Why won’t USCCB state it’s a sin to vote for ProChoice candidate?

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USCCB voting guides are so vague they are neither Catholic nor guide!
I am scandalized by the USCCB’s decisions half the time.
It’s analogous to the RNC before Trump came along: wishy-washy, vague, trying to please everyone and therefore pleasing no one.
It seems like they don’t really do anything for the Church in America.
Someone please tell me what I’m mistaken or blind about…
God bless
 
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USCCB tries to stay out of politics. Which is probably the way it should be.
 
Because politics is a complicated field in which one is always having to weigh up competing interests and priorities. You may sometimes have to vote for a pro-choice candidate because they support other policies that are equally or more important to you, and you may sometimes have to withhold your vote from a pro-life candidate because they support other policies that you consider to be objectionable. People have to consider the overall impact of their vote, not just where a candidate stands on a single issue. Also, it is possible to have an election in which all candidates are pro-choice, in which case it would be unreasonable to say that voting for any one of them would be a sin.
 
Neither the USCCB nor the Church as a whole say it’s a sin to vote for a “pro choice” candidate because it isn’t.

Read what the USCCB says again. Read what the Church teaches about faithful citizenship and voting.
 
I believe the church publishes voter guidelines that instruct members about discerning who is the best candidate to vote on based on ALL the issues.

Then there’s the whole separation of Church and State thing. If they get too political they risk the tax status which would absolutely destroy the church’s ability to fund many charitable organizations that do way more to help people than the government could or should.

I believe it’s called a catch 22.
 
jofa said:
Why won’t USCCB state it’s sin to vote for ProChoice candidate?
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Because it might not be. For example, if the only choice is between two pro-abortion canditates, one of whom also supports the enslavement of some other group of people, it may be necessary to vote for the other one in order to limit the amount of evil done.
 
I don’t think it is a sin unless you support their pro-choice policies, kinda like shopping at stores that donate to Planned Parenthood isn’t a sin. The USCCB does say that the issue of abortion is to be the top priority in decision making though.
 
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I think Catholics should overwhelmingly support the aRepublican party but it is not a sin to vote for Democrats. It is just ignorance! If you want to really help the poor instead of making them dependent of the state, get them jobs!
 
Because let’s say there were two candidates its not a sin if you were to vote for a pro choice candidate who let’s say upheld the dignity of marriage while the other candidate did not.
 
PatK63 said:
I think Catholics should overwhelmingly support the Republican party but it is not a sin to vote for Democrats. It is just ignorance! If you want to really help the poor instead of making them dependent of the state, get them jobs!
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As much as I agree that very serious issues can justify single-issue voting, I think it would be very problematic if some political party or other got the idea that it had the Catholic vote in its back pocket.

For instance, if a party were to know that it only had to get one issue right in order to demand a vote from anyone whose conscience was formed by the Church, that would leave that party free to ignore Church teachings on every other thing over which elected officials have authority. It is not as if Catholics are the only voters they are trying to court, is it?

As for me, sometimes both candidates most in danger of winning the election have disqualifying goals for their proposed administration of their duties, such that I cannot in good conscience vote for either one of them. I don’t think that is a universal rule for voting, though, let alone one that the bishops ought to teach is the hallmark of a properly-formed conscience. No, I don’t think that is true at all.

PS The last Oregon governor’s race “featured” a GOP candidate who was making it a point to say he was pro-choice. There was no pro-life candidate offered by either of the two major parties.
 
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The style of writing found in many USCCB documents is so finely nuanced, that it is often possible to interpret it in a variety of ways. I’m just glad that they don’t publish sample homilies for priests.
 
God gave us a free will and a conscience. It’s up to us to form that conscience properly and exercise our free will. You really don’t need someone to tell you how to vote. God gave you the tools. Use them.
 
do_justly_love_mercy said:
People have to consider the overall impact of their vote, not just where a candidate stands on a single issue.
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a vote for a democrat supports more than just abortion, don’t limit it.

by voting for a Democrat, you support the entire LGBT agenda, euthanasia, embryonic
stem cell research, transgenderism, identity politics, the destruction of the family, contraception, socialism, breaking the seal of the confession, federal funds to pay for abortions, forced abortions in catholic hospitals, forcing the church to perform same-sex marriages, the selection of liberal judges who will uphold these policies, etc

which of these policies agree with church teaching?
 
Don’t forget about their (per)version of “social justice”…’why teach a man to fish when you can take a fish from that rich guy and give it to him’. Now, how is that different from Catholic social justice?
 
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The bottom line, it is not a sin to vote for a political candidate who supports the existing law of the land as long as that is not the ONLY reason you have for voting for them.

All of the major party candidates allow for abortion, it is simply a question of degrees.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Would you point me to these portions of the DNC Platform? Which candidate is running a “pro family destruction” campaign?
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I’d also love to see the plank on forcing Churches to marry gay people. Besides, isn’t Trump pro-gay marriage? I remember him talking a lot about how supportive he is of gay rights.
 
It isn’t a sin to vote for a pro-choice candidate, and the Church doesn’t teach that it is, either. That is why.
 
JMMJ said:
It isn’t a sin to vote for a pro-choice candidate, and the Church doesn’t teach that it is, either.
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Two things about this statement of yours.
  1. Pro-choice means killing babies. When you are pro-choice, you are in favor of infanticide.
  2. If the church can’t call this a sin, it is no longer a church. Period.
 
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