. . . (excerpts)
That question is one that I have been asked by the faithful more this year than in any previous election. Recently in a dinner discussion with a group of Catholics, the conversation turned to politics and became vigorous, as some at the table supported Clinton and some Trump. All eyes turned to me and one of them asked, “Archbishop, what do you think?”
First, I shared my aversion for both candidates. Then I said that they need to reflect on the platforms of both parties, with an emphasis on the human life issues. Everyone at the table knew well the teaching of the Church on life and the dignity of life. They knew that Catholics in good conscience cannot support candidates who will advance abortion. All pretty much agreed that, when it comes to life issues, Catholic politicians on both sides of the aisle have put party ideology before their faith and living their faith in the public square.
This is the most important guidance I can give: allow your ongoing personal encounter with Jesus Christ and the Church to guide your political decisions. I say this because we believe that the truth about ourselves and the world we live in is revealed in and through him. Our society suffers and has suffered for quite some time because too few people live an integrated life – one that does not divide “the personal” from “the public.”
This year there are some critical changes to the two major parties’ platforms that some at the dinner were not aware of. Most important is that this year the Democratic party platform calls for the overturning of the Hyde Amendment, a provision that both parties have voted to include in the federal budget and on other spending bills for 40 years. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal taxpayer money from being used for abortion. The platform is aggressively pro-abortion, not only in funding matters, but in the appointment of only those judges who will support abortion and the repealing of the Helms Amendment, which prevents the U.S. from supporting abortion availability overseas. Conversely, the Republican party platform is supportive of the Hyde Amendment and just this year strengthened its support for life by calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, banning dismemberment abortion and opposing assisted suicide.
Our conversation then turned to the understanding of the freedom of religion, the freedom of conscience, and the ability for faith-based organizations like the Church to provide charity through shelters, hospitals, homes for the elderly, etc., without fear of government interference and the existence of a respect for religious values.
In that vein, the subject was raised of the Health and Human Services mandate. This regulation requires the provision of contraceptives, sterilizations and some abortifacients through employer’s health plans. Most surprising to me was that all at the table were practicing Catholics who are involved in their faith, and a couple of them had neither heard of the difficulty the Obama Administration has created for the Little Sisters of the Poor, nor the litigation that has occurred trying to force them to violate their consciences.
Catholic voters must make themselves aware of where the parties stand on these essential issues. The right to life is the most important and fundamental right, since life is necessary for any of the other rights to matter. There are some issues that can legitimately be debated by Christians, such as which policies are the most effective in caring for the poor, but the direct killing of innocent human life must be opposed at all times by every follower of Jesus Christ. There are no legitimate exceptions to this teaching.
The health of our nation depends on a deep respect for human life from the moment of conception until natural death, and the future of our society depends on how we protect that right. If we don’t, eventually we will go the way of Rome and Greece and other great civilizations that have risen and fallen.
Some, both in politics and in the Church, have stated that it is the Church that needs to change her teaching to include abortion, same-sex unions, and even euthanasia. Yet, in faithfulness to Jesus Christ, to the Gospel and to Sacred Tradition, the Church cannot change her teaching on these issues without denying Christ. She would cut herself from the vine and only wither away, as promised by Christ. The further we move away from )Jesus Christ and his teachings, the more will our churches empty.
(snip)
When we fail to do this, the government will step in to fill the void. Indeed, the government will become “god” and impose its beliefs on the citizens. One only needs to look to the Health and Human Service contraceptive mandate, or the attempt by President Obama to force a transgender agenda onto public schools. We may even soon see the federal funding of abortion and the approval of physician-assisted suicide in Colorado. We are witnessing the dictatorship of relativism and the erosion of true freedom. And as Pope Francis often preaches, the devil gets in the mix quickly, especially when people no longer believe in God.(snip)
. . . If you truly live your Catholic faith, you will not find complete alignment with any political party, and that is okay. . . . look at how each party platform supports human life from conception through natural death, the freedom of religion and the freedom of conscience, the family, and the poor. Finally, do vote, as every Catholic has an obligation to participate in the political process.
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What follows now is a remarkable homily, astounding in its plainness, its logic, its essential timeliness and its compassion in truth and Christian teachings. We repost in its entirety the report by Claire Chretien writing at LifeSite News. The entire homily by Father John Lankeit is available here and is something pro-life conservatives should study. For those who may want to listen to it (less than 20 minutes) we have embedded the YouTube rendering followed by the LifeSite News article. We hope you will forward these remarkable statements in every direction.
US priest: Voting for the pro-abort in this election may put ‘your soul…in grave danger’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=881aDDE5qFY
PHOENIX, Arizona, October 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — “Your soul will be in grave danger” if you vote for a candidate and party that are committed to expanding abortion on demand, “especially if you present yourself for Holy Communion after casting such a vote with the full knowledge of what you’re doing,” the rector of the Cathedral of Sts. Simon and Jude said in a homily skewering pro-abortion arguments and informing Catholics of their duty to vote pro-life.
Father John Lankeit, whose diocese is led by Bishop Thomas Olmsted, began his homily explaining that there is an important distinction to be made between social ills and intrinsic evils. He said Catholics may disagree about issues of “prudential judgment” like immigration, racial injustice, the economy, and healthcare, but may never “at any time, under any circumstances” commit, promote, or enable intrinsic evils.
