The post prior to this deals with the matter of examining this election in light of Catholic moral teaching. A comment to that post seems to take exception to what I wrote. One line stands out, citing "an erroneous use of Catholic doctrine to try and put pressure on people to vote for Trump". Would it be an erroneous use of Catholic doctrine to pursuade people not to vote for Hillary? This question of mine is not merely rhetorical, especially since Hillary has chosen a pro-abortion Catholic as her running mate and will be likely to snag the votes of many liberal Catholics as did Obama.
This election is not the first one in which "purer than thou" misguided Catholics have decided to shirk their civic duties and stay home, not accepting that the GOP candidates, while far from perfect, were many times more preferable to their rabidly anti-God Democratic opponents. Long-time readers of this blog will recall that I attempted, during those times, to examine that stance, and voting in general, through the lens of Catholic moral theology. I've no doubt that my attempts may well have contained some mistakes, but to the best of my knowledge, I was the only one who attempted such examination - at least openly.
Common sense dictates that matters such as exercise of the voting right/responsibility are so weighty as to warrant such examination and discussion. I realize that many clergy might be inclined to shy away from it for fear of jeopardizing that all-too-important "c3" status. By the way: did we all pick up what Trump said about repealing that onorous Johnson amendment?
Therefore I was delighted to see Father West's post on facebook - the one I copied into my Wednesday post. Father Guarnizo believes that Father West's logic was "atrocious" but cited no reasons for his assertion. I for one find no problem with Father West's reasoning, and it seems other commenters agree. I'm grateful to Father West for taking a stab at looking at this election through the lens of moral theology.
As far as using doctrine to pursue a Trump vote, might it simply be that the application of Catholic moral principles make the truly moral course of action to be as plain and clear as the nose on one's face? Sometimes there is only one moral path to take, leaving no "wiggle room". To those who balk at such a suggestion, I can only say "tough tiddly-winks". The situation is what it is. Deal with it.
For those #nevertrump folks who still insist on digging in their heels and denying reality, I now link to some food for thought by Gerard Nadal. If this shoe fits, please amend that.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
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Any person calling themselves "Catholic" who votes pro abortion is on the path to Hell. Real men defend the innocent.
ReplyDeletebarry sotero the current occupant of 1600 voted against the Born Alive Infant Act in Illinois ----and this was NEVER pointed out from the pulpits. And over 50% of 'c'atholics voted for the abortionist in chief not once but twice Now we will have another VP just like Biden who approves, to say nothing of 'that woman'. Will NOT vote dem.
ReplyDeleteStrange to me that Fr. Guarnizo seemed to take the somewhat progressive 'Catholic' view of voting morally. Maybe they sent him to a 're training' camp after he so faithfully held up to true Catholic doctrine. Nothing would surprise me (and I mean NOTHING) with these progressive prelates. Very uncharacteristic of him, it seems to me.
ReplyDeleteBut indeed, I am with Mike Poulin.......any so called 'Catholic' who votes pro abortion isn't headed on the right road to salvation. I miss Fr. Corapi; we need to hear his famous mantra......."There is such a thing as objective truth."
Whatever else it is, it is NOT progressive. Many folks who are conservative echo Father's words: they don't believe Trump to be pro-life enough so he's not worthy of their vote. They depart from reality, not accepting that their rhetoric is simply destructive and can only aid Hillary's bid for office.
DeleteIndeed, they either don't realize that a 'non Trump' vote is to vote for Hillary (although I doubt that they are that mindless) or they really don't care how far down the rabbit hole we go if the party of death wins. (pride and false justification going on here) Common sense tells a true Catholic that to vote for the 'lesser' of two evils is the only way to go. I think it's terribly ironic that Mike Pence is vocally and states publicly he is pro life and he's not even Catholic, and Tim Kaine says he's 'personally' pro life but upholds the right for women to 'choose'. So in essence.......who's the real Catholic here? We need to pray for Mike Pence to convert to Catholicism, he is much closer to conversion than Time Kaine is authentically Catholic. Strange times we live in. And yes, Leon, you are spot on......Trump supports religious liberty, where Hillary supports enslavement. To me it's a no brainer. Personally, I don't care for Trump's bombastic and sometimes crude nature, but he will get my vote regardless. It's the issues that matter, not the personality. The last two elections, people voted for a 'rock star' charismatic President, so we are experiencing in real time how far THAT got the country! Charisma and personality DOES NOT translate into a good leader. The really really scary proof that this country is in mucho trouble is the fact that young college age kids LOVE what Bernie Sanders stands for. They have absolutely NO IDEA how dangerous his socialist/communist ideas are. Very telling in regard to our 'higher education' and just how 'educated' these kids are!!.......NOT!!!
DeleteI read that Mike Pence was raised Catholic (Irish Catholic family with 5 siblings) and served as an altar boy. He started attending a nondenominational mega church in college and had started dating his now wife who also attended the same church. He has thankfully held the pro life position and in that regard is more Catholic than Kaine. The choice of pro life Pence as a running mate is a huge plus for voting for Trump.
DeleteAfter watching last week's Trump convention, my attempt to put this election year into a one-sentence focus is:
ReplyDeleteNeither Trump nor Hilary are God centered, however, Trump accepts people with their beliefs and wants to empower them, while Hilary is out to change what people believe and enslave them.