October 24, 2004

What’s a Catholic voter to do?” That question was raised in the last issue of The East Tennessee Catholic in one of the regular columns, but it was not adequately answered. As only a few days remain before the next election, I wish to answer this question and dispel any confusion.

The most significant thing a Catholic voter can do is ensure that he or she has a properly formed conscience by adhering to the truth, as it is found in the natural law and in what God has revealed. Furthermore, as Catholics, we have an obligation to give assent to the doctrinal and moral teachings of the church.

Every election invites us to consider candidates who take stands on a variety of issues. It is important to remember that not all issues are of equal weight. Among the many rights and goods that we seek to protect and promote, one right is foundational: the right to life.

Because this basic right, bestowed by God, grounds all other rights, this issue holds a unique place. As your bishop, I have an obligation to assist the faithful of our diocese in the proper formation of conscience so that each person may make decisions based upon truth.

To this end, I ask that you read and ponder excerpts from this recent publication of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, of which I am a member. What follows accurately reflects our Catholic Church teaching on many important questions. The question-and-answer format is helpful in addressing these issues in an easy-to-read, unambiguous way. Thank you, and may God continue to bless you.

Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D.

Bishop of Knoxville

Editor’s note: At the conclusion of their June 2004 retreat in Denver, the U.S. bishops adopted the statement “Catholics in Political Life.” (The statement may be read online at www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.htm). The document reminds Catholics of their vocation to evangelize and transform the world. Below is a series of questions and answers—reprinted from the June–July 2004 issue of Life Insight, a publication of the USCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities—to assist the faithful in this mission:

What circumstances impelled the bishops to speak out at this time?

The Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians had its origins in our common frustration and deep disappointment at some Catholic political leaders who ignore or contradict Catholic moral and social teaching in their campaigns or votes. We do not accept the too common refrain, “I’m personally opposed, but . . . ,” or “my votes are public and my faith is private,” or “I vote my constituency, not just my own conscience” (“Interim Reflections” by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick; www.usccb.org/bishops/intreflections.htm).

Cardinal McCarrick explained further:

In many ways the challenge we face is a challenge of evangelization and catechesis. Too many Catholics, including those in public life, do not know or apply Catholic teaching on human life and dignity. The life and dignity of the human person is fundamental. Without the right to life, no other rights are possible. . . . We believe every human person has a fundamental right to life. All issues are clearly not of equal moral worth—life comes first (“Interim Report”).

Must Catholics assent to the teaching on abortion?

Yes.

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 the killing of an unborn child is always intrinsically evil and can never be justified (“Catholics in Political Life”).

The introductory “Reflections” by Archbishop William J. Levada provide support and citations for this passage:

Catholic social teaching covers a broad range of important issues. But among these the teaching on abortion holds a unique place. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. . . . There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

In his 1995 Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life,” No. 62) Pope John Paul II taught that “direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written Word of God, [as] transmitted by the Church’s Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.” This teaching, he says, was implicit in Sacred Scripture, whose many texts “show such great respect for the human being in the mother’s womb that they require as a logical consequence that God’s commandment ‘You shall not kill’ be extended to the unborn child as well” (No. 61). Moreover, since the earliest days of Christianity, the Church taught the evil of abortion and infanticide, widely practiced in the Greco-Roman world of that time.

The clear and unanimous tradition of the Church has only in recent decades been challenged in practice. In order to preclude confusion among Catholics, Pope Paul VI had already declared this tradition “unchanged and unchangeable.” Pope John Paul II, after consultation among the bishops of the world, declared on his apostolic authority in Evangelium Vitae that this moral doctrine was part of the patrimony of faith taught infallibly by the universal ordinary Magisterium of the Church, i.e., the College of Bishops united in their teaching throughout history and throughout the world.

A Catholic, to be in full communion with the faith of the Church, must accept this teaching about the evil of abortion and euthanasia. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is “a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection” (No. 73). Moreover, it says that “in the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of it, or vote for it.”

Doesn’t the fact that abortion is legal in the United States excuse Catholic politicians from trying to change the law?

No.

