Thank you, I thought this a good and direct sermon in general, but I believe you stated our voting responsibility very poorly (just after the 8 minute mark):
“But since we don’t live in a perfect world, and there’s no such thing as a politician that perfectly reflects the Church’s teaching on life, well then we must choose the lesser of two evils. We must support candidates who most closely reflect the truth about abortion.”
This comes across more like Republican Party propaganda than authentic Church teaching. We must never choose evil. (I understand that we may vote for a candidate in spite of his or her advocacy of evil policies as long as we continue to work against those policies, but that’s not what you said.) Since the 2010 elections are almost upon us, rather than carrying on here, I ask that you create a new post on the topic so we can carry on the discussion on the home page.
Have at it.
3 comments:
I was hoping you or someone else would go first.
1. Here is the Bishop of Fargo's pastoral letter for voters, politicians and public servants:
http://www.ewtn...truthfre.htm
Paragraphs 35 and 36 are particularly relevant.
2. Here is the USCCB's guide "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship":
http://www.vacatholic...Approved_1.pdf
Paragraphs 34 through 37 are particularly relevant.
3. Here is a brief statement from the bishops of Virginia summarizing the USCCB statement:
http://vacatholic...-2008_000.pdf
4. Here is one biblical injunction (1 Pt. 3:9) against repaying evil with evil:
http://www.usccb...1peter3.htm#v9
5. Here is the Catechism (1789) statement against committing evil hoping good will result: http://www.vatican...p3s1c1a6.htm#1789
This comment seems to imply that when faced with two (or more) candidates who fall well short of the Church's ideal, we should not vote at all?
I couldn't disagree more on that point. By not voting, we are still making a choice. In this case we are choosing to sit back and allow others to elect whomever they decide. This can (and many times does) lead to the election of the greater of the two evils.
No, when faced with an inevitable outcome (in this case, one of the candidates WILL be elected whether we do anything or not), we absolutely must choose the lesser of the two evils.
I quit.
I have self-imposed deadline of October 4th for quitting any on-line discussion that would draw me into one of these pointless arguments in which no one ever changes their mind, and that day is upon me now.
FWIW, you did me no disservice, but AG clearly needs your guidance and correction, and maybe some parishioners in South Dakota who heard the original homily might need some clarification from you as well.
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