VOTER'S GUIDE FOR SERIOUS CATHOLICS

   

 VOTER'S GUIDE FOR SERIOUS CATHOLICS

In pursuit of the truth - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016

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Issues That Are Not Non-Negotiable:

"Pope Benedict XVI, when he was still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, spoke of this in a document dealing with when Catholics may receive Communion: "Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion.

While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regards to abortion and euthanasia." (WRHC 3)

 

How This Voter's Guide Helps You: Excerpts

But some issues concern "non-negotiable" moral principles that do not admit of exception or compromise.... Ad the Holy See has pointed out: "Democracy must be based on the true and solid

foundation of non-negotiable ethical principles, which are the underpinning of life in society. CPL3

 

You should avoid to the greatest extent possible voting for candidates who endorse or promote intrinsically evil policies. As far as possible, you should vote for those who promote policies in line with moral law. ... Citizens will be called to make tough choices. In those cases, citizens must vote in the way that will most limit the harm that would be done by the available candidate. ...

 

Your Role As a Catholic Voter:

Catholics have a moral obligation to promote the common good through the exercise of their voting privileges (CCC 2240). ... But voting cannot be arbitrary. "A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals" (CPL 4)... Catholics must avoid voting for any candidate who intends to support programs or laws that are intrinsically evil.

 

The Five Non-Negotiable Issues:

1. Abortion: The unborn child is always an innocent party, and no law may permit the taking of his life.

 

2. Euthanasia: Often disguised in the name of "mercy killing," euthanasia is also a form of homicide... In euthanasia, the ill or elderly are killed, by action or omission, out of misplaced sense of compassion, but true compassion cannot include intentionally doing something intrinsically evil to another person. (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 4)

 

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)

 

5. Homosexual "Marriage":  True marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Legal recognition of any other 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... To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral" (UHP) 10).

 

A. Religious Liberty: To combat the assaults on religious liberty, Pope Benedict called for "an engaged, articulate, and well-formed Catholic laity ... with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would de-legitimize the Church's participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society" (Jan. 19, 2012). ...

 

GEORGE H. KUBECK