The Catholic Vote

Monday October 18, 2004

“The Catholic Vote” if there be such at this stage of the game is a mixed bag at best. Many of our bishops seem to be engaging in their usual campaign to get Roman Catholics to vote “conscientiously” which is a euphemism for a ballot for Bush.

Newark Archbishop Myers’ statement in The Wall Street Journal [Wall Street Journal (Eastern Division). New York, NY, Sept. 17, 2004] is an outrageous infringement on the right of ‘serious’ Catholics to differ in good conscience with an official non infallible teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. (There are very few infallible teachings and what few there are deal with core teachings about the Trinity and the divinity of Christ.)

There are many Catholics who are upset enough with a number of Catholic bishops to cast a protest ballot for pro-choice candidates and those who favor stem cell research. Their vote however should not be misunderstood as a vote for abortion or for the use of embryonic cells for research.It is more likely that it will be a ‘veto’ on the bishops’ agenda. I believe they are more impressed with Mario Cuomo’s thinking on the moral evaluation of candidates whose conscience allows them to function within a political system which recognizes a religious plurality within the electorate than they are with the bishops’ rhetoric on the subject.

In fact, I found Mario Cuomo’s observations much more compelling than Kenneth Woodward’s presentation.. [Cf COMMONWEAL Magazine, New York: Sept 24, 2004, Vol. CXXXI, Num 16 ] www.commonwealmagazine.org.

The killing of innocent people in an illegal and unjust war surely is a significant moral issue that rivals any other moral issue on the docket. It is difficult to understand the Holy Father’s acquiescence to “world statesmen” to make the morally right decision about the morality of the war.

Our bishops hold Catholics accountable for how they vote, some under the threat of at least sacramental if not canonical excommunication. It’s too bad they haven’t had the same courage to hold one another accountable for the unconscionable manner in which they mismanaged the sex abuse scandal. I invite you to read the letter which was address to our bishops in connection with “Project Millstone” which may be found on this website under the same title. There are bishops and their advisors who have not told the truth and they have not been held accountable. Make no mistake about it; the abuse scandal remains a ‘life issue’ for many victims. Unless and until there is full accountability, the past remains present!

As a pastor in collaboratin with our parish life ministry, I have attempted to address the abortion issue with hard and soft data. There is no doubt in my mind that abortion is a tragic alternative in any situation. Moreover, recent statitstics indicate that the vast majority of abortions are performed on young women between the ages of 15 to 21. If abortion is a heinous act for any woman, it surely is more so for a child. As with sexual abuse, the full impact of an abortion is usually not felt for years. Nevertheless, abortion is only one life issue. There are numerous others not the least of which is the heinous war in Iraq that is taking innocent lives every day. Cardinal Bernardin came closest to a morally balanced approach to life issues with his use of the term “seamless garment” to express the depth, breadth and width of all life issues including war.

However, in a refreshing departure from the ‘official’ rhetoric of his colleagues, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Tom Gumbleton had this to say in a recent article published in the Detroit Free Press:

“President George W Bush has visited Michigan many times during the campaign, inlcuding a recent visit to Farmington Hills, but he has never stopped in Detroit’s inner city. If he did, he would meet firsthand many men, women and children who have dramatically experienced teh effects of his policies.”

“When Bus travels the country, he often says that he stands ‘for a culture of life in wich every person counts and every being mataters.’ These words resonate deeply with Catholics. But is Bush’s agenda really teh Catholic agenda? Does he really stand for a ‘culture of life’ that recongizes and celebrates the worth of every human being?”

“War: In a ‘culture of life,’ we are called to be peacemakers. Bush, however, chose to pursue a war over the moral objections of hndreds of religious leaders, including Pope John Paul II, the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the leaders of the president’s own Methodist Church….”

“Now, more than 1,000 American soldiers ahve been killed and upward of 7,000 have been injured. The sinful and systematic abuses committed in Iraqi prisons [and those soon to come to llight in Guantanamo] have rocked the oral conscience of our nation and have soiled our credibility in the international community. An estimated 13,000 innocent Iraqis have died as the result of the invasion. All the while, the Bish administration refuses even to tally Iraqui civilian casualties.”

I lost a parishioner and dear friend in the attack on the World Trade Towers. I continue to mourn his loss and the loss of the almost 3,000 other iinnocent victims of that barbaric attack. However, in as much as the connection between that attack and Saddam Hussein has been disproven, could the taking of 13,000 innocent Iraqi lives and over 1,000 of our own American soldiers ever compensate for 9/11?

On the whole, our bishops have lost moral credibility over the past three years if not before. As pastors, they should be encouraging Catholics to be thinking Catholics. They should be the first to gather learned people from both sides of the aisle to listen to a healthy discussion of the issues. Their incessant but selective moralistic statements are less than convincing. When a bishop can’t exercise a little leadership in honoring the request of a mother of a celiac child by demanding that our Church leadership revisit the definition of bread, how can we expect the faithful to listen to their rationale on matters of greater import.

Dialogue seems to have disappeared from the vocabulary of our bishops. Their willingness to dialogue is in direct proportion to their intent to tell Catholics how to think and how to vote.

I recommend for your further readings, Jason Berry’s article, The Power of Purifying Memory’ in the National Catholic Reporter, October 15, 2004 . Here are some excerpts:

“Some bishops have expressed sorrow for the hierarchy’s horrendous behavior. Well, who isn’t sorry? The National Review Board published a lame report that feel back on fraternal correction—bishops must coax their worst members to step down. I don’t know a soul who believes that will happen….”

Abuse issue was bungled from the outset. In their panic in Dallas, they promised more than they knew they could produce. Surely someone in that “knowledgeable” body of bishops knew that Rome would not let them get away with ‘zero tolerance.’ Moreover, their attempt to divert attention from their own complicity in the cover-up and their unwillingness to hold one another accountable resulted in a loss of respect from both conservatives and liberals.

Would that our bishops had used that wonderful opportunity to ‘engage’ victims in a true dialogue. Would that they had opted to remove the garments of governors and put on the garment of Christ the Shepherd.

Catholics are resilient. However, there is an erosion of Catholics from the Catholic table. Our bishops’ concern about VOTF and SNAP and other ‘reform ’ groups is unwarranted. They should be more concerned about the quiet erosion that is taking place among young and old.

As I anticipated, the press have grown weary of the sex scandal and have turned to election news. That is to be expected. However, the issue will not go away until it is resolved justly. My mantra remains as valid today as it was two years ago: “There will be no healing and forgiveness until there is justice. There will be no justice until there is truth. There will be no truth until there is full accountability.” Amen.

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