Have you ever found yourself criticizing "Washington elites," "media bias" or complaining to friends: "if only the Bishops would do more?" While these gripes may be valid at times, the real question that must be asked is: "what am I doing to change our culture?"
We are living during a critical moment in history - a time when people of faith, and the moral beliefs we hold sacred are under attack like never before. Thus some might wonder whether the prayer and work of millions of people can really change our country and the world. If you find yourself skeptical, you need not look far - so were many early Christians! Every day you encounter people, whether at work, at the office or store, (even on Facebook!), you can make a difference. We must pray, sacrifice, and work without reservation, like never before. And always as a people of hope. Remember, it's contagious.
Ask yourself; do I really believe I can make a difference? If your answer is yes, then let's get to work.
Bishop Thomas Olmstead of Phoenix has written: "The separation of Church and state all too often is used as an excuse to silence people of faith and to discourage them from legitimately participating in the public square. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, of course, does not advocate for a separation of Church and state at all, but rather the protection of religious freedom from the state."
The opinions and views of religious people are more important today than ever before. Furthermore, our arguments need not be "religious" to be taken seriously. Our voice matters because it is true.
Don't let others muzzle your right to free speech. Get active and stay involved. It's your country too.
Abortion is sadly one of the most common surgical procedure in America today. For CatholicVote.org and tens of millions of Americans, the right to life is the greatest civil rights issue of our day. Pope John Paul the Great put it succinctly when he said: "the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination."
Many religious people believe this to be a tragedy but they argue that they cannot impose their views on others. Yet these same people are quite happy, and rightly so, to impose their views on slavery, racism and torture on everyone. Is the right to life any less important?
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver recently said: "When Catholics oppose abortion, for example, they do so not because of some special Catholic religious doctrine or simply because the church says so. Rather, the Church teaches abortion is wrong because it already is. Abortion violates the universal natural law by abusing the inherent human rights of the unborn child."
Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph said: "The constant magnitude of this crime against humanity is staggering. We must never get used to it. In the United States there are 4000 abortions every day. Compare that to the tragedy of September 11, or to any other war, or even to the genocidal Holocaust of six million Jews and many others under the Nazi regime.... Thousands of human lives every day: If we keep saying this - first of all - some people will get very upset with us. They will want us to stop. They may quote other statistics about the tragedies of poverty and war. We must truly share their horror at these things too. However, in the end the measure of our society is in how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst. The unifying thread is 'the value of human life and the dignity of the human person.'"
Each human person is unique and created in the image of God, possessing a special dignity that requires our respect and the protection of the law. Human persons come into the world through an act of love between a man and woman. This love is made permanent in marriage between one man and one woman, and has been affirmed throughout history as the institution best suited to raise children and serve the common good. Social science and plain common sense tells us this unique partnership between a man and a woman is best for children, and essential for society.
Throughout human history, we have rooted our lives in the family. The family is the basic unit of society and strengthening family life is the surest way to make positive changes in every area of our culture. From reducing poverty to stewardship of the earth, the renewal of the family is essential.
Pope John Paul II said it best: "It is necessary to go back to seeing the family as the sanctuary of life. The family is indeed sacred: It is the place in which life-the gift of God-can be properly welcomed and protected against the many attacks to which it is exposed, and can develop in accordance with what constitutes authentic human growth. In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life."
Imagine you have to hire an employee. The person you select is intelligent, productive, and a joy to work with. Then you discover that he was proudly and publicly in favor of slavery. It wouldn't matter if he were your most effective salesman. You wouldn't want anyone representing you that holds such abhorrent views on the dignity of the human person. Some things are always wrong, no matter the circumstances.
The Catholic Church has taught that those things that are wrong, in every circumstance, are intrinsically evil, and can never be supported by a Catholic voter or Catholic elected official. Issues that the Church teaches are intrinsically evil include: abortion, embryo-killing stem cell research, homosexual marriage, and infringements on the rights of conscience and religious freedom.
Questions concerning how to best solve issues of poverty, health care, the environment, and the economy are not the same, and are open to prudential debate. Catholics can freely debate and disagree on the right solutions to these important questions, but they may not disagree on issues that are intrinsically evil.
Speaking before European political leaders on March 30, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI explained:
"As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her intervention in the public area is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable. Among these the following emerge clearly today: protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death; Recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage,... the protection of the rights of parents to education their children."
Living the Gospel of Life http://www.usccb.org/prolife/gospel.shtml
Catholics in the Public Square (booklet for purchase) http://www.basilicapress.com/olmsted.htm
Render Unto Caesar by Archbishop Charles Chaput (book available for purchase) http://www.amazon.com/Render-Unto-Caesar-Catholic-Political/dp/0385522282
Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae by Pope John Paul II http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html
Selected Quotes from His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and the USCCB http://www.usccb.org/prolife/tdocs/popebquotes2008.shtml
