Election Day
CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter
November 1, 2004
The Feast of All Saints
**********************************************
Dear Friend,
First, I hope you had an enjoyable Halloween. Ours was fun... for a
while. Zoe and I sat on our front steps with a big bowl of candy and
enjoyed watching the children come by in their costumes.
Unfortunately, we had more kids than we expected, and by 7pm, we'd
run out of sweets. It got so bad, that we had to turn the lights off
and hide in our house to escape the mob of angry children. A word to
the wise: You can't reason with a sugar-addled Fairy Princess.
But I'm not writing to tell you about that. Tomorrow is election
day, and I need to get you caught up on a couple things that happened
over the weekend.
First, the good news. Another bishop has taken a public stand for
the Catholic Faith (and can now likely expect an IRS complaint from
Frances Kissling). The Sunday parish bulletins of the Diocese of
Arlington, Virginia, carried a powerful letter by Bishop Paul S.
Loverde. In it, Loverde does not hold back:
"To be a faithful Catholic necessarily means that one is pro-life
and not pro-choice... To be pro-choice essentially means supporting
the right of a woman to terminate the life of her baby, either
pre-born or partially born. No Catholic can claim to be a faithful
member of the Church while advocating for, or actively supporting,
direct attacks on innocent human life."
He goes on to dash a flimsy but all-too-common argument used by
dissenters to justify support for pro-abortion candidates [I don't
usually like to print long quotes, but the next section is just too
good to pass up]:
"...Some have wondered whether one may vote for a candidate whose
stand on abortion and other life issues is contrary to the teaching
of the Church if one believes that that candidate has a better
position on other issues of importance to Catholics and indeed to our
nation (e.g., national security, taxation, job growth, economic
policy, etc.).... Proportionate reason does not mean that each issue
carries the same moral weight; intrinsically evil acts such as
abortion or research on stem cells taken from human embryos cannot be
placed on the same level as debates over war or capital punishment,
for example. It is simply not possible to serve and promote the
common good of our nation by voting for a candidate who, once in
office, will do nothing to limit or restrict the deliberate
destruction of innocent human life."
I recommend you read the full letter -- it's fairly short. You can
find it here:
http://www.catholicherald.com/loverde/2004homilies/election1028.htm
That was, as I said, the good news. Now for the bad... or at least,
the outrageous...
In a Thursday interview with Univision -- the popular
Spanish-language cable network -- Senator John Kerry dropped a bomb.
According to the Catholic News Agency, when the interviewer stated,
"Some sectors of the Catholic Church are concerned because you
support abortion and therefore you would be going against its
teachings," Kerry replied, "I am against abortion."
He clarified a moment later, saying he was "in favor of the right to
choose." Nevertheless, the claim that he's "against abortion" in
any
way is simply ridiculous. Recall, this is the same John Kerry who
said at last year's NARAL Pro-Choice America dinner:
"I think that tonight we have to make it clear that we are not going
to turn back the clock. There is no overturning of Roe v. Wade...
There is no outlawing of a procedure necessary to save a woman's life
or health and there are no more cutbacks on population control
efforts around the world. We need to take on this President and all
of the forces of intolerance on this issue. We need to honestly and
confidently and candidly take this issue out to the country and we
need to speak up and be proud of what we stand for."
So we are to believe that John Kerry is both "against abortion" and
"proud" to "stand for" abortion?
What do you think is more believable: That John Kerry is actually
able to balance these positions on the high wire of his mind? Or do
you think it's more likely that Kerry will simply say whatever he
thinks it'll take to get elected tomorrow?
Best to you,
Brian
***** LEARN THE REAL CAUSE OF THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH *****
Sex abuse scandals... irreverent liturgies... homosexuality in the
seminaries... liberal theology preached from the pulpit...
You know all about the crisis in the Church. But you've never heard
the full story. When did the collapse in the Church occur... and what
REALLY caused it?
Fr. Benedict Groeschel knows. He was there when it happened... 10
years BEFORE Vatican II.
What he saw will surprise you.
Click here to learn more:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/products.htm
[Cut and paste into your browser if the link isn't active]
**************************************************************
To subscribe to the FREE CRISIS Magazine e-Letter, and get the
latest
news, views, and responses to current issues, send an e-mail to
e-letter@crisismagazine.com and
write "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject
line.
**************************************************************
To learn more about CRISIS Magazine, visit
http://www.crisismagazine.com/subscribe.htm
**************************************************************
If you no longer wish to receive the CRISIS e-Letter, please send an
e-mail to mail@crisismagazine.com
and write "CANCEL" in the subject
line.
**************************************************************
To change your e-mail address, please send an e-mail to
mail@crisismagazine.com with
"ADDRESS CHANGE" in the subject line.
Please make sure to tell us your old and new e-mail addresses, so we
can
make the change.
**************************************************************
Please forward this letter to anyone you think might benefit from
it.