Politics
Wednesday January 18, 2006
How to Vote Responsibly - An Election Sermon for the Last Sunday Before the Election
Priest: Don't Vote by Religion, "Some of the Worst Candidates are Catholic"
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By John-Henry Westen
MARMORA, ON, January 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A priest in the diocese of Kingston has delivered a thoroughly prepared homily on the election, which he is making available to priests and pastors for the final Sunday prior to the election.
Fr. Louis DiRocco, of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, a veteran of the pro-life movement advised parishioners last Sunday of their duty to vote responsibly. He pointed out that certain issues, such as life and family issues are "disqualifying or non-negotiable issues". He directed his congregation to documents of the Church which teach that the life issues, such as abortion and euthanasia, and the family issues such as traditional marriage do not allow for compromise.
Should a candidate support stands in opposition to life and family they would be disqualified from consideration, even if their positions on other matters may be perfect.
"Let's assume a candidate has terrific positions on all the issues except one," said Fr. DiRocco.
"What if somebody said well now, the soft-wood lumber issue has been dragging on and on; let's play hardball with those Americans, let's drop an atomic bomb on Washington and get their attention. Do you think anybody would really take such a candidate seriously? No, it would be unthinkable, it would be outrageous! Well, we should be just as outraged at politicians saying that it is OK to kill innocent human beings in the womb or the elderly or the disabled. Why are those things not as outrageous? We should be outraged!"
The priest warned against voting on candidates' appearances, their personality, their media savvy, and even their religion. "What if the candidate is Catholic? Should you say 'Oh well I can vote for that candidate'. Not necessarily, some of the worst candidates are Catholic, because they are bad Catholics, they don't believe what the Church teaches, they give scandal. So if they don't believe what the Church teaches, if they don't practice it in their lives, if they are not willing to vote for it in Parliament, if they have voted against it in Parliament, if they are promoting immoral policies, then they're bad Catholics. Don't vote for them!," said Fr. DiRocco.
Rev. DiRocco spoke of one exception in voting for candidates who are not completely on side on key moral issues. In a "worst case scenario," he said, where "all (candidates) believe in something immoral". . . "you have to analyze the position of all the candidates and decide which one is going to cause the most harm and which one can cause the least harm by their positions. Which one is more likely or least likely to advance their policies, their immoral legislation. Sometimes you have to vote on that basis."
Voting for a candidate who would allow abortion only in certain cases, over one who would allow abortion on demand, could thus be justified.
In conclusion, the Kingston diocese pastor prayed that "one day we will be able to base our vote only on the negotiable issues, in other words, those issues which allow for legitimate differences of opinion, because all the candidates will be pro-life and pro-family, and in that case no candidate will disqualify himself because he is endorsing immoral laws or immoral principles, intrinsic evils." Such a situation, he said, would be "wonderful" since "Then we can all base our vote on things like the economy, and similar things."
Canada's national pro-life organization, Campaign Life Coalition, is encouraging readers to distribute the text of the homily to their pastors and encourage them to review the homily for the development of their own sermons to their congregations this pre-election Sunday.
See the complete text of Fr. DiRocco's homily at
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/060118b.html
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