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Baltimore Archbishop: Catholic Voters Can’t Vote for a Candidate Who Stands for an Intrinsic Evil
National Review Online ^ | August 9, 2012 | Kathryn Jean Lopez

Posted on 08/09/2012 5:55:30 PM PDT by Coleus

“This is a big moment for Catholic voters to step back from their party affiliation,” Baltimore archbishop William E. Lori tells me from the Knights of Columbus annual convention in Anaheim, Calif.

For Catholic voters in November, Lori advises, “The question to ask is this: Are any of the candidates of either party, or independents, standing for something that is intrinsically evil, evil no matter what the circumstances? If that’s the case, a Catholic, regardless of his party affiliation, shouldn’t be voting for such a person.”

At the convention this week, the message wasn’t just coming from Lori, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ new committee on religious liberty, but also from a letter conveying greetings from Pope Benedict XVI, commending the Knights and their work, specifically in defense of religious liberty. The Knights have been known to get papal encouragement, but this implicit comment on a contentious political issue is not part of the routine, reflecting what the letter calls the “unprecedented gravity” of the current situation.

“At a time when concerted efforts are being made to redefine and restrict the exercise of the right to religious freedom, the Knights of Columbus have worked tirelessly to help the Catholic community recognize and respond to the unprecedented gravity of these new threats to the Church’s liberty and public moral witness,” Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone wrote in the letter to the Knights, the largest lay Catholic organization in the United States, no doubt referring to the fight over the HHS contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing-drug mandate that has Catholic diocese, universities, and even businessmen suing the federal government to protect their religious-liberty rights. Cardinal Bertone continued: “By defending the right of all religious believers, as individual citizens and in their institutions, to work responsibly in shaping a democratic society inspired by their deepest beliefs, values and aspirations, your Order has proudly lived up to the high religious and patriotic principles which inspired its founding.”

“The challenges of the present moment are in fact yet another reminder of the decisive importance of the Catholic laity for the advancement of the Church’s mission in today’s rapidly changing social context,” the letter continues.

Citing papal comments to the bishops from the United States in Rome in January, the letter went on: “As he stated to the Bishops of the United States earlier this year, the demands of the new evangelization and the defense of the Church’s freedom in our day call for ‘an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-a-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society’ (Ad Limina Address, 19 January 2012).”

“Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion,” the pope also said in that January address. “Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.”

“Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs?” the pope, perhaps prophetically, asked during his 2008 visit to Washington, D.C.

That this papal message would be sent this month to a lay organization, in particular, is “very significant,” Archbishop Lori emphasizes. “If we are going to transform the culture from within, which we are called to do, and defend our basic freedoms,” it will be primarily the role of the laity, Lori tells me.

“The bishops are teachers,” he said, but political leadership “really needs to come from the laity as citizens and mothers and fathers and voters.”

When it comes to election advice for Catholics: “The reality is we are defending something that transcends party. The defense of religious liberty,” he said, “should not be a Democratic or Republican issue.” For a Catholic voter, this should be “fundamental, as people of faith.”

And not just for Catholics: “Many in the media have portrayed the HHS-mandate fight as a fight about contraception — as well as sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs . . . but this really is a fight about religious liberty,” Archbishop Lori says. “And you can see that as Evangelicals, Mormons, and Orthodox Jews have joined us in defense. They realize if the government can do this to the Catholic Church, they could be forced to violate their consciences too. The Evangelicals include those at Wheaton College, which recently joined a lawsuit that the Catholic University of America had filed in opposition to the mandate, over [its] abortion-inducing drug aspect.”

In an interview last month, Philip Ryken, the president of Wheaton College, told me that “even if the HHS mandate had no effect on Evangelical institutions, it would still be important to me to be supportive of Roman Catholic institutions if there were invitations and opportunities to be supportive.” He echoed the immediate reaction of New York’s archbishop and president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, to the so-called accommodation that the president misleadingly touted this Wednesday afternoon in Denver, after being introduced by feminist superstar Sandra Fluke. “The most disturbing thing to me,” explains Ryken, who was a Presbyterian pastor in Philadelphia before becoming president of Wheaton, “was the government’s provision of a ‘safe harbor’ that would defer for one year the implementation of the mandate — and presenting that as somehow being a reasonable accommodation of religious liberty. I found that offensive — the hope that we would change our religious convictions over the course of the intervening year, or that religious convictions had somehow been honored if you violated them later rather than sooner.” “It was clear to me,” Ryken adds, “that there was no understanding of the true nature of religious liberty in the administration.”

“Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights,” now Cardinal Dolan said.

Cardinal Dolan joined the papal greeting in Anaheim, encouraging the continued witness of laity in the defense of religious liberty. Alongside him was the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, who said: “Our call at this moment is to affirm the right of religion to be active in the public square . . . to defend the freedom of people of faith and of religious institutions to act in accordance with their beliefs and nature; to maintain healthy church state relations; to understand conscience correctly and to form it according to objective truth; and to protect the right to conscientious objection. Believers are summoned now to stand up for their faith, even if they must suffer for doing so.”

Asked about the controversy brewing over an invitation extended by Cardinal Dolan to President Obama to speak, alongside Governor Mitt Romney, at the annual Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner, a fundraiser for charities in New York, Archbishop Lori urged Catholics and other concerned citizens to “keep our eyes on the ball.” The invitation, and his presence, “do not constitute an endorsement,” Archbishop Lori tells me. But he was ready to make an endorsement himself: “I don’t think there is a clearer voice in the United States about the sanctity of life and religious liberty than Cardinal Dolan . . . [he's] a very clear, clarion voice. . . . Don’t get distracted.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: archbishoplori; bho2012; bishoplori; catholic; catholicvote; catholicvoter
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1 posted on 08/09/2012 5:55:42 PM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus

We are all catholics now.


