Bishop Thomas Tobin
Posted on 10/28/2014 1:56:47 PM PDT by NYer
The Gospel of life must be proclaimed, and human life defended in all places and all times. The arena for moral responsibility includes not only the halls of government, but the voting booth as well. (American Bishops, “Living the Gospel of Life”)
Prior to the recent primary election I received a heartfelt letter from a member of the Diocese who had just discovered that the candidate for whom she had intended to vote was “pro-choice and for same-sex marriage.” She wrote: “Dear Bishop Tobin, for whom do I vote? Do I vote at all?”
I responded to my letter-writer that it wasn’t appropriate for me to suggest candidates for whom she should or shouldn’t vote, but that it was important for her to become well-informed about the candidates and their positions, pray about it, and then vote according to her well formed conscience. I told her that I often faced the same dilemma. I also sent her a copy of the American Bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” that places in a broader context some of these important political decisions.
Bishop Thomas Tobin
It’s a real problem that many faithful Catholics face these days – how to vote when all of the candidates are pro-abortion. (Candidates euphemistically call it “pro-choice” but it’s really a stance that enables and promotes abortion, isn’t it?)
The dilemma is more excruciating when the candidates profess to be lifelong Catholics. As I said in my recent statement about Catholic politicians and abortion, “It is always disappointing when a Catholic candidate for political office abandons the teaching of the Church on the dignity of human life for the sake of self-serving political gain. Such actions demonstrate an inexcusable lack of moral courage . . . Abortion is a sin, and those who provide it, promote it, and support it will be held accountable by Almighty God for the unjust death of unborn children.”
What a pathetic spectacle Catholic candidates present when, having to choose between Planned Parenthood and the Catholic Church, they choose Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in our nation. Do these candidates have no respect for the religious heritage of their parents and grandparents? Have they no appreciation for the sacraments, the solid education, the communal support, and the moments of comfort and guidance the Church has provided for their family over many generations? And I wonder – when in the future these candidates are in need of prayers and blessings, the Last Rites of the Church, and then finally funeral services – will they turn to Planned Parenthood or the Catholic Church to stand by their side?
The Bishops’ document to which I’ve already referred gives some guidance in these questions. It explains, first of all, the importance of the virtue of prudence. “The Church fosters well-formed consciences not only by teaching moral truth, but also by encouraging its members to develop the virtue of prudence. Prudence enables us to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.” (#19)
The Bishops then get a little more specific about voting. “Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. That is why it is so important to vote according to a well-formed conscience.” (#34) And this: “When all the candidates hold a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, the conscientious voter faces a dilemma.” (#36)
And that brings us back to the question posed by my letter writer: “Bishop Tobin, for whom do I vote?”
If we distill the guidance of the Church, it seems to me that when no candidate presents an acceptable position, especially about critical moral issues like abortion, the voter has three options.
The first is to choose the candidate who, in traditional terms, is the lesser of two evils. Let’s just say, for example, that one candidate promotes an extreme position on abortion, welcomes the endorsement of and eagerly embraces the evil agenda of Planned Parenthood, supports partial-birth abortion, and disdains the sincere convictions of pro-lifers; and another candidate would restrict abortion in some circumstances, opposes taxpayer funding of abortions, and is willing to work with and respect pro-lifers – a voter might properly choose the second candidate even though the position is flawed.
Secondly, as a kind of protest, a voter could decide to write-in the name of someone who represents pro-life values. In this scenario, one might vote for St. John Paul, Pope Francis, Mother Teresa, or our own local pro-life hero, Baby Angela! Even though this person surely wouldn’t be elected to office, a vote in that direction would send a clear signal that at least some voters won’t settle for anything less than a pro-life candidate. Contrary to what critics will charge, it’s not a wasted vote; it’s a sincere expression of conscience that upholds moral truth. And that’s never a waste!
Finally, a voter might well decide to skip this year’s election and not vote at all, or at least not vote for a particular office. Although Catholics have a general moral obligation to participate in the life of our nation, there are many ways to do that, and there’s certainly no obligation to vote in each and every election, particularly when the options are repugnant to the well-informed conscientious Christian voter.
