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Catholic Voters and Moral Choices: A Response to 'Catholic Answers' by Thomas Storck In a few [days] in the United States we will have an election in which all the members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be up for re-election. And, as they did in the 2004 election, the California organization Catholic Answers, this time by means of their parallel political action committee, Catholic Answers Action, is planning to issue a Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics in an attempt to influence how Catholics vote in this election. And not only Catholics, for this time...

As Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger spent many hours pouring over Liberation Theology.  The liberationists had become very involved in political movements to insure a just society.  They had confused the role of the Church and the role of the State.  And, at times, they were openly Marxists.  In 1966 when the German journalist Peter Seewald asked the Cardinal what was his greatest success in his work, he pointed to the corrections offered to Liberation Theology.  The Pope's first encyclical shows the fruit of this long struggle with liberationists.  The Holy Father carefully outlines...

<p>Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey is a proud Irish Catholic.</p> <p>He also supports abortion rights, stem cell research, domestic partnerships and the death penalty, all of which go against Catholic church teachings and edicts.</p> <p>Diocese of Trenton Bishop John M. Smith isn't pleased.</p>

Come see Ambassador Ray Flynn (the only pro-life appointee of Bill Clinton who voted his conscience for pro-life George Bush) tonight, June 29, 2004 at 6:30 pm at Saint Veronica's Parish Family - Howell, NJ  other speakers will be Bishop John M. Smith  and Sujo John, survivor of 9/11, Rosary starts at 6:30pm, speakers at 7:15pm, sponsored by the:Catholic Tent Revival, of the Good News Ministries, Howell, NJStatement by Raymond L. Flynn: National President of Catholic Citizenship Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican (1993-1997), Mayor of Boston (1984-1993)To the Good News International Conference Howell, New Jersey Tuesday, June 29,...

Catholic Voters A Key ConstituencyOxford Analytica, 11.09.05, 6:00 AM ET NEW YORK - Voters cast ballots Tuesday in bellwether gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and on a slate of politically controversial initiatives in California. This is an "off-year" election--federal offices are not being contested--but the outcome may signal whether recent White House setbacks have influenced the electorate. Catholic voters are an important "swing" constituency and have been heavily courted by both parties. Analysis of the 2004 presidential campaign suggests that energizing President George Bush's base of support and appealing to certain "swing voters," including Catholics, were decisive factors....

Code: ZE05100401 Date: 2005-10-04 Question Raised on Communion and Abortion Prefect of Doctrinal Congregation Presses the Issue VATICAN CITY, OCT. 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is urging the Synod of Bishops to discuss whether voters who support pro-abortion candidates should be receiving Communion. Archbishop William Levada, who succeeded Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect of the dicastery, quoted No. 73 of the working document of the Synod on the Eucharist, in which reference is made to the relationship between the Eucharist, morality and public life. The archbishop today suggested that the...

Election 2004: The Role of "Moral Values" Cathy Cleaver Ruse, Esq. This election was supposed to be about terrorism, the economy, and Iraq. But there was a more pressing issue that motivated people to vote this year, and that was the issue of moral values. According to exit polls from the National Election Pool, the official election source for broadcast and cable television stations, "moral values" was cited as the most important issue this election by more people than any other concern. The economy and jobs was next, followed by terrorism, then the war in Iraq. Among those who cited...

Some attempts to sabotage Catholic voters Barbara Kralis Barbara Kralis October 29, 2004 The Catholic Church possesses the fullness of truth, the complete moral teachings of our age. We thank God for the Magisterium of the Church, for the solemn teaching office of our Pope John Paul II and the Popes before him, and the 'ordinary magisterium' or the Bishops in communion with him. Yet, attempts by Church leaders are made every day to sabotage these teachings. Let us look at a number of recent damages: On August 20, 2004, La Crosse diocese Attorney James G. Birnbaum wrote a letter...

Ye shall find him under a big star: (OK, that one’s a stretch, but I’m working on a theme…) Crucified with two common criminals by his side: (Stretch #2) (Well, since this photo was taken in Zaprudervision, it might be a JFK thing,but that’s the same as God to the liberal mindset.)

NewsMax.com's Fr. Michael Reilly has his eye on the latest developments with one of the most hotly contested demographic groups in this year's election.President Bush has opened a wide lead over John Kerry among Catholic voters, according to a new poll reported by the Times of Trenton, and this could help the President in a swing state like New Jersey with 3.4 million Catholics. Forty percent of New Jersey residents are Catholic. The Barna Research Group, which focuses on a Christian audience, found Bush leading Kerry among Catholics 53 to 36 percent. The same survey in May showed Bush with...

