After some conversation in Kurzweg today with a student who is uncertain about who to vote for in November, I looked up an article by my old Denver Archbishop, Charles Chaput, who I admire as one of the most Fatherly and on-target Bishops in the U.S. He recently wrote an article in the Denver Catholic Register entitled 10 Points for Catholic Citizens to Remember. I suggest you read the whole thing if you have a minute. It's not very long and it brings up some good points when thinking about who to vote for in this upcoming Presidential election. I've posted his final 3 'Points' here because they are of special interest. Can a Catholic in good conscience support a 'pro-choice' candidate? Arch-Bishop Chaput or as my students in Denver liked to call him, ABC, says that Catholics can indeed support a pro-choice candidate if they have a proportionate reason to justify it. Personally I say even if that is 'technically' a possibility it's about as likely as justifying the use of the death penalty in the U.S. by saying we have no sufficient way of detaining the prisoners, but thats an issue we can save for another day. What is a proportionate reason? Read his definition and then tell me if you can think of one. I sure can't.
8. So can a Catholic in good conscience support a “pro-choice” candidate? The answer is: I can’t and I won’t. But I do know some serious Catholics — people whom I admire — who will. I think their reasoning is mistaken. But at the very least they do sincerely struggle with the abortion issue, and it causes them real pain. And even more importantly: They don’t keep quiet about it; they don’t give up their efforts to end permissive abortion; they keep lobbying their party and their elected representatives to change their pro-abortion views and protect the unborn. Catholics can support “pro-choice” candidates if they support them despite — not because of — their “pro-choice” views. But they also need a compelling proportionate reason to justify it.
9. What is a “proportionate” reason when it comes to the abortion issue? It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life — which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.
10. Lastly, the heart of truly “faithful” citizenship is this: We’re better citizens when we’re more faithful Catholics. The more authentically Catholic we are in our lives, choices, actions and convictions, the more truly we will contribute to the moral and political life of our nation.
Whatcha think?
Great post Amy!
ReplyDeleteI read the article and I have to say that ABC has really touched on this issue wonderfully. I really follow the same sentiment as him, that I can't knowingly vote for a Pro-Choice candidate. Especially a candidate that supports such atrocities as infanticide(http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=29138) where you would actually kill a child who has survived an abortion. I do agree that you can weight things out if you know that if voting for one candidate will end a war and that same candidate is also pro-choice that it may be justified to vote for him. But I ask this, why is that this candidate is so interested in saving lives on a battle field, but that same person doesn't care about the lives of these unborn children? It really does seem quite contradictory.
Anyway that's my thoughts, again thanks Amy for the post!
This quote really stuck with me from that article from the Archbishop:
" If our conscience has the habit of telling us what we want to hear on difficult issues, then it’s probably badly formed. "
-In Him
Wow, very well put Blake. I agree and i have trouble foreseeing anything worth considering a "proportionate" reason. In reality i think it goes along how Blake says, if the other candidate claims to be pro-life yet has some flaw that is detestable enough, which few things are more detestable than abortion in my opinion, to outweigh his pro-life stance; it would be interesting to see just how pro-life that candidate would be. Oppositely, however, it may be that a candidate claiming pro-choice is not really so much into the act of abortion but rather just to flimsy to oppose it, therefore making him/her less abominable to me at least. But, yet again, if he/she is too flimsy to stand up for what they feel is right can we trust them to lead our country.
ReplyDeleteI guess my bottom line is: due to the immensity of the subject of abortion, a politician's spiritual trustworthiness, which as Catholics should be important to us, can be gauged.