I know, it’s a tough time to be a moral, pro-life voter. The field is narrow and the options are few. But, vote according to your conscience, pray for our state and nation, and sleep well. Remember,
God’s still in charge!
That the Democrat platform was pro-abortion for the previous forty years didn’t bother him as much as a little booing of God?
I have read that Tobin said he voted for Obama in 2008. But I am not certain that is true.
I am always being told that the reasons Catholics/Jews/Orthodox/what-have-you can't vote Republican no-matter-what is that because when their poor penniless and starving ancestors first arrived on these shores the mean old New England Yankees wouldn't let them join their country clubs. You know . . . because, goodness knows, if you're poor and starving to death and have pulled up your roots and transplanted yourself to an alien land just to be able to live without starving or getting a bayonet in the gut, the first thing you want to do is join a country club.
How many "smart" people don't realize that these mean old nativist Yankees were post-orthodox unitarian radical social reformers? Why do contemporary conservatives constantly get blamed for something radicals were guilty of?
Also, historically anti-Catholic and anti-foreign sentiment in the United States was not based on "reactionary" religious beliefs but on enlightenment republicanism and the notion that Catholic and Jewish (and Orthodox) foreigners were ignorant superstitious reactionaries who would soon return us the the Middle Ages? Even FReepers don't seem to get this part, imagining that all anti-Catholicism and nativism comes exclusively from the allegedly congenitally low IQ's of people who don't realize the stuff in the Bible couldn't possibly have happened.
There will be a Roman Catholic Church long after the State of Connecticut is but a bad memory---and a good thing too! I think Lenny would agree even if his Catholicism is a tad more liberal than my own.
If a political party run by the likes of Jerry Labriola, Jr., fails to convince Catholics to vote Republican, is that a surprise. Labriola is most of what is wrong in politics. Joe Markley and Len Suzio and a tiny handful of others command a high level of respect but even they have to make sure that their constituents know where they stand. Casting votes (or not casting them at all) consistent with a well-formed Catholic conscience is not bad religion but is what should be expected of us by our Savior.
Being amateur theologians is yet another task of lay people since the mistake that was Vatican II and the resulting spate of awful professional theologians and their accursed fictional "spirit" of Vatican II.
Not every Catholic needs to be obsessed with politics as are you and I. Some, like Dr. Zhivago, will never belong to the "party," but will just live and, in so doing, will keep society, their patient, alive. Removing the tumors of injustice is still deep surgery. Each of us is responsible for his/her own vote which is owed to no man and no party and no candidate.
they voted for MITT because they were sure he was pro-life. And they were not sure on SUZIO, so he gets blank.
See how it works?
Not a good idea to teach your constituency to suppress their own voters.
BLANK VOTING IS AN ABOMINATION BECAUSE IT SPREADS ENDLESSLY. IT TURNS INTO NON-VOTING.
ask Monsignor Liptak of Holy Apostles. Not a regular voter.
ask sr. Suz Gross, the Diocese Dir of ProLife. NOT
ask Carl ANderson, SUpreme Knight. NOT
and 90% of the 300,000 who attend Mass in CT each Sunday. They are all occasional voters who never show up for primaries or special elections.
There is a special curse for Catholic church goers who avoid the voting booth.
“Each of us is responsible for his/her own vote which is owed to no man and no party and no candidate. “
Which is why the gun owners threw their unofficial support and votes to Commie Esty vs. Rorabach in 2012, knowing that the campaign to defeat her would begin the next day.
Roraback would have been with us for 20 years .... wonderful thing that the gun owners do not take bad news as a sign to stay home. They endorse plenty of pro-gun DEMS here in CT, when faced with indifferent Republicans. They’ve done fine work under horrific circumstances.
The RINOs in upstate NY voted for the DEM to stop Conservative Hoffman, for one term. The gunowners gave ESTY one term. THis year, the Rorabackers will return the favor in the Esty vs. Greenberg race.
I have always ground my teeth when the “Catholic” pro-aborts try to claim that their “personal” beliefs were relevant. Nancy Pelosi points to the fact that she had five kids and didn’t kill any of them.
The only valid question is: What will you DO in office?
Perhaps someone has a link to some solid information.