“Suppose a candidate for president promoted a policy that would make it legal for someone to kill a black person if that black person created a hardship for them getting the education they desired,” he said after describing how the two parties differ on affirmative action. “How many of you would be comfortable voting for that candidate?”
“One party favors open borders, the other party favors law and order,” Lankeit said. But “suppose a candidate for president promoted a policy that would make it legal for someone to kill a Hispanic person if the presence of that Hispanic person made it more difficult to pursue one’s career of choice. How many of you would be comfortable voting for that candidate?”
In what many would call a “mic drop” moment, Lankeit told his congregation, “There is a candidate, in this 2016 race for president, who along with that candidate’s political party does, in fact, sanction the killing of blacks and Hispanics in the situations previously described under one particular condition: That that black person or that Hispanic person is still in his or her mother’s womb.”
This candidate and party use euphemisms and “sanitized statements” to mask that they actually believe this, Lankeit said. He then prefaced what he was about to say with a message for post-abortive women that God loves them and they can receive forgiveness and healing.
“God’s mercy is bigger than your sin and your pain. In 10 years of priesthood, I have often been blessed to be the one who gets to welcome back a woman to the merciful embrace of God the Father — take her hand and put it back in the hand of God the Father — after she has admitted to, and repented of, her abortion in the Sacrament of Confession,” he said. “A priest in such a situation has the privilege of assuring the woman that she has never for a single moment lost the love of God the Father, nor her dignity as his beloved daughter of that same God, no matter what she did.”
‘Stupendously deceptive’ to claim economic reform will stop all abortion
It becomes evident that the hypothetical situations about other humans being killed for getting in the way of someone’s education or career are reality “when we consider that a woman can walk into Planned Parenthood and have her baby put to death because she doesn’t want to jeopardize her education or career,” Lankeit said. Those “shocking scenarios described previously are not only possible, not only real, but also among the most common reasons for abortion in America.”
He said if a voter doesn’t know which party and candidate promote abortion on demand up until the moment of birth for any reason funded by taxpayers and promoted abroad, “then you should not even consider voting until you do,” Lankeit instructed his flock. “Ignorance in this area costs millions of babies their lives and jeopardizes the souls of many Catholic voters.”
But “if you do know which candidate and party want to promote and expand abortion, and you still intend to enable them to continue their war on the unborn with your vote, then it is my duty as a priest to tell you that your soul will be in grave danger, especially if you present yourself for Holy Communion after casting such a vote with the full knowledge of what you are doing,” he said.
Lankeit then tackled the common arguments thrown at pro-lifers who oppose abortion.
A tactic of the devil “is to encourage us to make excuses for our participation in very evil activities by appealing to other good things that we support, which we try to convince ourselves somehow cancel the grave evil we choose to participate in,” he said.
But if someone is against innocent people being accidentally killed in war or potentially innocent people being unjustly executed, then he or she must also “necessarily” oppose abortion because “the killing in abortion is neither accidental nor unintended, but always directly willed,” and “in abortion an innocent person is always put to death, and never by mistake.”
It is “hypocrisy of the most extreme kind” to be against war but not abortion, the priest said.
Furthermore, treating abortion as one issue among many “requires that a person pretend not to know what abortion is or what abortion does.”
The claim that a candidate or party will “reduce abortions by improving economic or social conditions, while simultaneously promoting abortion as a right” is “stupendously deceptive,” said Lankeit, noting that economic and social can be conditions can affect a mother’s abortion decision but are not causes.
“If eliminating abortion were merely a matter of economics, or access to healthcare, or other socioeconomic factors, then why do wealthy mothers also abort their children?” he asked.
‘Serious sin of omission’ to not defend life
Priests have a duty to speak out about the issue of abortion, Lankeit said, quoting Scripture. And everyone has “a serious obligation to protect human life,” he continued. “Whoever fails to do this, when otherwise able to do so, commits a serious sin of omission. They jeopardize their own spiritual well-being and are a source of scandal for others. Should they be Catholics, they should not receive Holy Communion.”
“A priest who is more concerned about the state of his people’s souls than they are themselves deserves the esteem of his people for his willingness to speak such difficult truth to them with genuine love—to put the welfare of his people’s souls ahead of his own reputation, popularity, or comfort,” Lankeit said. “Such a priest should receive respect, admiration, and support, rather than their resistance or criticism.”
Lankeit finished his homily with a final bombshell: “So please pray for, thank and encourage the spiritual father that God has appointed for you and who loves you enough to tell you the truth with those challenging words. Because the priest who said these particular words is your bishop — and my bishop.”
The prepared version of Lankeit’s homily can be read in full here.
Here is a collection of recent links from LifeSite News that will engage all Christians of good will.
* Priest: ‘You might not have a church to go to if you don’t vote the right way in November’
* The uncomfortable truth about Christian support for Trump
* Donald Trump has undergone a transformation in recent months that many did not think possible
* Don’t buy Satan’s lies: Only one political party aligns with the Church on the most basic issues
* Fr. Pavone on US election: It’s ‘time for repentance’ over abortion, not just debates
* WATCH: Fr. Pavone on why Catholics can’t sit out the election
* Donald Trump v. Grandma Clinton: What’s Really At Stake? (Michael Matt)
* A refresher on Catholic teaching about abortion for this US election season
* Kansas bishops: Catholics must vote with ‘catastrophe’ of abortion at ‘forefront of their minds’
R Mall