In a pastoral letter published Friday, Archbishop Raymond Burke tackled one of the stickiest issues he has faced so far as the leader of St. Louis' Roman Catholics. The letter addressed the sensitive topic of voting, sin and Holy Communion, and it delved into the moral law that the archbishop says dictates how Catholics in a secular democratic society must choose their leaders using the teachings of the church as their guide. The letter itself was Burke's attempt at a final statement on a topic that has dominated his first summer as the city's prelate. It also was meant as...

"Seismic" Catholic Shift to Bush by Uwe Siemon-Netto President George W. Bush has suddenly acquired a commanding lead among Catholic voters over his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, according to the latest survey of the California-based Barna Research Group. Barna called this finding a "seismic shift." In May, Kerry led Bush 48-to-43 percent among Catholics. Today, the ratio has changed to 53-to-36 percent in Bush's favor, reports Barna, an organization researching opinions and behaviors of the religious communities in the United States. "That swing is attributable to an encompassing assessment by many Catholics of the leadership abilities, character, and policy...

A memo released privately two months ago by the Vatican's leading theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is being portrayed by the media and liberal Catholics as giving Catholic voters permission to vote for the pro-abortion Democratic candidate for President. So far, a moral theologian and a high-ranking official of the Detroit Archdiocese, where the story first broke, say the document's precise language is being distorted. Ratzinger issued a private memo in the spring that explored whether pro-abortion politicians ought to be denied communion. He concluded that they must be denied communion if, after consistent teaching by the bishop, they persist in...

An article in the Post-Dispatch announced that Archbishop Raymond Burke is giving St. Louis Catholics a way to vote for politicians who support abortion rights without committing a grave sin or having to go to confession: “In his latest clarification of controversial comment he made earlier this summer, Burke said Thursday [September 2] he believes Catholics could vote for a politician who supports abortion rights as long as that's not the reason they are voting for the candidate, and they believe the politician's stance on other moral issues outweighs the abortion-rights stance. “Previously, Burke had said Catholics who vote for...

As Democrats and Republicans work hard to woo Catholic voters for the presidential election, Greensburg Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt is warning his flock to be wary of their "intellectual sleight of hand." Months after other bishops in the United States announced they would withhold communion from elected officials who support abortion, Brandt spelled out the church's teachings -- and the Greensburg diocese's position -- in a pastoral letter last week to its 188,000 faithful. The timing of the release of the letter -- one week before the Republican National Convention -- was coincidental, said Angela Burrows, executive director of infomedia...

OPINION -- Last June Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote a memorandum on “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion,” to assist the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. Cardinal Ratzinger noted that (1) for a Catholic to vote for a candidate because the candidate favors abortion is so sinful as to render that Catholic unfit to receive Communion, but (2) voting for a pro-abortion candidate despite that candidate’s support of abortion is not sinful, if “proportionate reasons” justify voting for that candidate. Unfortunately, Catholic News Service misreported that Cardinal Ratzinger “said it is not...

Controversial Catholic Voter's Guide Tells Catholics How to Vote on 'Forbidden' Issues; Full-Page Ad to Run in USA Today During GOP Convention Friday August 27, 10:22 am ET SAN DIEGO, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday August 31, over a million voters in and around New York City, Hartford, Buffalo, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, and hundreds of surrounding cities will be reading a full-page ad in USA Today that advises them how to vote according to Catholic moral teachings on five key issues when they go to the polls. The issues Catholics...

A liberal U.S. Catholic group says a poll scheduled for release in mid-July shows Catholics are split down the middle on the upcoming presidential election. Catholics for A Free Choice, the group that commissioned the poll, said the survey will show support for President George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry split at 40 each among the 2,239 U.S. Catholics surveyed. The group said that data also shows the level of confidence in the president's ability to manage the war in Iraq is the best predictor of how Catholics will vote in November. More than two-thirds of respondents, 39...

<p>Washington, DC, Jun. 28 (UPI) -- A liberal U.S. Catholic group says a poll scheduled for release in mid-July shows Catholics are split down the middle on the upcoming presidential election.</p> <p>Catholics for A Free Choice, the group that commissioned the poll, said the survey will show support for President George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry split at 40 each among the 2,239 U.S. Catholics surveyed.</p>

  Catholics in Political Life We speak as bishops, as teachers of the Catholic faith and of the moral law. We have the duty to teach about human life and dignity, marriage and family, war and peace, the needs of the poor and the demands of justice. Today we continue our efforts to teach on a uniquely important matter that has recently been a source of concern for Catholics and others. It is the teaching of the Catholic Church from the very beginning, founded on her understanding of her Lord’s own witness to the sacredness of human life, that...

