In this election year it will be good to remind ourselves of those issues that are "non-negotiable." From the Holy Father's speech to the European Peoples Party on March 30, 2006:"As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable. Among these the following emerge clearly today:
- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;
- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defence from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;
- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.
These principles are not truths of faith, even though they receive further light and confirmation from faith; they are inscribed in human nature itself and therefore they are common to all humanity. The Church’s action in promoting them is therefore not confessional in character, but is addressed to all people, prescinding from any religious affiliation they may have. On the contrary, such action is all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, because this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, a grave wound inflicted onto justice itself."
3 comments:
What is an orthodox Catholic to do? The most conservative candidate, Mitt Romney, suspended his candidacy today. On the conservative and pro-life side, that leaves John McCain, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.
Ron Paul is wrong on nearly all of the issues, in my opinion, with the exception of his pro-life stand. Mike Huckabee is not a fiscal conservative, but is right on many of the social issues, including life. John McCain isn't really a conservative, but - like Romney - he is also in favor of HESCR, which means he supports some forms of abortion. Yet McCain is a baptized Catholic. Will the bishops and/or his priest withhold communion?
I don't want to vote for any of these candidates, but if I don't vote that's essentially a vote for Clinton or Obama, which in my view, is far, far worse.
There may very well be no good choices for President in November. As far as I can see, that means I will end up voting for the lesser of two evils, if only to prevent the greater evil from gaining the Presidency.
Perhaps the saddest part of all of this is that there is no Christian candidate currently running which reflects the range of conservative values, from fiscal conservatism to pro-life/pro-family values to a strong anti-illegal immigration policy.
What's an orthodox Catholic to do?
Phoenix:
What's an Orthodox catholic to do? Pray!
I too would have preferred another candidate. But not one met my full criteria. But Life & Family issues are my voting benchmarks, and on these there is just no comparison between the three remaining candidates.
Check out the National Right to Life Committee "Life Issues" chart:
http://www.nrlc.org/Election2008/allcandidatescomparison.pdf
Two of the candidates are wrong on every issue. The third is right on every issue, but wrong on ESCR; but in concrete terms that issue may have been pushed aside by the recent advances with adult stem-cell research.
I agree with your last paragraph, but I say let's do what we can with what we've got & remember tomorrow is another day.
BTW, I believe McCain is not Catholic, but Episcopalian.
I stand corrected. McCain was baptized Christian as an Episcopalian, but in the 1990s began to attend a Baptist church. With all that's been going on in the Episcopal church, I cannot say that I am surprised.
And, yes, pray!
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