Life Month

Dear Friends in Christ,

October is respect life month. As followers of Christ we are called to respect human life at all of its stages. Jesus showed great respect for all persons. He welcomed little children. He comforted the elderly widow and restored her son to life. He healed the blind man and the paralyzed man. He had a real sense of the value of human life. As the Creator He sought to preserve, protect and restore his creation.

The book of Genesis tells us that when God created Adam and Eve He gave them dominion over the material world. They became stewards of the gift of life. While human beings are responsible for all creation, they are especially charged with protecting human life. In the complementary relationship of marriage, man and woman become one for the sake of mutual love and so that children may be born through that love. Every human being possesses an immortal soul, destined for eternal life with God. Every human life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death.

As we begin to finalize our decisions in the coming election, we may find ourselves faced with a dilemma. We like a certain candidate, but we are aware that he/she is in favor of abortion. Can we vote for this person in good conscience? In 2004 a group of United States Bishops, acting on behalf of the USCCB and requesting counsel about the responsibilities of Catholic politicians and voters, received a memo from the office of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope
Benedict XVI, which stated:

“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. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.”

In other words, the reasons are more compelling in the moral sense. Could a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports legalized abortion when there is a choice of another candidate who does not support abortion or any other intrinsically evil policy? Could a voter’s preference for the candidate’s positions on the pursuit of peace, economic policies benefiting the poor, support for universal health care, a more just immigration policy, etc. overcome a candidate’s support for legalized abortion?

In such case, the Catholic voter must ask and answer the question: What could possibly be a proportionate reason (more compelling reason) to vote for a candidate that supports abortion when we consider the more than 45 million children killed by abortion in the past 35 years? Let us pray for those seeking public office; let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as we make our decision this November 4.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand