Catholics, it's time to face the music

How is it possible that so many of our Catholic brothers and sisters are still planning to place their vote for Barack Obama? The Church may not be allowed to come right out and name a particular candidate, but I sure can.

Have they not heard the Church's unanimous statements, from the Vatican down to the bishops, that there are no issues of greater moral importance than abortion and euthanasia??? If they have, why are they not listening? Do they think that these statements made by the Church are mere suggestions? Do they feel that their personal opinions are just as morally valid as those held by the Church, which was founded by Christ Himself? Do they think that voting their "conscience" means that they may dismiss the Church's teachings in place of their own "feelings" on an issue? The Church is very clear that our conscience must be "formed", and that means challenging ourselves to look deeper--not look the other way-- when we have personal qualms about something the Church is guiding us in.

So many are saying that abortion is not the only issue that poses a threat to human life and dignity, and are using this rhetoric to argue that in this election the issues of war, the economy and health care pose a greater threat to humanity in this country.

I ask you...HOW is that even possible?

How can the poor and the disenfranchised be helped if they are first denied the fundamental right to live? How can we talk about health care for everyone when we are not even protecting the lives of the most vulnerable? How can we honestly look at this war and say that it has caused more death and destruction to the human person than the killing of the innocent unborn through abortion? No one is saying that war isn't horrific--but one has to weigh the facts: Abortion is the direct, intentional killing of an innocent person; war is not. Innocent persons do die as a result of war, but their deaths are not the intended outcome, nor the target of attack.

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, PA. laid it all out when he recently crashed an election forum in his diocese:

"To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others. Another argument goes like this: ‘As wrong as abortion is, I don't think it is the only relevant ‘life’ issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote.’ This reasoning is sound only if other issues carry the same moral weight as abortion does, such as in the case of euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes. ... National Right to Life reports that 48.5 million abortions have been performed since 1973. One would be too many. No war, no natural disaster, no illness or disability has claimed so great a price. Even the Church’s just war theory has moral force because it is grounded in the principle that innocent human life must be protected and defended. Now, a person may, in good faith, misapply just war criteria leading him to mistakenly believe that an unjust war is just, but he or she still knows that innocent human life may not be harmed on purpose. A person who supports permissive abortion laws, however, rejects the truth that innocent human life may never be destroyed. This profound moral failure runs deeper and is more corrupting of the individual, and of the society, than any error in applying just war criteria to particular cases. No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people.”

The Church is giving us guidance here on issues of great importance--we need to take this seriously. Do we honestly think that we are better at discerning these matters on our own than the Church is? The Church, which we are part of because we believe (or at least should believe) has the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit to lead us, free of error, in matters of Faith and Morals? If we do not believe this, WHY are we Catholics?

Neither candidate running for President is perfect. But one, Barack Obama, has promised to do more damage to life than we can possibly allow. In his outright failure to protect babies who have survived abortions through his opposition of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, and in his promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as one of his first acts as President, Obama will do far more than just allow abortion to continue in this country. He will promote and expand abortion "rights" to prevent any possible reduction or elimination of abortion--a vote for Obama is a vote for more killing of the unborn. If you do not believe this, I urge you to look for yourself. I wouldn't make this stuff up.

Even if McCain does nothing to actually reverse abortion, he will do far less damage than Obama who has pledged to expand abortion. Obama will take us even further away from protecting the lives of the most innocent and weakest among us, which as Catholics must be our first priority.