Catholic Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado offers communion. Sheridan says Catholics who vote for pro-abortion or pro-gay-marriage candidates should not receive communion. It began as a lone cry in the wilderness: In January, a relatively unknown Roman Catholic prelate ordered his priests to refuse Communion to Catholic politicians who supported a woman's right to abortion. The prelate, Raymond Burke, newly appointed as archbishop of St. Louis, had imposed that sanction the year before as a bishop in Wisconsin without attracting much notice. But his January directive would be different. This, after all, was a presidential election year, when the...

Do churches have the right to determine who are members in good standing? The answer seems obvious, but now we are being told that there is a category of people to whom that does not apply. They are, of course, politicians. Several bishops have raised the possibility of denying communion to public officials who support abortion. (Those who call themselves "Vatican II Catholics" might recall that that venerable council called abortion "an abominable crime.")

<p>A letter from 48 House Democrats was criticized yesterday by a Republican Catholic congressman and two Catholic activists for imploring Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to go easy on pro-choice Catholic politicians.</p> <p>The letter, dated May 10, was sent by Reps. Nick Lampson of Texas and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut to Cardinal McCarrick because he is the head of a task force of bishops attempting to craft a policy on dealing with pro-choice Catholic politicians.</p>

The lines between politics, religion, and personal freedom just got a little blurrier. In a recent pastoral letter to his parishioners, Colorado Bishop Michael Sheridan declared that Roman Catholics who vote for politicians who support women's abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia, and gay rights should not take Holy Communion.

Bishops ignore their burning house 12:01 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 By ROD DREHER / The Dallas Morning News On the road this weekend, I went to Sunday Mass at a Catholic parish outside the Dallas diocese. The priest did something I've only seen happen once before in the 11 years I've been a Catholic: He spoke from the pulpit against abortion and the politicians who support it. This is going to shock non-Catholics, who seem to think that we faithful papists hear nothing but lectures on abortion and sexual morality from our priests. It's not true. Except...

In stark and dramatic language, a Roman Catholic bishop has declared that anyone voting for a politician who supports same-sex marriage, abortion rights, stem-cell research or euthanasia will be denied Holy Communion. The upcoming presidential election, Bishop Michael Sheridan said in a three-page letter to the Colorado Springs diocese's newspaper May 1, will be one of the most important in history — "critical in the battle to restore the right to life to all its citizens, especially the unborn and the elderly and infirm." His letter likely will have little practical effect, since most people receiving Communion aren't quizzed about...

DENVER — Catholics who vote for politicians in favor of abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage may not receive Communion until they recant and repent in the confessional, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Colorado Springs said. Bishop Michael Sheridan's pronouncement was the strongest yet from a U.S. bishop in the debate over how faith should influence Catholics in this election year. The discussion of withholding Holy Communion had previously been limited to politicians themselves.

Communion tied to Catholic loyalty Colorado bishop bans sacrament if voters defy church Laurie Goodstein, New York Times Friday, May 14, 2004 ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle The Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs has issued a pastoral letter saying that Catholic Americans should not receive Communion if they vote for politicians who defy church teaching by supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, euthanasia or stem-cell research. Several bishops in the United States have warned that they will deny Communion to Catholic politicians who fail to stand with the church, but Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs is believed to be the...

Those Catholic bishops who actually follow the church's teachings are now targeting more than just pro-abortion politicians such as John Kerry. Bishop Michael Sheridan says that "Catholics" who vote for politicians in favor of abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia or same-sex marriage may not receive Communion until they recant and repent in the confessional. "The bishop's order applies only to his Colorado Springs diocese of 125,000. But it is the strongest statement yet from a U.S. bishop in a debate over how Catholics should apply their faith in this election year," the Denver Post reported today. Sheridan made his...

DENVER - Catholics who vote for politicians in favor of abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage may not receive Communion until they recant and repent in the confessional, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Colorado Springs said. Bishop Michael Sheridan's pronouncement was the strongest yet from a U.S. bishop in the debate over how faith should influence Catholics in this election year. The discussion of withholding Holy Communion had previously been limited to politicians themselves. Sheridan made his remarks in a May 1 pastoral letter published in the diocese's newspaper. He said he singled out abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia...