The Quandary
for Catholics: Part Three (August 4, 2008)
Sen. Obama's support for the legal permission to kill children in their mother's
wombs is "the 800-pound Gorilla in the room" of this election. It
amounts to clear and unequivocal support for an "intrinsic evil,"
as defined by the Church's Magisterium. In my opinion, there is nothing in Sen.
McCain's policies or background that is the moral equivalent of Sen. Obama's
clear legal backing for this deliberate, life-destroying violation of the dignity
of the human person. It is no defense of Sen. Obama to say that he does not
really want abortions, only "choice." We do not grant every individual
the "choice" to decide what does or does not constitute child abuse,
because the protection of the rights of innocent children is too important a
matter to be left to the whims of every adult. In fact, to defend the right
of the innocent to life is the first and primary purpose of human government
(which is why it is mentioned first in The Declaration of Independence), and
without this right safeguarded, all others are surely in jeopardy (for dead
people cannot exercise any other human rights at all).
As a Catholic, you may, if you wish, conclude that Sen. Obama's other policies
make practical and even moral sense. But a Catholic with a well-formed conscience
will know that our moral values must be prioritized if we are to apply them
wisely to the social order, and the "right to life," as the Church
clearly teaches, must come first. For this reason, after wrestling with this
quandary myself over the past few weeks, and sharing my thoughts with you (my
readers) here in print, there is no longer any doubt in my mind that as things
now stand, if Sen. Obama does not change his mind and heart on the abortion
issue, then I think those who understand and accept the Church's Social Teachings,
with its recognition of human life as an absolute value and priority, simply
cannot support his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election without seriously
violating their conscience.
Election
Quandary for Catholics, Part Two: Health Care (July 29, 2008)
Obama’s plan (while not intending to perhaps) makes a largely socialist
medical care system almost inevitable. This would gradually degrade the health
care of everyone in America. On the other hand, it provides much more immediate
coverage of all of the unemployed and the working poor, who would be able to
find health insurance fairly quickly under the Obama plan, while the McCain
plan (though it moves in a more sensible direction overall) does not go far
enough in its present form, because it leaves at least half of the poor still
out in the cold.
Both morally and practically speaking, I think the whole issue is almost a “wash”
between them — although I think the Obama plan has the edge here, because
the need for more adequate health care for the poor in the US, and especially
for poor children, is clearly urgent (while McCain’s solution seems better
only if pursued further than he has proposed). Catholic Social Teaching, we
must recall, asks us to have a “preferential” concern for the plight
of the poor. Nevertheless, the poorest of the poor, in the sense of “most
helpless and vulnerable” members of our society are unborn children, and
there is certainly nothing here on the health care issue that is the moral equivalent
of Obama’s support for the legal permission deliberately to put those
children to death in their mother’s wombs.
Quandary
for Catholics At Election Time: Part One (July 7, 2008)
An increasing number of Catholics, tired of the shrill and predictable arguments
coming from both the "left" and the "right", and from the
same old voices, are in a quandary over how to approach this US Presidential
election. Professor Robert Stackpole of Redeemer Pacific College tries to help.
To make a prudent judgement, we have to weigh and balance the candidates’
stated positions on the issues of the day, and see whose policies seem to match
the principles of Catholic Social Teaching more closely.
Guest Editorial: McCain's Veep Dilemma: Who Fits the Job Description? (Mar 7, 2008)
A Vote For Huckabee is A Vote For McCain? (Feb 2, 2008)
The Only 'Catholic' On the Ballot: Mike Huckabee? (Jan 29, 2008)
Guest Editorial: Some Catholic Pundits and the Huckabee Campaign (Jan 29, 2008)
Roman Catholic Political Philosophy by James V. Schall, S.J.