King Solomon, a great leader in ancient history, was
known and renowned as wise, wealthy, and powerful. God favored Solomon, because Solomon did not
ask for power, prestige, or wealth, rather when he prayed he prayed for “Wisdom
to rule this people, Israel.” (1
Kings 3:4-9) We also heard from today’s
1st reading from the book of Wisdom in which King Solomon’s words
are echoed, “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of
wisdom came to me. I preferred her to
scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her . . .”
(Wisdom 7:7) Great leaders, be they King
David or King Solomon, Caesar Augustus, Constantine, Charlemagne, or our own
George Washington are remembered for their heroism, dedication, and virtue. Today’s leaders look to them for inspiration,
to gain experience, to be wise so that they can rule with justice and wisdom this
vast and numerous people.
It is not just our leaders that need to seek wisdom,
but we too as voters. The great thing
about our nation is that we get to choose whom we want in office, we call this
the democratic process, it is not a direct democracy, i.e. we have an electoral
college and then our elected officials representative (vote) for us – for our
needs, wants – for our good, therefore making us an indirect democracy. Nevertheless we have a say in it. Again, it is just not our politicians who
should pray for wisdom when it comes to governance, but we too should pray for
wisdom to discern the issues and form our conscience and then vote
accordingly.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has
issued a statement on “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” In that document they focus on the issues
that are important to us as a people, many of which are the very fabric of
justice and the Gospel.
As you know, officials of the Church through the
power and permission of the bishop, priests and deacons are to preach on the
issues that are important to us, but we may not endorse any party or candidate,
we for-go that privilege due to enjoying a tax exempt status. Some may believe that is a disadvantage, but
in reality it is an advantage as we can critique all parties, highlighting what
is good and what needs to be addressed.
The USCCB has highlighted many issues central to
Catholics when forming their decision in and how to vote. These are the issues that are at the heart of
our beliefs. I will list the main topics
at the end, but because of time restrictions will only focus on two here and
get to the rest upon my return from vacation.
Under human
life the USCCB mentions the following issues: abortion, euthanasia, cloning,
destruction of human embryos, genocide, torture, direct and intentional
targeting of civilians and terrorism.
As you know the Church according to Sacred
Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium,
abortion for any reason is a grave and serious offense. The respect and dignity of human life from
natural conception to natural death is at the core of our beliefs. Watching last week’s vice-presidential debate
I would like to offer some insight on the issue of abortion.
Both Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan
accept the Church’s teaching on abortion, however, both left themselves a open
to some critique. Let’s start with VP
Biden. He claims that he accepts the
Church’s teaching that human life begins at conception; however he does not
force this belief on others. It is true
we cannot force our beliefs on others, but we as Christians must speak
Truth. St. Paul tells us to, “Preach
the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and
encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Tim 4:2,
NIV) My first duty as a Christian, over
and above any office I may hold is to preach Truth even if it means to be
unpopular, against my political party, or if it means back lash. We are to reproof, correct and admonish one
another when we stray. To say I will not
force my belief on someone else is an easy way out and it allows for relativism
to take hold, i.e. truth is to be determined by the individual according to his
or her own beliefs. As Christians,
however we believe Truth is objective, the same yesterday, today, and forever,
c.f. Heb. 13:8. To be clear, we are NOT
to force beliefs on others but we are to invite them to what we believe is true
and good, and more so if they are Christians.
Congressman Ryan also believes in the Church’s
position, however as running mate to Senator Romney whom he endorses, since he
is his running mate, Senator Romney will allow for abortions in extreme
circumstances, i.e. rape, incest, and to save the mother’s life. Congressman Ryan is in a little bit of a
pickle here, since the Church does not allow abortion under any
circumstance. One might think this cold
and harsh, but direct abortion even to save the mother is still abortion,
however if trying to save the mother the unborn baby dies, that is an indirect
consequence of the medical procedure done to save the mother. Basically, indirect abortion, for lack of
better term, in which the main intention was not to kill the baby but to save
the mother is permissible, the abortion was an indirect consequence of whatever
procedure was necessary to save her. Wow,
that was a mouth full.
In the cases of rape and incest we must make sure
that we reach out to the victim and offer any help we can for healing. I can’t even begin to give you sufficient
answers in how to deal with that, for only pure and total trust in Christ to
bring about a good form that kind of evil can offer the victim maybe even the
slightest of hope and consolation. Life
can be brutal sometimes, because people make horrible choices sometimes. When we comfort the victim - the mother to
keep that child it won’t be a matter of theological discussion that persuades
her, but rather she must see Christ in those who minister to her, and those who
may minister to her could be any one of us.
I want to move on to one other topic of which I have
not spoken yet, and that is capital punishment.
Sometimes this issue gets lost. And
what is ironic is that the same people who protect human life at natural conception
are pro-capital punishment. The teaching
in the Catechism is clear, Capital punishment may only be used by those
societies that cannot protect themselves against an unjust aggressor, for
example, tribal and indigenous peoples who do not have jailing facilities. Since we here in America can protect
ourselves from the unjust aggressor then the means of capital punishment should
not be employed. Here is the quote from
the Catechism.
2267: Assuming that the guilty party's identity and
responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does
not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of
effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to
defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to
such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the
common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the
possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by
rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without
definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the
cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are
very rare, if not practically nonexistent."
You can’t pray the rosary in front of an abortion
clinic to save lives and then want people executed, it does not make sense nor
is it compatible, we teach the respect and dignity of human life from natural conception
to natural death. As always people will
bring up the exceptions and try to make them the rules, for instance, “Father
John are you saying we should not put to death those who commit treason, or
serial killers, rapists, and the world’s worst hardened criminals?” That is correct; if those societies can
protect themselves then they should not employ capital punishment. No one is beyond redemption, “For
God so loved the word that He gave His only begotten son . . .” (Jn
3:16). It does not say, “except for the
worst of sinners,” everyone has the possibility to be forgiven. It seems that one party favors capital
punishment while the other is moving away from it.
What then are we to do as voters, it almost seems
that we must vote for a lesser evil?
Here is the honest truth, there is good in each party, there is also some
things left to be desired – putting it mildly in each party, the question comes down to
which one or which persons are closer to those Truths we believe have been
given to us by God? These truths include
to be free, to pursue happiness, and to be a just society that progresses in
virtue. The decision is ours, it is the
privilege we have as Americans to vote, it is a great responsibility, one that
should not be taken or influenced by party lines, but influenced by the King of
Kings who speaks to our conscience, and be they a President or just the local
priest with his congregation, Christ speaks to us all, what is He saying to us
on these truths?
There are other issues as well please visit the
USCCB at the following website http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/
to better help inform you on the issues that are important to us as Catholics,
the major issues are: Human Life, Family Life, Social Issues, and Global
Solidarity. There are many sub issues
under each of the major ones, please take a look.
FJ
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