2 posted on 08/09/2012 5:59:07 PM PDT by lightman (One of the marks of the Beast is a white lower case "f" on a blue square.)
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To: DixieOklahoma; reuben barruchstein; theprophetyellszambolamboromo; Alusch; house of cards; ...
Knights of Columbus: Celebrating 125 Years of Faith In Action
 
 
    

 

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be
added to or taken off  the Knights of Columbus ping list

3 posted on 08/09/2012 5:59:25 PM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus; scottjewell; ebb tide; Sirius Lee; lilycicero; MaryLou1; glock rocks; JPG; Monkey Face; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.


4 posted on 08/09/2012 6:01:22 PM PDT by narses
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To: Coleus
Hopefully, Lori will have something to say about KKT's comment yesterday that homosexual marriage "gels" with the Catholic Faith: Catholic Former [MD] Lt. Gov. backs same-sex marriage. I would he hope he doesn't let that BS go unchallenged.
5 posted on 08/09/2012 6:02:21 PM PDT by kevcol
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To: lightman

I am Breitbart and Catholic :)

Have been waiting 30 years for the Church to make a stand and quit
caving and abetting Satan.


6 posted on 08/09/2012 6:06:58 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: lightman; Coleus
We are all catholics now.

I note the lower case "c".

But I do appreciate the sentiment.

Too bad that a whole lot of people who claim to use the upper-case "C" don't share that sentiment.

(Of course, the bulk of those haven't darkened the narthex of a Catholic church since they attended their last confirmation, marriage, baptism, or funeral...but...)

7 posted on 08/09/2012 6:11:00 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
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To: lightman

Thank you.


8 posted on 08/09/2012 6:11:24 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("It takes one to know one... and vice versa!")
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To: Coleus
“If that’s the case, a Catholic, regardless of his party affiliation, shouldn't’t be voting for such a person.”

“Shouldn't” is a bit different from “can't”. The big question is whether any Catholic voter will change their vote because of this statement.

9 posted on 08/09/2012 6:19:53 PM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: Coleus

Go William Go!


10 posted on 08/09/2012 6:25:00 PM PDT by Vision ("Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40)
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To: Coleus

At least when my time comes I will not have to stand before the Almighty and explain why I voted in favor of an abortion in the form of a politician


11 posted on 08/09/2012 6:28:44 PM PDT by jesseam (eliev)
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To: count-your-change

“Can” applies to statements of physical ability. “Should” in American usage applies to statements of advisability, such as this one.

Learn English. Great language.


12 posted on 08/09/2012 6:30:15 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: markomalley

Upper case may come when Rome deals more graciously with the separated ecclesial communities...at least we are no longer labelled “heretical” as in the Baltimore Catechism.


13 posted on 08/09/2012 6:32:24 PM PDT by lightman (One of the marks of the Beast is a white lower case "F" on blue rounded corner square.)
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To: savagesusie
My parish hung a banner on the outside of our historic church in Cedarburg this week. It says: "Without Life, Freedom and the Pursuit of Happiness mean Nothing. Vote Pro-Life"

That may seem like nothing, but that is a REALLY big deal for our parish. The banner hangs on the fence near our newest statue: Rachel Weeping for her Children.

This is a picture of Rachel and the artist who designed and sculpted her. Note the inscription on the plaque.

14 posted on 08/09/2012 6:33:10 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic (ABO)
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To: Coleus
Asked about the controversy brewing over an invitation extended by Cardinal Dolan to President Obama to speak, alongside Governor Mitt Romney, at the annual Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner, a fundraiser for charities in New York, Archbishop Lori urged Catholics and other concerned citizens to “keep our eyes on the ball.” The invitation, and his presence, “do not constitute an endorsement,” Archbishop Lori tells me.

Okey-dokey, Arbshp Lori..... only time will tell just whose eyes are "on the ball." Regardless of Dolan's motives -- some good Catholics imply it'll be a "gotcha" moment for Obamalamadingdong --- I continue to believe his invitation was a bad idea.

15 posted on 08/09/2012 6:35:55 PM PDT by workerbee (June 28, 2012 -- 9/11 From Within)
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To: markomalley

We are experiencing a realignment of global Christianity; in North America this is being fueled in no small part by a hostile culture and increasingly antagonistic governments.

How it shall end we do not know, but an upper case “C” is not out of the question.


16 posted on 08/09/2012 6:36:03 PM PDT by lightman (One of the marks of the Beast is a white lower case "F" on blue rounded corner square.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Very interesting!!! Yes, some churches really understand the evil we are fighting. It is a culture war-—and it’s been going on for decades.


17 posted on 08/09/2012 6:40:04 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: afraidfortherepublic; Mrs. Don-o

Bishop Donald Hying and the Knights of Columbus at Rachel's dedication. The artist, shown in the previous picture, is named Sondra Jonson.

18 posted on 08/09/2012 6:40:30 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic (ABO)
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To: savagesusie

See #18. I think that it is remarkable that our Parish chose to erect this statue outdoors where the general public will see it every day as they pass by on Main Street. (Actually it is Wisconsin Ave, but it is main street.) And the banner that went up this week is the cherry on top of the sundae.


19 posted on 08/09/2012 6:46:19 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic (ABO)
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To: lightman
Upper case may come when Rome deals more graciously with the separated ecclesial communities...at least we are no longer labelled “heretical” as in the Baltimore Catechism.

Well, hopefully, our doctrinal differences can be resolved.

20 posted on 08/09/2012 7:04:13 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
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