Bishop Finn does everything but name Obama

American Papist ^ | October 16, 2008 | Thomas Peters

[NYer]

In his upcoming column for the Catholic Key, Bishop Finn responds to the question "Can a Catholic vote, in good conscience, for a candidate who supports abortion?" He says he is asked this question "over and over again", and this is his response.

(You will remember, at the outset, that Bishop Finn co-authored this excellent pastoral letter along with Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City. Finn made it into AmP's '06 coverage: Everyone Loves Bishop Finn - "and with good reason!" I added at the time.)

First of all, Finn explains that a politician who seeks the Catholic vote on an issue in which he opposes the Church is doing something very wrong:

"I must say that there is another question I would pose. What is the effect on Catholics of a candidate who has been consistently supportive of abortion?

When a candidate supports ready access to abortion on demand, they are inviting Catholics to put aside their conscience on this life and death issue. Such a candidate is inviting conscientious Catholics to look elsewhere for moral leadership.

When a candidate promotes total unhindered “choice,” he or she discourages the Catholic vote, and at the same time tempts the voter to betray one of the most obvious intuitions of our humanity and to support the continuation of the willful destruction of human life.

If the candidate has supported partial birth abortion, he or she asks the voter to affirm the continuation of an act that 75% of the population has rejected as repulsive."

Finn puts quotation marks around those who advocate a vote for Obama, and explains why:

Some groups calling themselves “Catholic” have suggested that generous programs for the poor will reduce abortions more than the repeal of Roe v. Wade. But a candidate who pledges that he or she will seek to immediately ratify the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), signals to voters that the reduction of abortions is not a goal. They are asking voters to suspend the effort to constitutionally protect human life, and – at the same time - to discard all the good progress we have made to actually reduce the number of abortions in the last thirty-five years. Such a candidate is asking Catholics to “give up” on abortion. They want us to deny our conscience and ignore their callous disregard for the most vulnerable human life.

And now, Obama is named, in every way except by using his name (underlining mine):

If the candidate has addressed their legislative assembly, urging opposition to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, then it must be concluded that this candidate wishes Catholic voters to be complicit in infanticide. Rejection of this Act, which would require that a baby who survived an unsuccessful abortion attempt be cared for and not laid aside to die with no medical assistance, is a convincing example of the numbing of our moral sensibility. The candidate who supports this fatal neglect of life and asks our vote, asks too much of any fellow human being.

Our country is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a “walk over the cliff” is millions more human lives for many more years to come.

A candidate who asks us to add our weight to such a destructive momentum in our society, asks us to be participants in their own gravely immoral act. This is something which, in good conscience, we can never justify. Despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation: This we should never do.

Following the statement released by the bishops of Texas and Fort Worth (blogged extensively here), we have a third bishop unambiguously a) rejecting the argument of pro-Obama Catholics, b) condemning the actions of pro-choice politicians who seek the Catholic vote, and c) calling Catholics to unapologetically reject candidates that support and promote the evil of abortion to the degree that Obama does.

I described the Texas statement as a "game changer," I think this is the beginning of momentum. Bishops are gaining courage in their position, and systematically ruling out the reservations, objections and counter-arguments that have been brought forward.

[NYer]

Support Our Brave Bishops

Today I describe the courageous column penned by Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St Joseph.

Yesterday I spoke about the clear teaching issued by the Bishops of Dallas and Fort Worth, and noted in that post the local reaction has been very harsh from some quarters. I now have on-the-ground reports of a protest taking placeat their pastoral center yesterday, for instance.

Well, there's is not the only voice of the faithful in the Church. Many Catholics approve and support of the recent statements issued by our shephers.

I would urge AmP readers to take a moment and thank them personally by phone or email.

Here is their contact information:

• Bishop Farrell of Dallas: bishopfarrell@cathdal.org or 214-528-2240
• Bishop Vann of Fort Worth: dws@fwdioc.org or 817-560-3300
• Bishop Finn of Kansas City-St Joseph: Montes@diocesekcsj.org or 816-756-1858, ext. 221 (secretary)

Thank you. It is a work of true solidarity to support our bishops when they take unpopular stands on behalf of the unborn, and here we have the opportunity of joining in their noble work.

[djrakowski]

Exactly what I need for my next apologetics class on the subject of the responsibilities of Catholic voters!

[utahagen]

When I saw the headline — “...everything but name Obama” — I was afraid the article was going to be about how some Catholic bishop did everything but name Obama as the person he was voting for! Thank God it's quite the opposite. Of course, we shouldn't expect this article to get the kind of coverage that dope 106 year old Obama-voting nun in Rome just got!