Surely, Roraback's overwhelming sense of upper class entitlement would have had him claiming "his" US Senate seat long before 20 years had elapsed. Sort of Like Weicker with a slightly worse voting record and a slightly more modest public demeanor.
As to the revenge of the Rorabackers, Comrade Andy Roraback is required to keep his yap cemented shut on all matters political so long as he wears judicial robes. Greenberg looks like a good candidate and he showed the good sense to tell Jailbird John Rowland to shove off when offered a deal of corruption as usual by Jailhouse John.
Pro-gun Democrats are better than anti-gun Democrats and Democrats should be encouraged to be pro-gun and pro-life and pro-sexual normalcy and anti-tax, anti-spend, and anti-regulation. The more progress the better and the sooner the better. Let Democrats compete for OUR votes and be held responsible to OUR agenda as was the case in the time of Ella Grasso and her legislative leaders.
What matters is not the partisan divide but rather the ideological divide. If the purpose of this exercise is not to translate our ideals and ideological preferences into political reality through political activity, what IS the purpose? Jobs? Contracts? Never!
a. They are and were wrong because Myth Romney is no more pro-life than Margaret Sanger was;
b. They would therefore have not a clue on Suzio who had a bit less publicity; and
c. There is every chance that they voted for Myth Romney because he was white and therefore, in their minds, more trustworthy whereas Len Suzio IIRC had an Italian-American opponent.
It certainly was not my experience as a GOP Town Chairman in Connecticut that 90% of Catholics did not vote in primaries. In the rather Catholic town where I lived, there was a tradition of high turnout at primaries and elections. There was no reason to believe that non-Catholic voters were any more or less likely to vote than Catholic voters. In a period of forty years leading up to my election as Town Chairman, all but two chairmen were Catholic.
I cannot imagine why Fr. Liptak does not vote. As I recall, he is a fine man. I am not acquainted with Sr. Suz Gross. As to Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus traditionally keeps his voter registration in the state wherein he resided at the time of his original election as Supreme Knight. His predecessor was Virgil Dechant who served for decades on the GOP State Central Committee in Kansas before being elected Supreme Knight. He was a conservative.
I always voted and I bet you always voted as well even though both of us attend Mass at least weekly.
So long as Adam Kinzinger is the only Congressional candidate on my election ballot, I will either write in or refrain from voting that office. If he is opposed in a primary, my vote goes to his opponent. Kinzinger is nominally pro-life to the extent that he cares about the issue at all. He is also a mindless footstool of John Boehner and a dishonest slimebag. Too bad. Sooooo sad!
Turnout in primaries is 20% of the 800,000 adults IN RI.
VERY high for a N.Eng. state. very political, but highly partisan DEM state. Maybe cuz the DEMs have more pro-family people than the GOP.
Feisty Diocese. I spent my college years there.
Tobin is still a DEM here. Doubt he voted for Obama. Being a DEM is mandatory if you wanna vote in their primaries.
http://rivoters.com/by_number/1000/1033598.html
the gun folks are others were convinced Esty is an weak incumbent for a long time .... in a REpublican district. The campaign against her began immediately.
Stopping ROraback was urgent, because there was no path to victory to take him on. We’d hafta wait for him to lose him seat to a LIB in 2032 and then go after the lib in 2034. No good.
If Roraback were in the Hartford CD. let him have it.
Esty acts nuttier than Rosa .. and no way Rosa could hold the 5th. Esty needs Republican votes to keep her seat. She’ll be vulnerable every election.
http://connvoters.com/by_number/0003/08031.html
we have them all on record. Get the parish bulletin, check the website ... and then see what they are all about.
Anderson lives in Madison. Bob Goosens is the only K of C guy who occasionally shows up for a primary.
ENyart is in trouble down state. That district deserves a pro-lifer.
Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.
You are making a false idol of government. No one has any obligation to vote. Not even when it is Ronald Reagan vs. Jimmuh Peanut or Ronald Reagan vs. Walter Mondale much less when it is Myth Romney vs. Obozo or John Whackobird McCain vs. Obozo.
Bishop Tobin is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island. His letter to a Rhode Island Catholic voter, republished, I believe, in the diocesan newspaper is the Church document you seek.
