Bridging the Gap: For God's sake: Vote!
Caution: In this article, it is not my intention to tell you for whom to vote in either the presidential, senatorial or local elections.
Unlike Barbra Streisand, Jon Bon Jovi, Whoopie Goldberg or Bruce Willis, you won't find me telling you for whom to vote.
Unlike other denominations, who seem to escape any notice from the IRS, you have neither seen nor heard a candidate advance their cause for office from a pulpit in the Catholic Church.
Once again, it is not my intention to tell you for whom to vote in the upcoming elections.
What is my intent in this article is to encourage you. FOR GOD'S SAKE: VOTE!
Ever since 1960, when I was an 11-year-old sixth grader, I have avidly followed political campaigns in local, state and national elections. Never, in the course of those 44 years, have I seen a campaign as heated or as divergent or as critical as the current one. All the more reason why I must urge you. FOR GOD'S SAKE: VOTE!
Of the many issues that have dominated the newsprint and airwaves during the campaign season, one that has received considerable attention is that of the candidates' faith, what faith means to them, how they perceive their faith lived.
In this reflection, as your Bishop, as the chief teacher of the faith in our diocese, I draw your attention to the issues of faith - our Catholic faith - and the importance of taking our faith with us as we vote, just as it is important for us to bring our faith to all that we do.
Some political figures in this election, and in previous political forays, have asserted that there is a natural divide between their religious beliefs and their political views. Others have suggested that such a position is appropriate for the electorate as well. I argue that both positions are patently false. Both positions go against the fabric of what it means to be a person of faith.
• Faith is meant to be lived.
• Faith integrates our life with God.
• Genuine faith must be evident in all aspects of life - in our work, in our homes, in our churches and in our politics as well.
Last June, when the bishops gathered together in Denver, Col., for our annual spring meeting, one of the issues we dealt with was the need to encourage our faithful - each and all of you - to bring our faith to your vote.
In the public statement the bishops wrote on that issue, we emphasized the following:
"Catholics who bring their moral convictions into public life do not threaten democracy or pluralism but enrich them and the nation. The separation of church and state does not require division between belief and public action, between moral principles and political choices, but protects the right of believers and religious groups to practice their faith and act on their values in public life."
In the current campaign, there are a number of issues being debated that call into question essential teachings of the Catholic Church: "Human life and human dignity; marriage and family; war and peace; the needs of the poor and the demands of justice."
The one issue which occupies center stage, not only in this political campaign but in the culture of our day is the issue of LIFE. From the very beginning of creation, God Himself declared life as sacred. However, since 1973, we citizens of the United States have been given the false illusion that, because a court in our land said so, LIFE is a matter of CHOICE! Because a court in our land said so, abortion is a practice licensed on demand.
The Catholic Church, teaching on God's declaration that life is sacred, re-emphasizes again and again, over and over again, that all life is sacred.
The panorama of life issues includes world poverty, warfare, capital punishment, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, the very institution of marriage among others.
But pre-eminent among the life issues are abortion and euthanasia. We, as Catholics, hold the belief that the killing of an unborn child by abortion or the killing of a vulnerable individual by euthanasia is always intrinsically evil and can never be justified - not by a Supreme Court, nor by an act of Congress, nor by the President. The right to life is the most basic of all rights of nature and cannot in justice be obliterated by any human law.
As you and I make our way toward Election Day, Nov. 2, I urge you: FOR GOD'S SAKE: VOTE!
• When you go to your local polls, don't leave God outside. Take with you a renewed understanding of how God views life; "God created male and female, in the divine image He created them" and "found them to be very good." (Gen 1:27, 31)
• When you go to your local polls, don't leave God outside Take with you the belief that God is the Creator of all life and not some scientist who promises to create life, only in the end to kill life.
• When you go to your local polls, don't leave God outside. Remember that God created marriage and "that is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body" (Gen 2:24) and not a lifestyle choice that seeks to make marriage by law something God never intended marriage to be.
• When you go to your local polls, don't leave God outside. Know what our beliefs as Catholics are and vote with an educated conscience.
FOR GOD'S SAKE: VOTE!
This item 6215 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
