The Capuchin Cardinal of the Boston Archdiocese had an interview with the Boston Globe yesterday. He spoke clearly about the priority of the Gospel of Life.
O'Malley draws line with Democrats on backing abortion rights candidates - The Boston Globe
In his sharpest comments about the political landscape since he was installed as archbishop of Boston four years ago, O'Malley made clear that, despite his differences with the Republican Party over immigration policy, capital punishment, economic issues, and the war in Iraq, he views abortion as the most important moral issue facing policymakers.
"I think the Democratic Party, which has been in many parts of the country traditionally the party which Catholics have supported, has been extremely insensitive to the church's position, on the gospel of life in particular, and on other moral issues," O'Malley said.
Acknowledging that Catholic voters in Massachusetts generally support Democratic candidates who are in favor of abortion rights, O'Malley said, "I think that, at times, it borders on scandal as far as I'm concerned."
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O'Malley made his comments in an interview just after the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to approve its quadrennial statement offering guidance for Catholic voters, declaring abortion, cloning, and embryonic research to be "intrinsically evil" and warning that support for such acts could endanger a Catholic voter's salvation. The bishops have issued similar documents prior to each presidential election since 1976, but this year decided to place a special emphasis on the importance of opposition to abortion because of concern among some bishops that the issue might get lost in the flurry of statements by the bishops on other topics such as poverty and the environment.
"The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many," the bishops declared in the document, called Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
O'Malley, who marches annually in an antiabortion rally, said the document was clearer than it has been in some previous years.
"In the past, there was always the fear that we were considering sort of the smorgasbord of issues, but without any prioritizing, or giving the impression that all issues are of equal value, and I think the emphasis on trying to help people form conscience is very, very important," he said. "The church is not trying to impose Catholic doctrine on the world, but we are trying to invite our people to take seriously their obligation to vote in a way that respects the moral law, the natural law, and takes into account the common good, care for the poor, and particularly the gospel of life, which is always the center of Catholic social teaching."
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The bishops' conference did not endorse a candidate or political party - doing so would endanger its tax-exempt status - and said the document was not a voter guide, but rather a summary of Catholic teaching. The bishops have had differences with the Republican Party, too, in particular because of support among many GOP officials for capital punishment and the Iraq war; in the statement approved yesterday, the bishops declared, "no party and too few candidates fully share the church's comprehensive commitment to the life and dignity of every human being from conception to natural death."
The document declares that "as Catholics we are not single-issue voters," but says, "a candidate's position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support."
There is no greater calling for a Catholic than to vote PRO-LIFE, for all the other social issues are meaningless if a person is muderdered in the womb.
Posted by: Eileen Peterson | November 19, 2007 at 12:54 AM