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Archbishop Burke Issues Pastoral Letter Saying Right to Life is Most Important Political Issue

Emphasizes pro-abortion culture is strong where teaching against contraception is rejected

LA CROSSE, January 9, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, of the La Crosse Diocese, has issued a pastoral letter in which he clearly explains that life issues such as abortion and euthanasia take precedence over any other political considerations. The letter states, "Some will say that the defence of innocent life is only one issue among many, that it is important but not fundamental. They are wrong. In the natural moral law, the good of life is the most fundamental good and the condition for the enjoyment of all other goods."

Quoting Pope John Paul II, the Archbishop proclaimed that "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 of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, "The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World" [December 30, 1988], n. 38b). Archbishop Burke says, "Catholics therefore cannot legitimately believe that, if they support programs for the poor and marginalized, this 'makes up' for not being consistently pro-life."

In addition to making political decisions that are pro-life, the Archbishop called on the faithful to pray for the establishment of a culture of life, but most importantly to start at home. "We must recognize that the building of a culture of life begins in the home, in our families," he said. "It begins with a true understanding of the conjugal union and its ordering to the gift of children So often Catholics fail to act against abortion or euthanasia with the appropriate energy, because they have compromised the Church's teaching on the procreative end of marriage by accepting artificial birth control."

The Archbishop suggests, "The port of entry for the culture of death in our society has been the abandonment of the respect for the procreative meaning of the conjugal act. It is the contraceptive way of thinking, the fear of the life-giving dimension of conjugal love, which very much sustains that culture." He quotes Pope John Paul II (Evangelium Vitae, n. 13): "[T]he pro-abortion culture is especially strong precisely where the Church's teaching on contraception is rejected".

He concludes, "If we are to act for the Gospel of Life with renewed vigour in our families and our parishes, we must adhere firmly to the Church's teaching on artificial contraception. We should promote natural family planning as a moral alternative for those who, for grave reasons, need to limit the number of children in the family."

See the full Pastoral letter online:
http://www.dioceseoflacrosse.com/whats_new/CivicRespPastoralLetter.pdf

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