Hudson & Fournier: Catholic Countdown to Election 2012, Day 14. Two Weeks Away - What Catholics Can Do!

By Deal W Hudson and Keith A Fournier
10/23/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

What Catholics can do in the last two weeks before Nov. 6 is to make sure everyone they know casts their vote.

No Catholic who cares about the outcome of this election should forget the bottom line: The outcome will not be determined by the importance of our cause -- it will be determined by who gets out the vote.

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WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - We are receiving reports everyday that it's hand-to-hand combat out there. Catholics who defend life, marriage, and religious liberty are encountering one obstacle after another in their efforts to educate fellow Catholics about the importance of Nov. 6.

Case in point: Some dioceses are insisting that the only voter guides that can be distributed on parish property are the alphabetical issues guides that we discussed last week. This is the issues guide that expressly ignores the instructions issued by the bishops in the "New Introduction to Faithful Citizenship".

As a result, voter guides by independent groups that follow the instructions of the bishops -- not to treat the issues "quantitatively" but distinguish between settled and prudential issues -- are being, to put it nicely, discouraged.

The more we think about state Catholic conferences choosing the alphabet over the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the ordering principle of their voter guides, the more we shake our heads.

One thing Catholics can do is to distribute voter guides such as this one to fellow Catholics. No one in the Church has the authority to tell a lay Catholic what voter guide he or she can distribute on their own.

Other reports are coming in that clergy who spoke from the pulpit about the issue of religious liberty or the misrepresentation of Vice President Joe Biden in the debate are being hounded by Obama/Biden supporters. They are being accused of everything from partisanship to -- gasp! -- turning their backs on the poor.

It's our observation that clergy and laity who put prudential issues like health care ahead of the settled issues feel no timidity in putting their arguments in front of parishioners.

Another thing Catholics can do is tell their clergy and bishops that if they decide to speak out, to tell the truth the Church possesses, that we will support them. We know from experience that too often a priest or a bishop will go out on a limb for the pro-life or pro-marriage cause, only to find that no one is waiting to catch him when the bough breaks.

The good news we are hearing is that Catholics are fiercely determined to make sure the Nov. 6 referendum on religious liberty in the United States does not become its death knell. If the HHS mandate and its egregious violation of the religious liberty of all Catholics becomes of no consequence, then we should all, both laity and clergy, hang our heads in shame. And in the future, laughter will echo through the halls of Congress and the West Wing of the White House if the Catholic bishops issue a press release taking issue with its policies.

In the last two weeks before election day, there is no issue that has the power to persuade the undecided Catholic voter more than the issue of religious liberty. Catholic activists should make sure the message to fellow Catholics is clear: If the unprecedented imposition on the Catholic Church is not answered on election day, the Church can expect future, and more serious, attacks. The bishops themselves have made clear the importance of resisting the HHS mandate by their Fortnight for Freedom.

But no Catholic who cares about the outcome of this election should forget the bottom line: The outcome will not be determined by the importance of our cause -- it will be determined by who gets out the vote. What Catholics can do in the last two weeks before Nov. 6 is to make sure everyone they know casts their vote. They should take advantage of the early voting opportunities in 34 of our 50 states.

A final word to those Catholics who are growing frustrated with the obstacles they are meeting in trying to educate and motivate fellow Catholics. Political campaigns are by their very nature human struggles, tumultuous and passionate. When the people of faith involve themselves in politics, politics doesn't change. What Catholics can do is accept, even expect, the human imperfections that political struggle inevitably reveals -- and then fight for the next fourteen days!

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: catholic vote, voter guide, abortion, religious liberty, marriage, family, campaign 2012, Romney, Ryan, Obama, Biden, Voter Guides, Deal W Hudson, Keith A Fournier

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1 - 10 of 14 Comments

Judy Claar
6 months ago
JoAnn: Agree All posts. Love Mother Theresa.

