Faithful
Catholics – Faithful Citizens
- Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, Bishop of the Diocese of Worcester, MA
- Published in The Catholic Free Press (Worcester Diocese), Oct. 1, 2004, at 4
People say the Church is getting itself involved in politics too
much. Well, what do they mean by the Church? The Church does not go into the voter’s booth
and pull the lever or fill out the form—individual Catholics do. Therefore, we bishops, as teachers in the Church,
have a responsibility to teach the faith and the moral implications of the faith. That is to say, we have responsibility to help to
form Catholic consciences.
We do that in a myriad of ways. And
that is the responsibility of the priests and deacons and religious and catechists in the
diocese—they’re an extension of the bishop’s teaching office—they
should help people form their conscience. That
is completely with intention that Catholic voters go into the voting booth and exercise a
well-informed conscience vis a vis some of the political issues of the day.
Is that a violation of the integrity of politics? No.
We have a First Amendment which has two clauses. The first clause is the non-establishment clause
which the founders rightly say that there be no established religion in the United States
as there happened to be in Europe in some countries. The
second part of the clause is the free exercise. And
therefore, people of any religion or no religion are free to exercise their civil rights. And to bring well-informed
conscience into the political process.
So it seems to me that when a Catholic goes into a voting booth or
when a Catholic looks at whom he or she will vote for, that some decisions have to be
made. And if we have a well-informed
conscience, at the heart of that well-informed conscience is the sanctity of human life. And so, if there is someone, if there is a
political candidate who consistently and vocally worked toward the diminution of the
respect for human life—in terms of the abortion issue—if they have consistently
voted for the continued legalization of abortion . . . that should send a red flag up for
the Catholic voter.
Now, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s statement [this summer] was
written in a letter to Cardinal McCarrick, who is the chairman of a committee the bishops
have appointed to look at the relationship between faith and politics. Cardinal Ratzinger made a number of points in that
letter. He said, in the conclusion of the
letter, that “a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil and so
unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a
candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion, and/or
euthanasia.”
The cardinal is saying that if I’m going into that voter’s
booth in November and I’m going to vote for candidate X precisely because he or she
will defend the legality of abortion and I want abortion to be legal, if I as a Catholic
do that, I am cooperating formally, which is to say I agree in the evil that is being done
in my intention, then I am doing something that is seriously morally wrong. And the cardinal says that position, if I had that
evil intent in promoting something as horrendous as the taking of human life through
abortion, if that is my intent in exercising my civil right to vote, then I am not worthy
to present myself for communion.
We live in an imperfect world. Sometimes
there may be two candidates, they may be both Catholics, who are pro-abortion. In that case what’s a voter to do? It seems to me that the cardinal is implying that
if there are two pro-abortion candidates and I want to exercise my civil right to vote,
then I have to weigh what other moral issues they have addressed in their campaign. And see that outside of the pro-abortion point of
view what is morally supportable vis a vis my well-informed conscience. I am not voting for them in any way because they
are pro-abortion, but I may be voting for them because on other issues with moral
implications they have a supportable position.
Based on an interview of Bishop McManus by Raymond L. Delisle,
director of communications for the Worcester Diocese, that was broadcast on public cable
in the Worcester area.
Massachusetts Catholic Conference, http://www.macathconf.org