Pilate was a pagan and a Roman governor. He gets a bad rap in history when the historians do not stand in his shoes. It was not every Tom, Dick and Julius who became a Roman governor. One got one year to rape, loot and pillage one's domain as governor to pile up money to support one's family during the ensuing six years working as a bureaucrat at Rome without pay. One also, at all costs, had to keep the emperor's peace while being governor. Pilate was faced with a mob of about 300 troublemakers organized by Annas and Caiaphas, masters of the Temple, demanding that Jesus be crucified. Pilate sent Christ to Herod Agrippa in the hope of being relieved of the decision as to Jesus Christ by a merciful decision. No such luck! Pilate had christ brought forward with Barrabas, a genuine notorioso, and assumed that the crows would choose Jesus for pardon but, again, no such luck! Was Pilate a hero? Hell no! Was he some sort of horrible criminal from a pagan Roman point of view? Again, no!
John the Evangelist, then about fifteen years old, was certainly the only one of the Twelve to be at the crucifixion. The Romans would have had no way of knowing John's stature in the Faith and would have regarded him as a young fellow present to support Mary.
If there are no candidates for an office other than bad candidates, one ought not vote among the bad candidates. Do that too often and you will soon vote for a Myth Romney over Obozo because it is better to protect Muffie's trust fund than not even if both candidates will kill babies, support "gay""marriage," grab guns, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum ad nauseam. Caesar has no right to expect us to vote for Caesar's candidates.
I don’t know much about Enyart because he comes, I believe, from the Belleville area at the other end of the state. I do know that I would be a lot more enthusiastic about former Congressman Bobby Schilling defeating Cheri Bustos who defeated him two years ago. Bustos has the Democrat parts of Rockford and is only the second Democrat to represent any substantial part of Rockford since 1850. This constitutes a local scandal. Bustos once babysat for Comrade Dick Durbin. She makes believe she is a Catholic despite her eagerness for Obozocare.
Combating Secularism’s Most Serious Sin: Indifference
http://www.antiochian.org/node/17217
Pilate’s Sin was Indifference
He washed his hands of it.
Matthew 27:24
¶ “When Pilate saw that he could prevaile nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, hee tooke water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see yee to it.”
That Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate therefore means also that He did subscribe to this State order…In other words the State, the polis, is the area in which His action too, the action of the eternal Word of God, takes place…By suffering under Pontius Pilate He too participates in this order.[7]
But it is in this participation that Jesus reveals that Pilate is ‘a bad statesman [as] he gives Jesus over to death… [he] cannot but, as a proper statesman, declare Him to be innocent.’[8] as Barth clarifies and continues:
http://www.thetwocities.com/practical-theology/meditations/the-banality-of-evil-of-pontius-pilate/
My theory is that many of these people are cultural catholics or E/C catholics at best.
Like did Teddy Kennedy actually go to Mass weekly when there were no cameras around? Just by way of example.
I am sure that actual proof of people being scandalized by this would have more of an affect then all the hot air and conjecture. That gives these men an out. We need the proof.
How about it Catholic Freepers? Let's put this to bed. We need names!
the Larsons go to Mass at “liberal” parishes in East Hartford, Conn. Not a place where Freepers would hang out. I do not know about Rep. Courtney.
In Shelton, Conn., they gave publicity to their 2 pro-abort Republican state reps on the parish website ... wrote a nice story about the parish visit to the capitol to oppose assisted suicide and chat with their fellow parishioner representative.
I do not know how one would define pro-abort in CT politics, since the legislature rarely votes on such things. Half the people that work at the diocesan office are pro-aborts. If the priest is a pro-abort, what to do?
“Representative Nicholas Mattiello of Cranston, the Democratic House majority leader, says that he was asked to take a break from serving as a lector at his church after changing his position and publicly supporting same-sex marriage.
State Senator William J. Conley Jr. of East Providence, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved the marriage bill, says a diocesan official asked him to resign as a trustee of La Salle Academy in Providence. The pastor of the East Providence parish where he was baptized, Conley says, denounced him from the pulpit as a “Judas.”
http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/blog/2004/09/john-kerry-discovers-steubenville-isnt.html
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