E
Elizabeth3
Guest
I think if the voting guide is deemed unclear by Catholics, other statements on the usccb site and by the popes help to clear up any confusion.
USCCB “Among important issues involving the dignity of human life with which the Church is concerned, abortion necessarily plays a central role. Abortion, the direct killing of an innocent human being, is always gravely immoral (The Gospel of Life, no. 57); its victims are the most vulnerable and defenseless members of the human family. It is imperative that those who are called to serve the least among us give urgent attention and priority to this issue of justice.”
USCCB “[T]he failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. If we understand the human person as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” – the living house of God – then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house’s foundation. These directly and immediately violate the human person’s most fundamental right – the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand. Such attacks cannot help but lull the social conscience in ways ultimately destructive of other human rights.”
When the U.S. bishops say, “the right to life is the ‘preeminent issue,’” that word is “carefully chosen,” said [Bishop Shawn McKnight.] “We want to avoid the perspective or the understanding that it’s the only issue — because it is not,” he added.
Pope St. John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation “Christifideles Laici in 1988: “The common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights—for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture—is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.”
This article is very helpful in laying out what the usccb means by abortion is a preeminent issue.
I think it’s very clear in light of the above statements that opposing abortion is the preeminent issue. We must start there when deciding who gets our vote. Then we look at other issues, especially during primary voting where we might have two pro-life choices, we discern where they are at on all the other issues that are important to Catholics. Yes, Pope Francis has spoken about acting like abortion is the only issue but I think many misunderstand that wasn’t justification for ignoring the pro-abortion stance when choosing to vote on other issues. The Bishop’s state this in the voting guide that the distinctions between the issues of abortion being preeminent and other social issues is not an excuse to misuse the distinction to ignore other important issues.
USCCB “Among important issues involving the dignity of human life with which the Church is concerned, abortion necessarily plays a central role. Abortion, the direct killing of an innocent human being, is always gravely immoral (The Gospel of Life, no. 57); its victims are the most vulnerable and defenseless members of the human family. It is imperative that those who are called to serve the least among us give urgent attention and priority to this issue of justice.”
USCCB “[T]he failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. If we understand the human person as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” – the living house of God – then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house’s foundation. These directly and immediately violate the human person’s most fundamental right – the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand. Such attacks cannot help but lull the social conscience in ways ultimately destructive of other human rights.”
When the U.S. bishops say, “the right to life is the ‘preeminent issue,’” that word is “carefully chosen,” said [Bishop Shawn McKnight.] “We want to avoid the perspective or the understanding that it’s the only issue — because it is not,” he added.
Pope St. John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation “Christifideles Laici in 1988: “The common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights—for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture—is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.”
This article is very helpful in laying out what the usccb means by abortion is a preeminent issue.
I think it’s very clear in light of the above statements that opposing abortion is the preeminent issue. We must start there when deciding who gets our vote. Then we look at other issues, especially during primary voting where we might have two pro-life choices, we discern where they are at on all the other issues that are important to Catholics. Yes, Pope Francis has spoken about acting like abortion is the only issue but I think many misunderstand that wasn’t justification for ignoring the pro-abortion stance when choosing to vote on other issues. The Bishop’s state this in the voting guide that the distinctions between the issues of abortion being preeminent and other social issues is not an excuse to misuse the distinction to ignore other important issues.
