Catholic Replies
Q. Regarding your recent reply about good catechetical materials, it is my understanding that there are some great religious education materials available from Dynamic Catholic. You can get more information at info@dynamiccatholic.com. — B.W., Michigan.
A. Thank you for the information. This apostolate of Matthew Kelly is indeed a valuable source of good Catholic books.
Q. I agree that the two Ignatius Press textbook series are excellent for use in the Catholic school classroom. However, for use in religious education classes that meet only once a week, the Christ Our Life series from Loyola Press can’t be beat. It is better than their Finding God series. — C.U., via e-mail.
A. Thank you for your recommendation. We have used both series in our parish program over the years and have been happy with the content of both of them.
Q. Could you compose a letter that could be sent to members of Congress who are promoting abortion and same-sex “marriage,” explaining to them that if they don’t repent they will probably go to Hell for their foul deeds? I would like to try to convince them to change their attitudes. — T.J., Massachusetts.
A. First of all, we commend you for wanting to try to convince members of Congress to change their attitudes on abortion and same-sex “marriage.” We’re not sure what arguments would bring about such a change since many of these legislators were once against these two evils and then put aside any moral principles they had in an effort to keep the donations coming so they could get reelected. A friend of this column once summarized the problem you face in this way:
“I am always inwardly distressed when I see all the Catholics who support or vote for Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey, John Kerry, Barack Obama. They tell me this or, in most cases, I see their bumper stickers on their cars. Many times it is in a Catholic church parking lot. Some of these folks even work at the church! It seems like these people have been voting Democrat all their lives, regardless of who is on the ballot. Many seem to think that the Democratic Party is just like it was in 1963 under JFK or in 1938 under FDR. But it is definitely not any more.
“The Democratic Party left the high moral ground over 40 years ago. They have no morals anymore. The Republican Party is much better, though certainly not as good as it should be, and it is degrading as well. I am an Independent, but always vote Republican because they are still basically pro-life and pro-marriage. For how much longer, I don’t know. But comparing the two parties, if you are Roman Catholic, the Democrats are a total disgrace.
“What I’m getting at is: Many seemingly nice ladies and men are not nice. They are not what they seem. I used to give them excuses in my thoughts. Now I don’t. They are part of the reason why we have in America nowadays abortion on demand, embryonic stem-cell destruction, euthanasia, homosexual ‘marriage,’ secularism, relativism. Fifty years ago in America, all of these immoral and evil policies would have been considered unthinkable, even among liberal Democrats.
“These seemingly innocent ladies and men need to be told that they are in danger of gravely sinning if they vote for liberal Democrats. Instead, no one tells them that. They don’t want to offend them. We need to buck up our courage and tell them! For if we don’t, no one will. Not until God tells them at their judgment. It is merciful to tell them now, while they have a chance to change and correct the harm they have done and to stop doing any more harm to America and to the world and to themselves.
“Priests need to devote sermons to this, as well as privately speaking to these people. Laymen and laywomen need to speak privately to these people, especially to their own family members and friends! We need to be kind, but firm. To allow a person to go on sinning so as not to offend them is not kindness or mercy but cowardice and negligence. We must please God, not men. Let’s correct and admonish these people who say they are Catholic, yet always vote for politicians who support anti-Catholic policies, laws, and principles.”
These comments were directed to Catholic voters, but they could be applied to politicians as well. What can you say to persuade them to change their attitudes? Here are a few thoughts:
Modern genetics has demonstrated that the union of the sperm and egg cells at conception produces a new living being that is distinct from both mother and father. It is not a matter of faith to say that life begins at conception; it is a matter of science and genetics. Politicians who say that we cannot know when life begins are not telling the truth. Ironically, some of these same politicians are in favor of embryonic stem-cell research, that is, killing tiny human embryos to harvest their stem cells, but these stem cells would be of no value unless the unborn baby was alive.
Writing in his 1988 apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici, St. John Paul II said:
“The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, 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” (n. 38).
Because abortion, infanticide, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, and assisted suicide are attacks on innocent human life, they are intrinsically and gravely evil actions, that is, they are always and everywhere evil regardless of circumstances. Any Catholic who supports or advocates these crimes against humanity is guilty of grave sin that puts him or her outside the Catholic community and unworthy to receive Holy Communion.
So those politicians who claim to be good Catholics while supporting these evils are deceiving themselves.
One cannot be a good Catholic while at the same time advocating or voting for something that is intrinsically evil. Can you imagine the reaction if a politician were to say, “I am pro-choice and would never hinder the right of a person to sexually molest a child”?
Would a candidate’s “rightness” on other issues excuse his support for racism, slavery, sexual abuse of children, or other moral evils? Of course it wouldn’t. So let’s stop letting politicians get away with claiming that they are worthy of our vote, even though they will move heaven and earth to facilitate the continuing murder of millions of tiny, defenseless human beings.
Same-sex activity is also intrinsically evil and had been condemned by every human society for thousands of years, until the U.S. Supreme Court found sodomy to be a constitutional right, and then later found that persons of the same sex could enter into a union and call it marriage. This of course is a lie, but politicians would rather lie than tell the truth and face the wrath of the homosexual lobby. They would rather ignore the three consequences of homosexuality — depression, disease, and death — and hope to retire from office before the coming moral collapse of this nation.
Threatening some politicians with the fires of Hell won’t work since many of them apparently do not believe in Hell, and those who do have been taught that no one is there anyway, so why worry. We have friends who believe that only divine intervention can turn this country around and make it once again “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.” They may be right.
But in the meantime, we still have to do all we can to act as the Lord’s instruments to lead people to the truth and to holiness. The task ahead of us may seem insurmountable, but as we know, with God’s help all things are possible.