[ardara]

God bless this courageous Bishop.

[NYer]

Definitely check out the links. One will take you through 2 blog entries but eventually end up at the complete dissertation of Bishop Finn. Good luck with the class!

[djrakowski]

I will, thanks! Salvation sent me a long list of the bishops who’ve spoken against Pelosi and Biden, and I’m going to search for the Ratzinger statement on proportionality. When I sat down to draft an outline of my lesson last night, one of the first names that came to mind was that of Bp. Finn, so you’ve done a little bit of my work for me ;)

[TNCMAXQ]

McCain should have talked about this Freedom of Choice Act 0bama pledges to sign. This guy who wants “common ground” on the issue but would push this most radical piece of legislation. We’ll see how some of these Catholics who vote for 0bama will like that. The 106 year old nun in Rome might just regret her absentee vote. Shameful.

[Miss Marple]

I was listening to a call-in show on Catholic radio this morning and I believe I have detected a new line for the "pro-choice Catholics." Apparently someone is using the argument that McCain said his daughter would have to make the decision if she got pregnant in order to say McCain is ALSO pro-choice, and therefore it is ok to vote for Obama.

A caller used this argument this morning, without naming names, but since I happened to be alert to this type of thing I caught it.

I was wondering if anyone else has run across this line of thinking. It sounds suspiciously like a Daily Kos type of theological argument.

[AmericanVictory]

Better late than never.

[jwalsh07]

God did not say “Put the baby in the closet and let it die so we can preserve Roe v Wade’. This is a no brainer, unfortuantely many Catholics are no brainiacs.

[magisterium]

Much better spine than my ordinary, Cardinal O'Malley. We in Massachusetts have an initiative petition signature drive going to have the "gay marriage" decision overturned here. For weeks, the necessary signature sheets (grouped by town) have been quietly circulating in many Catholic parishes, where there is a natural constituency for such signatures. The Cardinal himself signed it. In the past week, however, the word has come down from the chancery that such signature drives will cease immediately on church property.

It doesn't take a genius to see what happened. Some Democratic pol picked up the phone and dropped a not-too-subtle hint that the tax-exempt status of the Catholic Church...um...might get a second look if...uh...that petition were to keep circulating around Catholic parishes. Presto! The petition gets banned! The revisionist spin, to add insult to injury, is that the Cardinal signed it "in a moment of weakness"!

The Catholic hierarchy has been playing footsie with Democratic pols for years in a symbiotic relationship on all of the social issues save abortion/euthanasia/embryonic stem cell research. Many of them are finally beginning to realize that they have been played for suckers by the Kennedy/Pelosi/Biden wing of "Catholic politicians," and have begun to speak out more forcefully on the life issues and the stand these pols take on it. But the Democratic pols have turned on them, and are pitching their ace in the hole - tax exempt status - to keep the bishops in line. It works far too often!

When are the Catholic bishops, and the leaders of other Christian bodies, going to wake up and tell it like it is from their pulpits, letting the chips fall where they may? If they all acted with unity, the tax-exempt status they collectively cherish would be in no danger whatsoever. But, when it comes down to it, they all wimp out! At least one Cardinal won't even allow the laity to collect signatures on church property against something as heinous as this, and it is all too clear why.

Nearly all of the early popes, and many of the bishops, clergy and laity in the early Church, willingly sacrificed their very lives for principles connected to the Faith. Many of them did so for principles far less "important" than the very issue of life itself, but our current crop, with few exceptions, can be relied upon to go wobbly with relatively little at stake.

How sad Jesus must be, sometimes!

[Salvation]

What a great letter!

[samiam1972]

This is my bishop. He truly is an amazing man. Things are finally beginning to turn around here in KC.

http://www.institute-christ-king.org/kansascity/kansascity-restoration/

[narses]

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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[narses]

Jim - forgive the presumption, but threads like this that directly bear on the election ought to be in the News/Activism forum, not just the religion forum. At least, in my somewhat and occasionally humble opinion.

[cpforlife.org]

Jim and Mods,

This is clearly a politics and news thread. Please move it from Religion to News/Activism.

Thanks and God bless Free Republic!

[cpforlife.org]

You cannot be both Christian and pro-choice on abortion. The two are diametrically opposed—polar opposites. If you think you are both you are living a lie.

Pro-Life PING

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[narses]

Awesome image. Thanks!

[narses]

Thank you!