Monday, October 18, 2004
On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good
[ I have reservation about Archbishop Raymond Burke's position respecting the war question, in the light of what is know about the present political situation. The Iraq War is an unjustifiable act of evil that causes untold sufferings and tens of thousands of deaths. We know the casualties of American troops already exceed 1000. The Western press seems to have no interest in giving us an accurate accounting of Iraqis death casualties. But for every death of American troop, there can be anywhere between 5 to 50 Iraqis deaths. The American Government, their press, and the American people seem to be oblivious to the number of Iraqis death casualties, as if their nation has had no responsibility over it. The war question should not be trivialised because it has great implication on future acts of "preemptive war", and the growth of Islam terrorism. If I am an American, I will hesitate greatly to vote for George Bush, knowing he is powerless to stop abortions, anyway].
How Should U.S. Catholics Vote in the Elections?
Bishops Focusing Attention on a Critical Question
NEW YORK, OCT. 15, 2004 (Zenit.org)
[...]
In a recent pastoral letter, "On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good," the [Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis] explains the moral principles behind formation of conscience and how a Catholic should approach civic duties.
A summary in the diocesan St. Louis Review outlined key points of the pastoral letter, including:
-- The right to act in accord with conscience presupposes that it is informed with the truth God has inscribed in our hearts and revealed in Scripture. Conscience is the voice of God within us, assisting us to choose good and to avoid evil, in accord with God's law.
-- We are morally bound in conscience to choose government leaders who will serve the common good. The first priority of the common good is the protection of human life, the basis of all other social conditions.
There can never be justification for directly and deliberately taking innocent human life: abortion, destruction of human embryos, euthanasia, human cloning.
Legal recognition of same-sex relationships undermines the truth about marriage and sanctions gravely immoral acts.
For the sake of the common good we must safeguard the good of human life and the good of marriage and family life.
The death penalty and war are different from procured abortion and same-sex "marriage," since these latter acts are intrinsically evil and therefore can never be justified. Although war and capital punishment can rarely be justified, they are not intrinsically evil.
-- To ensure the common good, Catholics have a responsibility to vote for a worthy candidate, because the welfare of the community depends upon the persons elected and appointed to office.
-- It is never right to vote for a candidate in order to promote immoral practices; this is "formal cooperation" in evil.
In some circumstances it is morally permissible for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports some immoral practices while opposing other immoral practices. This is called "material cooperation" and is permissible under certain conditions and when it is impossible to avoid all cooperation with evil, as may well be true in selecting a candidate for public office.
There is no element of the common good that could justify voting for a candidate who also endorses, without restriction or limitation, the deliberate killing of the innocent, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, human cloning or same-sex marriage.
-- If a candidate supports abortion in a limited number of cases, but is opposed otherwise, Catholics may vote for this person. This is not a question of choosing a lesser evil but of limiting all the evil one is able to limit at the time.
In a recent pastoral letter, "On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good," the [Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis] explains the moral principles behind formation of conscience and how a Catholic should approach civic duties.
A summary in the diocesan St. Louis Review outlined key points of the pastoral letter, including:
-- The right to act in accord with conscience presupposes that it is informed with the truth God has inscribed in our hearts and revealed in Scripture. Conscience is the voice of God within us, assisting us to choose good and to avoid evil, in accord with God's law.
-- We are morally bound in conscience to choose government leaders who will serve the common good. The first priority of the common good is the protection of human life, the basis of all other social conditions.
There can never be justification for directly and deliberately taking innocent human life: abortion, destruction of human embryos, euthanasia, human cloning.
Legal recognition of same-sex relationships undermines the truth about marriage and sanctions gravely immoral acts.
For the sake of the common good we must safeguard the good of human life and the good of marriage and family life.
The death penalty and war are different from procured abortion and same-sex "marriage," since these latter acts are intrinsically evil and therefore can never be justified. Although war and capital punishment can rarely be justified, they are not intrinsically evil.
-- To ensure the common good, Catholics have a responsibility to vote for a worthy candidate, because the welfare of the community depends upon the persons elected and appointed to office.
-- It is never right to vote for a candidate in order to promote immoral practices; this is "formal cooperation" in evil.
In some circumstances it is morally permissible for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports some immoral practices while opposing other immoral practices. This is called "material cooperation" and is permissible under certain conditions and when it is impossible to avoid all cooperation with evil, as may well be true in selecting a candidate for public office.
There is no element of the common good that could justify voting for a candidate who also endorses, without restriction or limitation, the deliberate killing of the innocent, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, human cloning or same-sex marriage.
-- If a candidate supports abortion in a limited number of cases, but is opposed otherwise, Catholics may vote for this person. This is not a question of choosing a lesser evil but of limiting all the evil one is able to limit at the time.
[...]
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