To make such intrinsically evil actions [as abortion] legal is itself wrong. . . . The legal system as such can be said to cooperate in evil when it fails to protect the lives of those who have no protection except the law. . . . Failing to protect the lives of innocent and defenseless members of the human race is to sin against justice. Those who formulate law therefore have an obligation in conscience to work toward correcting morally defective laws, lest they be guilty of cooperating in evil and in sinning against the common good (“Catholics in Political Life”).

Archbishop Levada’s “Reflections” also answers the mistaken claim that abortion is a Catholic or purely religious issue:

Most people, including Catholics, are convinced that our lives must be guided by moral judgments about right and wrong, that we must seek to do good and avoid evil. These involve moral judgments that are common to humanity, what our nation’s founders referred to in the Declaration of Independence as “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.” Prohibitions against killing innocent life or stealing, while surely reinforced by religious teachings like the Ten Commandments, are not in themselves “confessional” values; they are ethical values rooted in human nature itself. These common ethical or moral values are often the subject of legislative activity, since the good order of society often depends on their being codified into law.

The 1974 Declaration on Procured Abortion (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) contains a passage relevant to this point:

The role of law is not to record what is done but to help in promoting improvement. It is at all times the task of the state to preserve each person’s rights and to protect the weakest. In order to do so the state will have to right many wrongs. The law is not obliged to sanction everything, but it cannot act contrary to a law which is deeper and more majestic than any human law: the natural law engraved in men’s hearts by the Creator as a norm which reason clarifies and strives to formulate properly, and which one must always struggle to understand better, but which it is always wrong to contradict. Human law can abstain from punishment, but it cannot declare to be right what would be opposed to the natural law, for this opposition suffices to give the assurance that a law is not a law at all.

. . . It must in any case be clearly understood that whatever may be laid down by civil law in this matter, man can never obey a law which is in itself immoral, and such is the case of a law which would admit in principle the liceity of abortion. Nor can he take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it. Moreover, he may not collaborate in its application (Nos. 21-22).

Isn’t the conscience of each individual Catholic the final guide to his or her beliefs and action?

Yes, but one’s conscience must be properly formed.

“Catholics in Political Life,” as well as the statements preceding it—the “Reflections” offered by Cardinal McCarrick and Archbishop Levada—all refer to the “proper formation” of conscience but without elaboration.

There is a common misconception today that morality is a purely personal matter and everyone’s entitled to act according to his or her own beliefs, whether or not those beliefs bear any relation to truth or reality.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the necessary formation of conscience in the following passage:

Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings (No. 1783).

Today many bishops are vigorously addressing this error. Archbishop John J. Myers, for example, in his pastoral statement “A Time for Honesty,” writes:

Although we must all follow our conscience, the task of conscience is not to create moral truth but to perceive it. It is quite possible for an individual to perceive the moral reality of a particular situation erroneously. Such a person may be sincere, but he or she is sincerely wrong (May 5, 2004, quoting his 1990 pastoral letter, available at www.rcan.org/archbish/jjmletters/ATimeforHonesty.htm).

In addition to renewing their efforts to help form the consciences of dissenting Catholic politicians, what measures do the bishops propose taking?

“ Catholics in Political Life” recommends intensified efforts to educate and persuade the Catholic community and the public in general on the sanctity of life, citing five specific courses of action:

• We need to continue to teach clearly and help other Catholic leaders to teach clearly on our unequivocal commitment to the legal protection of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. Our teaching on human life and dignity should be reflected in our parishes and our educational, health-care, and human-service ministries.
• We need to do more to persuade all people that human life is precious and human dignity must be defended. This requires more effective dialogue and engagement with all public officials, especially Catholic public officials. . . .
• Catholics need to act in support of these principles and policies in public life. It is the particular vocation of the laity to transform the world. We have to encourage this vocation and do more to bring all believers to this mission. As bishops, we do not endorse or oppose candidates. Rather, we seek to form the consciences of our people so that they can examine the positions of candidates and make choices based on Catholic moral and social teaching.
• The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.
• We commit ourselves to maintain communication with public officials who make decisions every day that touch issues of human life and dignity.

May each of us pledge our prayers, support, and personal efforts to this bold campaign and thank the bishops for their strong leadership in upholding both human life and dignity and the integrity of the Eucharist.