ALBANY — A Roman Catholic official has admonished Assemblyman Daniel Hooker for distributing what he called a "right-wing" and "simplistic" voter's guide for church members.

Hooker, R-Saugerties, recently mailed about 150 copies of the "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics," published by a conservative California group, to priests and deacons in his Assembly district.

The pamphlet urges Catholics to avoid voting for candidates who "endorse or promote intrinsically evil policies" such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex marriage.

In a letter to Hooker, the Very Rev. Thomas Berardi, dean of the Schoharie Deanery, said the pamphlet presents a "narrow and simplistic" view of Catholic morality. The pamphlet does not deal with other life-related issues, such as those who die from war, capital punishment and inadequate health care, he said.

Hooker, a first-term lawmaker, faces a challenge from Democrat Kevin Neary in a district that includes Schoharie County and parts of Otsego, Delaware and Chenango counties.

"If you are going to present yourself to Catholics as a politician who is a Catholic, then I strongly suggest that you be better-informed and provide balanced material that reflects the church's social teachings across the board and the diverse thinking of the Catholic people, theologians and pastoral ministers," Berardi wrote.

Berardi said "Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility," issued by U.S. Catholic bishops, presents a more balanced view of the church's social teaching.

Hooker acknowledged Monday that the pamphlet does not deal with all moral and social issues facing Catholics.

He said he mailed it to the priests and deacons because he got a perfect score on the five "non-negotiable" issues listed in the pamphlet. In a cover letter accompanying the pamphlet, Hooker said his score shows he is a good Catholic candidate and asked for their support.

Hooker said he respects Berardi, who was once his parish priest, as a man of God, but he said they have different political perspectives.

Hooker said Berardi is a member of a local group that has protested the invasion of Iraq. Hooker, a major in the Marine Corps Reserve, supports the war and President Bush.

"The Catholic Church, like many other institutions in society, could be said to have adherents that fall into both the conservative political arena and the liberal political arena, or end of the spectrum, but I think the church teaching is what it is," Hooker aid.

Hooker said he is not an expert on church teachings, but the pamphlet's authors appear to have based their beliefs on reliable church sources.

Berardi also wrote to Lewis Wilson, Schoharie County Republican chairman, warning him that the pamphlet could damage the party's credibility. Berardi also said he planned to bring the matter to the attention of the churches under his jurisdiction and Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard.

The pamphlet was printed by Catholic Answers, a nonprofit organization based in El Cajon, Calif. Neither the pamphlet nor the group's website endorses specific candidates.

Assemblyman Daniel Hooker

He said he mailed it to the priests and deacons because he got a perfect score on the five "non-negotiable" issues listed in the pamphlet.

THE FIVE NON-NEGOTIABLE ISSUES

These five current issues concern actions that are intrinsically evil and must never be promoted by the law. Intrinsically evil actions are those which fundamentally conflict with the moral law and can never be deliberately 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" (EV 73). 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.

2. Euthanasia

Often disguised by the name "mercy killing," euthanasia also is 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 (cf. EV 73).

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" (CRF 4b).

Recent scientific advances show that often medical treatments that researchers hope to develop from experimentation on embryonic stem cells can be developed by using adult stem cells instead. 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.

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" (RHL I:6).

Human cloning also involves abortion because the "rejected" or "unsuccessful" embryonic clones are destroyed, yet each clone is a human being.

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.

"When legislation in favor of the recognition of homosexual unions is proposed for the first time in a legislative assembly, the Catholic lawmaker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against it. To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral" (UHP 10).

ABBREVIATIONS

CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church

CPL Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Notes on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life

CRF Pontifical Council for the Family, Charter of the Rights of the Family

EV John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)

RHL Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation

UHP Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons

Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics

Please show your support for this young man by dropping him a note or email message. This is one candidate who, despite living in "Howard Hubbard" country, has an excellent understanding of catholic voting priorities.

Albany Office:
LOB 937, Empire Plaza
Albany, NY 12248
Ph: (518) 455-5363
Fax: (518) 455-5856
Email: hookerd@assembly.state.ny.us

District Office:
2668 State Highway 7, Suite 38
Cobleskill, New York 12043
Ph: (518) 296-8070

In a letter to Hooker, the Very Rev. Thomas Berardi, dean of the Schoharie Deanery, said the pamphlet presents a "narrow and simplistic" view of Catholic morality. The pamphlet does not deal with other life-related issues, such as those who die from war, capital punishment and inadequate health care, he said.

"Narrow and simplistic". Translation: Clear and unambiguous.

We can't have that. Time to muddy the waters.

I think killing children comes under the heading of "inadequate health care", doesn't it Father? Upwards of a million children are deliberately murdered in a single year in the US. Those who have died in wars, from capital punishment and inadequate health care combined, in the entire history of the US, would not come near that figure.

A sense of proportion, Father. Not being able to afford treatment for your bad heart or stomach ulcer may well amount to injustice of which life is full. It doesn't however amount to the ultimate injustice of deliberate, premeditated murder.

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