American and Catholic

My thoughts:

I could vote Democrat very easily. . . except for one thing. It isn't that I am a one-issue Catholic; it's just that the death of so many babies is such a big issue that it eclipses all other issues when I stand in the voter's box. Until that is resolved, and every life is held sacred, I find it impossible to vote for a candidate who gets some issues right but promises to protect a woman's legal right to abort her unborn baby.

One glance at the Catholic Democrats website http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/ and I realize that I could be persuaded to vote for a Democrat. . . if the candidate was pro-life. I admire their concern for social justice.

But even as I become more Catholic in my approach to the death penalty and immigration issues and poverty and war. . . I become incrementally more aware of the mandate to protect life from conception to natural death. And as long as abortion is legal in the United States, we cannot delude ourselves into thinking that a Democratic platform (that protects a woman's "right" to abort her unborn baby) merits our support.

It is more than insincere to blame "Republican Politics" for abortion numbers and to lay the burden at the feet of the "Bush Recession" when the DNC promises to protect a "woman's right to choose" (to abort her baby). While a downturn in the economy may have some effect on the number of abortions that take place, the economy is not the culprit. If the economy drove the abortion industry, we would have had more abortions during the Great Depression than any time in U.S. history. No, it is a matter of whether or not abortion is protected under law - or whether or not the life of the unborn is protected under the law.

I simply must vote pro-life. And yet, I am not a one-issue Catholic. I am starting to see that my giving (and my writing) must reflect how much I care about social justice and the needs of the poor, both in the United States and throughout the world.

Here's the thing, I don't have to be a Democrat to work for social justice. St. Vincent de Paul Centers, Catholic Charities, Aid to the Church in Need, and CRS (and other Catholic groups that do so much work to help the poor and needy) - well, they have no party affiliation. They accept donations from almost anyone. Contrary to what the DNC wants Americans to believe, pro-life Catholics can promote social justice without voting Democrat. And most of them do.

It is not easy to be American and Catholic. There is no perfect politcal fit for us. Even so, we must become a constituency that represents the unborn.

American and Catholic

If you still haven't read Render Unto Caesar. . .

You probably should read it.

He doesn't tell us to be Democrats. He doesn't tell us to be Republicans. He tells us that "the most powerful 'political' act Catholics can make is to love Jesus Christ, believe in his church, and live her teachings. . ." (73-74).

He goes on to say that we must engage the public square - and even the world.

On poverty, he says that "we can choose to ignore that [Christ told Peter to feed his sheep]. All of the damned do"(37).

On racism and abortion, he says "Catholics who know their faith know that publicly opposing racism and publicly opposing abortion flow from the same Catholic beliefs about the human person" (59).

And on that most difficult question of whether or not a Catholic can vote for a pro-choice candidate when there is a pro-life candidate on the ballot, he says it would have to "be a reason we could, with an honest heart, expect the unborn victims of abortion to accept when we meet them and need to explain our actions - as we someday will" (229-230).

I urge you to get the book. It is full of zingers like these. If you are like me, you won't be able to put the book down and his words will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

If you still haven't read Render Unto Caesar. . .