Catholics and Public Life

An address by Fr. Michael Hull, Oct. 29:

The application of Christian morality in public service is no different from the application of Christian morality in private life. There is no disparity between a Catholic's moral obligations when he is in public service and when he is not. Unfortunately, a persistent and pervasive error — often disseminated by misinformed or mistaken Catholics and others, and not infrequently encapsulated in vacuous phraseology such as "personally opposed but politically for" — insists that one can publicly support and propagate evil while claiming to remain privately against such evil.

Today many politicians, who claim to be good Catholics, actively back policies that are contrary to the natural moral law and teaching of the Church, for example, the murder of unborn children in abortion and infanticide ("partial-birth" abortion). Can a Catholic politician who advocates and promotes an intrinsic moral evil licitly receive holy Communion? The answer is, of course, "no."

Why? Because Catholics are obliged to promote the common good. Currently, the best articulation of Catholic teaching on this point is proffered by the Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke (archbishop of St. Louis) in his Oct. 1, 2004, pastoral letter "On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good." ....

Here is the archbishop's column:

.... As archbishop, I write to you now, in order to assist you in reflecting upon the Word of God and to know the authoritative teaching of the Church regarding the complex moral questions which our nation faces and which we all face in electing the leaders of our nation. I write now to assist you in informing your conscience as fully as possible, regarding your responsibilities as a citizen. I do not claim to be wise and can offer no wisdom of my own. What I give you is the wisdom of the Church, the wisdom of Christ....

My own bishop, Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh, wrote a series of columns in The Pittsburgh Catholic this summer:

• Christians should be involved in the political process
• Holding politicians accountable for living their convictions
• Challenging everyone to embrace the culture of life

Here's an index to his recent columns.

P.S. Terry Eastland writes at The Weekly Standard, today:

.... Kerry has not explained why he regards the pro-life view as an article of Catholic faith. He has made much of the fact that it is a church teaching. But should you think that, for Kerry, any church teaching is an "article of faith" and therefore something that he, as a senator, may not legislate, then think again, for his church has other teachings that he is only too happy to legislate. Indeed, he has invoked church teachings to explain his work in behalf of justice, the environment and the alleviation of poverty. Only an overriding commitment to abortion rights — he vows to appoint only "pro-choice" justices — can explain why for Kerry the pro-life view is an "article of faith" but other church teachings are not.

A revelation about Kerry came in July when he surprised aides by announcing that he believes that life begins at conception. But of course Kerry's statement meant nothing practically, since, for him, no article of faith can be legislated.

The upshot is that Kerry speaks about the issues of abortion and embryonic stem-cell research in a morally shriveled fashion (lacking nuance, indeed). In January, on the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which declared the abortion right, Kerry released a statement supporting the decision that neglected entirely the moral issues involved in choosing an abortion.

Likewise, in New Hampshire this fall, according to the New York Times, Kerry discussed his endorsement of embryonic stem-cell research without making any reference to the ethical aspects of the issue.

In this year of revealing himself on religion, Kerry has more revealingly demonstrated the perverse influence of his attachment to the cause of abortion rights. It has led him to embrace mistaken views of his own religion and of the Constitution, and to empty life issues of their moral dimensions....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 11/01/04 07:35:14 AM
Categorized as Religious.