I wish to clarify
1. That I in no way believe that you have NO choice regarding political candidates because you are a Catholic, that is absurd! When I used the word heretics it was to describe those Catholics who persist in error going against Church teaching in matters of dogma and magisterium. A heretic does not need to be officially labeled by anyone to be a heretic, judgement of that kind comes from God and the church when it comes to an excommunication. But just because no one calls the individual that it does not mean that you are not indeed one. I simple put out the word to refresh ALL of us of what kind of spiritual peril we are at risk.
2. I don't intend to "win" anything I am simply voicing my opinion, I do believe that we all still have that right.
3. Most importantly, I am NOT trying to nor was it my intention to BULLY anyone.
4. The next president will have the enormous task of nominating judges to our Supreme Court, we all know that the president that is in office will choose a nominee that best fits his/her views on both social and political issues. (That is why it is important to ME to have a president that values all life not just the life outside of the womb or that has good quality of life.) If you call this a political agenda then so be it, you are entitled to your opinion as am I.
5. I commend you on being a faithful and practicing Catholic, I simply disagree with you and the author of the original piece, I don't believe Senator Obama is that Natural Choice for Catholics, and I really just don't see ANY natural choices available for Catholics, without a doubt this will be a very challenging election time for me and I imaging many others who simply don't see a candidate that they can fully support on any side, (by the way I just want you to know I am an Independent, not Democrat, not Republican I truly don't have an agenda, just an opinion.)
6.) The catechism was designed as a teaching tool, I totally agree, just as admonishing the sinner with charity is a teaching moment.
7. As far as someone telling me that supporting a political candidate is equal to the support of abortion, I don't need anyone to tell me that again the way I see it if I vote for a Pro-abortion candidate and he/she is elected into office the likelihood of supreme court justices that support and uphold Roe vs Wade will be appointed is extremely high, so that then is equal to aiding the pro-abortion cause.
As well as any type of legislation that in the future might be put into play the president can veto bills and well that is where my opinion is based.
Below you will find some statement from The USCCB and from PFL these will also state our responsibility when engaging in the political process....
From the www.priestsforlife.com website:
As the Catholic bishops of the United States said in our June 2004 statement, “Catholics in Political Life”:
We need to do more to persuade all people that human life is precious and human dignity must be defended. This requires more effective dialogue and engagement with all public officials, especially Catholic public officials. We welcome conversation initiated by political leaders themselves.
Therefore, we welcome the Representatives’ recognition that Catholics in public life must act seriously and responsibly on many important moral issues. Our faith has an integral unity that calls Catholics to defend human life and human dignity whenever they are threatened. A priority for the poor, the protection of family life, the pursuit of justice and the promotion of peace are fundamental priorities of the Catholic moral tradition which cannot be ignored or neglected. We encourage and will continue to work with those in both parties who seek to act on these essential principles in defense of the poor and vulnerable.
At the same time, we also need to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s constant teaching that abortion is a grave violation of the most fundamental human right – the right to life that is inherent in all human beings, and that grounds every other right we possess. Pope John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation on the vocation and mission of the laity, Christifideles Laici, which the Representatives’ statement cites, declares:
The inviolability of the person which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination…. The human being is entitled to such rights, in every phase of development, from conception until natural death; and in every condition, whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor (# 38).
While it is always necessary to work to reduce the number of abortions by providing alternatives and help to vulnerable parents and children, Catholic teaching calls all Catholics to work actively to restrain, restrict and bring to an end the destruction of unborn human life. As the Church carries out its central responsibility to teach clearly and help form consciences, and as Catholic legislators seek to act in accord with their own consciences, it is essential to remember that conscience must be consistent with fundamental moral principles. As members of the Church, all Catholics are obliged to shape our consciences in accord with the moral teaching of the Church.
As bishops, we too are bound by our own consciences to teach faithfully and to recommit ourselves to continued reflection and discussion on how Catholic faith and public service can work together to promote human life and dignity and advance the common good. Through dialogue, especially the irreplaceable dialogue between Catholic political leaders and their own bishops, we hope to promote a better understanding of how the Church’s teaching on human life and dignity challenges us all.
The US Bishops’ Document Faithful Citizenship
In the year prior to each Presidential election year, the US Bishops issue a document to review with Catholics their responsibility to be citizens active in the political process. In November of 2007 the bishops approved “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility.”
Priests for Life welcomes the bishops’ statement. The Faithful Citizenship statements have always outlined the many important issues that relate to the ‘common good.’ Many of the previous statements have been criticized for failing to adequately distinguish the differences between the moral gravity of the various issues, and the distinction between policy and principle. The most recent statement, however, does more to highlight those distinctions.
We at Priests for Life echo the bishops’ call for a consistent ethic of life, properly understood, which begins with the proclamation that life is sacred and that the right to life can never be denied to a person, whether born or unborn. This ethic continues to call for the efforts of public officials and citizens alike to preserve and enhance the other fundamental rights of every person, such as religious liberty, and to protect the many goods that are to accompany life itself: education, health care, security, and many more.
“The bishops’ statement calls us to avoid two extremes in considering these issues. One is to ignore the distinctions among the issues; the other is to ignore some of the issues when making the distinctions.
The bishops furthermore point out that as we participate in political parties, we are also called to change those parties wherever and whenever their positions fail to correspond to the demands of justice and the common good. In particular, we at Priests for Life call upon the Democratic Party to abandon its pro-abortion stance, recognizing that such a stance imperils and dilutes any progress that can be made on other issues.
We also want to emphasize in a particular way the call that the bishops make for Catholics to be involved in running for office and being active in political parties. This is completely consistent with a life of faith and worship. In fact, public service in political life is a vocation.
The statement, furthermore, explains that Catholics who vote for candidates because they want to keep abortion legal, or who ignore the pro-abortion stance of a candidate and support him or her just because of party loyalty, are acting immorally.
The document does leave room for voting for a candidate who favors legal abortion if, for instance, the opposing candidate is even more pro-abortion than the one for whom the voter is voting.
The statement encourages Catholics to use voter education materials produced by their dioceses, and so do we. Unfortunately, many dioceses do not produce any voter guides or election-related materials. Priests for Life urges such dioceses to do so. The faithful, of course, are always free to produce and use other election-related material. This is consistent with the statement’s call to be active in the political process and in political parties themselves.
Our commitment at Priests for Life is to make this document widely known, and to distribute it far and wide at our own expense. Moreover, we call upon priests to preach on its contents, on candidates to study its lessons, and on voters to heed its guidance.
Quotes from the document:
“In our nation, “abortion and euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others” (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 5).”
“Two temptations in public life can distort the Church’s defense of human life and dignity:
The first is a moral equivalence that makes no ethical distinctions between different kinds of issues involving human life and dignity. The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.
“The second is the misuse of these necessary moral distinctions as a way of dismissing or ignoring other serious threats to human life and dignity.”
“Pope John Paul II explained the importance of being true to fundamental Church teachings: Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights—for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture—is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination. (Christifideles Laici, no. 38)”
“This culture of life begins with the preeminent obligation to protect innocent life from direct attack and extends to defending life whenever it is threatened or diminished.”
“Address the preeminent requirement to protect the weakest in our midst—innocent unborn children—by restricting and bringing to an end the destruction of unborn children through abortion.”
Read the full text of the Bishops' statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility (PDF format)
Read the Priests for Life Press Release on the statement
Faithful Citizenship by Fr. Frank Pavone
I hope that you might be able to see that I am not trying to bully, or even convince much less "win" any type of argument. I am simply stating what I have learned when it comes to my faith, thru my involvement in my parish, scripture study, and apologetics class, as well as EWTN viewing, if I somehow offended you or anyone else I do apologies, my intention once again was never to offend.
