of diseases with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells without the destruction of embryonic human life. We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.”
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.”
Human cloning also involves abortion because the “rejected” or “unsuccessful” embryonic clones are destroyed, yet each clone is a human being.
2008 Democratic Party Platform: Silent on this issue.
2008 GOP Platform:Page 40: We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.”
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.
2008 Democratic Party Platform:
Page 52: “We support the full inclusion of all families, including same-sex couples, in the life of our nation, and support equal responsibility, benefits, and protections. We will enact a comprehensive bipartisan employment non-discrimination act. We oppose the Defense of Marriage Act and all attempts to use this issue to divide us.”
2008 GOP Platform:"While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia." -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (before he was Pope Benedict XVI)
Page 20: “We lament that judges have denied the people their right to set abortion policies in the states and are undermining traditional marriage laws from coast to coast.”
Page 53: “Preserving Traditional Marriage
“Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it. In the absence of a national amendment, we support the right of the people of the various states to affirm traditional marriage through state initiatives.
“Republicans recognize the importance of having in the home a father and a mother who are married. The two-parent family still provides the best environment of stability, discipline, responsibility, and character. Children in homes without fathers are more likely to commit a crime, drop out of school, become violent, become teen parents, use illegal drugs, become mired in poverty, or have emotional or behavioral problems. We support the courageous efforts of single-parent families to provide a stable home for their children. Children are our nation’s most precious resource. We also salute and support the efforts of foster and adoptive families.
“Republicans have been at the forefront of protecting traditional marriage laws, both in the states and in Congress. A Republican Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act, affirming the right of states not to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states. Unbelievably, the Democratic Party has now pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which would subject every state to the redefinition of marriage by a judge without ever allowing the people to vote on the matter. We also urge Congress to use its Article III, Section 2 power to prevent activist federal judges from imposing upon the rest of the nation the judicial activism in Massachusetts and California. We also encourage states to review their marriage and divorce laws in order to strengthen marriage.
Page 53: “As the family is our basic unit of society, we oppose initiatives to erode parental rights.”
* All of the information in this letter was culled from “The Voters Guide for Serious Catholics” and the major political party platforms.
Salvation,
I put this letter in the mail today. May God use it to open their eyes and move their hearts.
Excellent Letter and post. I just fired off a letter to the vocations director in my diocese. The reason we have to work so hard to get catholics to be catholic is a failure on the part of catechesis. I have a 16 year old son who wants to be a priest (he has had the calling for almost 9 of his 16 years) I am now struggling with what to do about college for him. The church requires a bachelors degree before attending seminary. This, to me, does not make sense.I believe our young people called to the priesthood should be formed in seminary first! The public education system is so warped, especially on the college level, that a degree just says “formally indoctrinated” to me. Hell, Barack graduated from HARVARD and no one can convince me that he is “educated” if he believes when life begins is above his paygrade! If we would snatch those called to the priesthood directly to seminary for the first 2 years while going through discernment, then see which way they will be able to help the church best, send them to Orthodox Catholic colleges, gain their degree, THEN finish seminary and take their vows, our church would be alot better off. The 4 years in liberal land after 13 years of public school indoctrination, coupled with parents not countering the liberal spew in these places leaves kids with no moorings, espcially those who have a calling! Heck, most parents try to discourage callings today! Pray for those with vocations, we are sure going to need them in what has become a culture of death and a potentially dark future!
Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.
I believe it is time to get the Republicans to respect the core of their Party again, or make it plain that alternatives to them will be sought and/or formulated by the 2012 election. Something must be done. The culture is pulling away from a pro-life mindset, and, in another election cycle or two, we will not have the numbers to sway the RNC to do the right thing; neither will we have the numbers sufficient to be able to make the needed "converts" out there to reinvigorate our ranks. The focus there is both on raw politics and evangelization. Failing in those efforts, we will begin to go the way of the dodo bird in less than ten years. Across the board, from pro-life issues to simple considerations of basic freedom, the price of failure will be very high indeed.
Euthanaisa - when the “platform” remains silent, the actions speak louder than words.
http://uspolitics.about.com/od/electionissues/a/sb686_vote.htm
Roll Call Vote
Terri Schiavo Act
On Palm Sunday, three Republican Senators voted on SB686, a special bill directing a Federal Judge in Florida to hear an appeal from Terri Schiavo’s parents regarding the 18 March removal of her feeding tube.
The Sun Sentinel reports that there were three Senators present for the “unanimous” vote: Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-TN ; Senator John Warner, R-VA ; and Senator Mel Martinez, R-FL.
The bill then moved to the House, where a simple majority of members was required for a quorum (there are 435 members) and where suspension of the rules required a two-thirds vote of those present. Democrats forced a roll call vote.
The bill passed 203 (156-Rs and 47-Ds) to 58 (5-Rs and 53-Ds) ; there were 174 members absent.
Names are listed at website.