New Letter to the Long Island Catholic (they must love me)

Dear Long Island Catholic,

First we heard from St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke who barred John Kerry from accepting Communion, and then bishops in Boston, Portland and New Orleans had taken general stands that dissenting politicians should avoid taking it. I picked myself up off the floor after reading that Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan has issued a pastoral letter saying Catholics cannot receive Communion if they vote for politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage and now I am writing to you.

The article said: "Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation. Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences."

Jeopardizing our salvation? Living in America today is jeopardizing our salvation if we stick by our current mostly Republican government. The Bishops have a right to their opinions but to threaten Catholics with excommunication is deplorable. There is a lot more to being a politician and a Catholic than these 3 issues. Catholic politicians should advocate for Catholic beliefs, sure, but in a secular society it is often unfeasible to just ban things that are not "Catholic" when a large segment of the population believes otherwise. It is better to educate and inform Catholics and all Americans rather than to threaten Catholics with excommunication in public. Not only will we have less Catholics, we have further polarized Catholics from living in a democracy.

Would the Catholic Church be possibly moving towards checking ID's at the communion rail to see what political affiliation one has? Have we come to this? Or rather have we gone back in time to this? Since when is the Catholic Church pro-war? I thought we grew out of that long ago. What happened to Jesus in all of this?

Is the Catholic Church regressing? What about the death penalty? George Bush signed execution orders for 159 prisoners. What about health care and education in this country? The US has the highest infant mortality rate per 100,000 people than any other developed country in the world! We have the worst healthcare of any developed country in the world. Perhaps if people had better education and were more tolerant of each other, we wouldn't have such rampant crime that people need to be executed for their behavior. Mr Bush also failed to fund his No Child Left Behind Act. We have more prisoners per capita than any other country. I would advise other Catholics to dismiss Bush for President ads that unfairly attack John Kerry. They are misleading and in most cases false.

So before we condemn those who are not rushing to ban abortion, why isn't the Catholic Church at the forefront in helping to solve social and economic justice issues in America rather than condemning the sins that are a result of these societal ills that are surely at the root of numerous abortions? The tax cuts given to the wealthy by Mr Bush eliminated 50 billion dollars that could have been spent seeing to it that those schools in poor areas got actual school books and proper classroom conditions so that those on the fringes of society could be raised up and learn to take care of themselves. The more educated one is, the less likely they are to have an abortion. The more educated one is, the less likely they will seek a life of crime.

Democratic politicians are not "just pro-choice", in fact Democrats are the ones overall who try to push for better education and universal healthcare in this country. The Republicans claim that it would cost too much, yet they are never at a loss to make themselves richer or give corporations and wealthy individuals tax cuts. In fact, in my opinion and after years of studying theology, I have to say that I find it difficult to reconcile Catholicism with the current version Republicanism. It is naive to vote for Republicans simply because of their stance on abortion and gay rights. It's a ploy to get votes while at the same time, they pursue another agenda that is surely more dangerous to our society overall.

It seems to me that the Bishops are advocating that Catholics vote Republican merely because the party platform is anti-abortion, stem cell research and gay rights. This does not mean all Republicans are opposed to it nor does it mean that all Democrats are not. We need Democrats in politics. If we are a one party country as the Bishops propose, we would surely become overrun by radical Christian fundamentalists and corporations. Sounds fascist to me. Those Bishops who denounce democratic ideals in this country are anti-American and should be told to keep their opinions to themselves by someone in authority.

We allow Bishops who live charmed lives in tax exempt mansions make these decisions?

We need checks and balances in government to keep our society free. It promotes dialogue, rational thought and perhaps saves us from rushing to promote false ideologies... like world war 3.

Our country was rushed into war with Iraq by the "pro-life" administration. Sure Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount says "Blessed are the peacemakers", yet in other parts of the Bible, there is "a time to kill". People can go back and forth ad nauseum over what the Bible says about declaring war on others. But this has been reconciled through"Just War" doctrine.

The most authoritative and up-to-date expression of just war doctrine is found in paragraph 2309 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It says:
" 1. the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
2. all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
3. there must be serious prospects of success;
4. the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.
5. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition. "

"The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time . . . "

It is not enough for just some of them to be met. Instead, all must be met "at one and the same time." Without going into a dissertation on the Just War Doctrine, all I can say is that we as a nation failed miserably and now tens of thousands of innocent people are dead because the war was improperly planned and executed. It breaks my heart to see that Catholic Bishops are alienating Catholics who are in good conscience anti-war people. At this moment in time and history, I feel that I must not support a warmongering government. I most certainly will vote Democratic across the board on election day. I will not join my neighbors who would like to see the middle east nuked. If that means I cannot receive holy communion, then so be it. I am sure Jesus will forgive me and probably the Bishops.

Sincerely,

ES