Right to Be a 1-Issue Voter?

US Bishop Clarifies Reasoning of Pro-life Ballot

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, OCT. 3, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Issues beside abortion should be taken into account when voting, but should not be given the same relevance unless they carry the same level of moral gravity, says the bishop of Scranton.

In a letter to be read at all Masses this weekend in the diocese, Bishop Joseph Martino considers the argument: "As wrong as abortion is, I don't think it is the only relevant 'life' issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote."

The prelate clarifies: "This reasoning is sound only if other issues carry the same moral weight as abortion does, such as in the case of euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes. Health care, education, economic security, immigration and taxes are very important concerns. […] However, the solutions to problems in these areas do not usually involve a rejection of the sanctity of human life in the way that abortion does."

As proof of the point, Bishop Martino said, "Consider this: The finest health and education systems, the fairest immigration laws and the soundest economy do nothing for the child who never sees the light of day. It is a tragic irony that 'pro-choice' candidates have come to support homicide -- the gravest injustice a society can tolerate -- in the name of 'social justice.'"

The 62-year-old bishop went on to say that even the just war theory "has moral force because it is grounded in the principle that innocent human life must be protected and defended."

He continued, "Now, a person may, in good faith, misapply just war criteria leading him to mistakenly believe that an unjust war is just, but he or she still knows that innocent human life may not be harmed on purpose. A person who supports permissive abortion laws, however, rejects the truth that innocent human life may never be destroyed."

The Church's primary task of helping men and women reach salvation means "it is incumbent upon bishops to correct Catholics who are in error regarding these matters. Furthermore, public officials who are Catholic and who persist in public support for abortion and other intrinsic evils should not partake in or be admitted to the sacrament of holy Communion," Bishop Martino added.

Precedents

Bishop Martino concluded by recalling the example of a German bishop who similarly spoke out in defense of the innocent in 1941: He gave a homily condemning the Nazis for killing the mentally ill.

"Should he have opposed the war and remained silent about the murder of the mentally ill? No person of conscience can fail to understand why Bishop von Galen spoke as he did," Bishop Martino said.

And he added: "My dear friends, I beg you not to be misled by confusion and lies. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, does not ask us to follow him to Calvary only for us to be afraid of contradicting a few bystanders along the way. He does not ask us to take up his cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door.

"Recently, Pope Benedict XVI said that 'God is so humble that he uses us to spread his word.' The gospel of life, which we have the privilege of proclaiming, resonates in the heart of every person -- believer and nonbeliever -- because it fulfills the heart's most profound desire.

"Let us with one voice continue to speak the language of love and affirm the right of every human being to have the value of his or her life, from conception to natural death, respected to the highest degree."

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On the Net:

Full text of Bishop Martino's letter: www.zenit.org/article-23793?l=english

Great Love For You

† My Jesus, I understand well that my perfection consists not in the fact that You command me to carry out these great works of Yours — Oh no! — the soul's greatness does not consist in this, but in great love for You (Diary, 984).

† My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God. God never violates our free will. It is up to us whether we want to receive God's grace or not. It is up to us whether we will cooperate with it or waste it (Diary, 1107).

Papal Message to "Humanae Vitae" Congress

"Only the Eyes of the Heart Can Understand the Demands of Great Love"

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 3, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the message Benedict XVI to the participants of the international congress "Humanae Vitae: Current Importance and Prophecy of an Encyclical," which began today at the Catholic University of Rome. The congress was organized by the Pontifical Institute John Paul II for Studies on Marriage and Family and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

* * *

To Monsignor Livio Melina
Director of the "John Paul II" Pontifical Institute
For Studies on Marriage and the Family

I have learned with joy that the Pontifical Institute, of which you are director, and the Catholic University of the "Sacro Cuore" have organized, opportunely, an international congress on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical "Humanae Vitae," an important document which addresses one of the essential aspects of the marital vocation and of the specific path of holiness that follows from it. The spouses, in fact, having received the gift of love, are called to become in turn gift to one another without reservations. Only thus the acts proper and exclusive to the spouses are really acts of love that, while uniting them in one flesh, build a genuine personal communion. Hence, the logic of the totality of the gift configures conjugal love intrinsically and, thanks to the sacramental effusion of the Holy Spirit, becomes the means to realize in one's life a genuine conjugal charity.

The possibility to create a new human life is included in the integral donation of the spouses. If, in fact, every form of love tends to spread the fullness of which it lives, conjugal love has its own form of communicating itself: the generation of children. Thus not only is it similar to, but it participates in the love of God, who wills to communicate himself by calling human persons to life. To exclude this communicative dimension through an action directed to prevent procreation means to deny the profound truth of spousal love, with which the divine gift is communicated: "If one does not wish to expose to the free will of men the mission to generate life, insurmountable limits must necessarily be recognized to the possibility of man's dominion over his own body and its functions; limits that no man, both private as well as invested with authority, can licitly infringe" ("Humanae Vitae," 17). This is the essential nucleus of the teaching that my venerated predecessor Paul VI addressed to spouses, and that the Servant of God John Paul II, in turn, reaffirmed on many occasions, illuminating its anthropological and moral foundation.

At a distance of 40 years since the publication of the encyclical, we can better understand how decisive this light is to understand the great "yes" that conjugal love implies. In this light, children are no longer the object of a human project, but recognized as a genuine gift to receive, with an attitude of responsible generosity before God, first source of human life. This great "yes" to the beauty of love certainly entails gratitude, both of the parents on receiving the gift of a child, and of the child himself on knowing that his life has its origin in such great and receptive love.

It is true, on the other hand, that in the path of the couple there can be grave circumstances which make it prudent to delay the birth of children or even suspend it. And it is here that knowledge of the natural rhythms of the woman's fertility become important for the life of the spouses. The methods of observation, which allow the couple to determine the periods of fertility, allow them to administer all that the Creator has widely inscribed in human nature, without disturbing the integral meaning of sexual donation. In this way, the spouses, respecting the full truth of their love, will be able to modulate its expression in conformity with these rhythms, without taking away anything from the totality of the gift of themselves that the union of the flesh expresses. Obviously, this requires maturity in love, which is not immediate, but which needs reciprocal dialogue and listening and a singular control of the sexual impulse on a path of growth in virtue.

In this perspective, knowing that the congress is also taking place at the initiative of the Catholic University of the "Sacro Cuore," I am also pleased to express my particular appreciation for all that this university institution does in support of the Paulus VI International Scientific Research Institute on Human Fertility and Infertility for a Responsible Procreation (ISI), presented to my unforgettable predecessor, Pope John Paul II, hoping in this way to give an institutionalized answer, so to speak, to the appeal made by Pope Paul VI in No. 24 of the encyclical "to the men of science."

ISI's task, in fact, is to make progress of the methods both of natural regulation of human fertility as well as the natural overcoming of infertility. Today, "thanks to the progress of biological and medical sciences, man can make use of ever more effective therapeutic resources, but also obtain new powers of unforeseeable consequences on human life from its very beginning and its first stages" (Instruction "Donum Vitae," 1). In this perspective, "Many researchers are engaged in the fight against sterility. While fully safeguarding the dignity of human procreation, some have achieved results which previously seemed unattainable. Scientists therefore are to be encouraged to continue their research with the aim of preventing the causes of sterility and of being able to remedy them so that sterile couples will be able to procreate in full respect for their own personal dignity and that of the child to be born" (Instruction "Donum Vitae," 8). This is precisely the end that the Paul VI ISI and other similar centers intend to do with the support of the ecclesiastical authority.

We can ask ourselves, how is it possible that today the world, and also many of the faithful, find so much difficulty in understanding the message of the Church, which illustrates and defends the beauty of conjugal love in its natural manifestation? Certainly, the technical solution, also in important human questions, often seems to be the easiest, but in reality it conceals the fundamental question, which refers to the meaning of human sexuality and to the need for responsible self-control, so that its exercise can become the expression of personal love.

On the contrary, as we well know, not even reason is sufficient: It is necessary that the heart see. Only the eyes of the heart can understand the demands of great love, able to embrace the totality of the human being. Because of this, the service that the Church offers in its marriage and family pastoral care must be able to direct couples to understand with the heart the wonderful design that God has inscribed in the human body, helping them to accept all that is entailed in a genuine path of maturing.

The congress you are holding represents, because of this, an important moment of reflection and attention for couples and for families, offering the fruit of years of research, both on the anthropological and ethical part as on the strictly scientific part, in regard to truly responsible procreation. In the light of this I cannot but congratulate you, hoping that this work will bring abundant fruits and contribute to support spouses with ever-greater wisdom and clarity on their path, encouraging them in their mission of being, in the world, credible witnesses of the beauty of love.

With these wishes, while I invoke the help of the Lord on the development of the congress, I send all a special apostolic blessing.

In the Vatican, Oct. 2, 2008

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Right to Be a 1-Issue Voter?

Dairy from St. Faustina

On Sanctity, Holiness

Great Love For You

Papal Message to "Humanae Vitae" Congress