Jim3031: Absolutely correct. No wonder JoAnn agreed, and I concur. Great post.

Blessings...
patzi
6 months ago
I am for my God and My Church and when its destruction to our Nation an against all odds from Our CAtholism Im definitely voting for the other President Good luck Romney.. We must all Pray that we get a good HEART man in lead for America 2013
jpaul
6 months ago
6-November-2012 . The victory goes to Mr Mitt Romney and paul ryan.god bless america .i pray for god.America will see the miracle,
Joe from Virginia
6 months ago
No man we can elect will ever be perfect - and anyone we elect will face great hardship in his efforts to get our economy, diplomacy, and values back in tune. But here we essentially have perhaps one of the most accomplished, charitable, thoughtful, pragmatic people to ever run for President. Mr. Romney's modesty and reluctance to gloat about his own giving and his own career accomplishments speaks volumes to me. He doesn't want credit -- he just wants to do what he can to get America going again. And to me, that’s beautiful.

Mitt Romney will protect the unborn - and will restructure the disastrous 1960s welfare state and the unsustainable entitlements on autopilot into instruments that will help those who are most vulnerable, but will also make our safety net and worker retraining programs work better so people can flourish going forward -- not float in the darkness of government dependency perpetually. He will also keep our military and diplomacy strong -- with peace, prosperity, and cooperation being our objective.

Mr. Obama has failed -- and because his economic policy manifested in his fiscal & regulatory indiscipline -- and Mr. Bernanke's disastrous, reckless monetary schemes -- is indefensible, he plays to group identity politics and divisive stances on social issues. It comes as little surprise to me. After all, we're talking about a man who voted against a born-alive infant protection act as a State Senator -- on more than one occasion. That's not pro-choice. That's monstrous.
JCD
6 months ago
+1. - Jim3031

Mr. McGuire,
Catholic social justice requires that we help our fellow man with our own wallet, not someone else's wallet. We cannot build bridges and tunnels, or provide for national defense at the parish level, but we can certainly feed a community. We can certainly address housing at the city/county level and health care at the state level. Subsidiarity means managing charity at the closest level, not at the most convenient for our wallet level.
JoAnn
6 months ago
Jim3031: A big AMEN to that. God bless.
Jim3031
6 months ago
We hear about common good and social justice, but these have specific meanings within the Catholic Church which specifically condemns socialism in any form. Some say that the Federal Government must provide help and grants, but NO government entity can provide help or grants of any kind without taking wealth or money by FORCE from someone else first. Check which candidates give the most of their own to charity. THEY are the ones truly helping others. Those who "help" with OPM (other people's money) are only taking power and aggrandizing themselves. Read the story of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan did not accost the Priest and Levite and force them to help the roadside victim. No, he did it voluntarily, on his own. That is the type of charity that Jesus taught. He did not teach theft by force and then subsequent redistribution as some sort of good. Anyone who says that Life issues are secondary to others are not Catholic, period.
JoAnn
6 months ago
"A nation that kills its children, has NO SOUL" Mother Teresa. "A nation that kills its children, has NO FUTURE." Mother Teresa Think about it. God bless.
Catherine
6 months ago
As long as bishops speak "with forked tongues", we will not have one united Catholic vote such as the jews and minoritiees have. Divide and conqueor the gospel of liberal "Catholics in name only". Evil will continue to reign in our country.
Solution is to look to Mary and pray the rosary. We can not depend on the leaders of our church in the usa anymoe.
Thomas
6 months ago
For me the answer is simple; when Jesus ask's at my final judgement, what did you do for the most innocent of my people, I don't want to tell him I stood by while your children were martyred. 40,000,000 times have they been martyred, 40,000,00 time have we defied God's Will. As a catholic who loves Jesus, there is no greater evil in America that the assaults on Right to Life, Marriage between a man and a woman, and religious liberties. Everything else is secondary. Black and white does exist.

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