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Cardinal: “Conscience not an excuse for doing something irrational” - Like Supporting Abortion

He is “frustrated” by dichotomy between the moral law and current political situation

by Hilary White

CHICAGO, October 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In his October 15th column in the diocesan newspaper, the Catholic New World, Francis Cardinal George, the archbishop of Chicago, has bluntly told Catholic politicians there should be no separation between their faith, their conscience and their votes.

In the lead up to the mid-term elections, George writes, “Conscience is not an excuse for doing something irrational.” The Cardinal went on to note that "We are to form our consciences according to the social teaching of the Church and use that formation to make political choices . . .  The first and most essential principle of Catholic social teaching is the dignity of every human person and one’s basic right to life from conception to natural death. Respect for human dignity is the basis for the fundamental right to life. This is a non-negotiable principle."

George joins his voice to those of a small number of Catholic leaders in the US, saying that conscience alone, without proper formation in the moral law, is the equivalent of personal whim.

Since the 1960’s Catholic politicians have followed the lead of dissident Catholic academics in asserting that “primacy of conscience” is a legitimate guiding principle for public decision-making. What it has come down to in practice has been the use of “conscience” to justify whatever a lawmaker finds politically expedient up to and including making infanticide a “constitutional right”.

George points to the common justification by Catholic politicians who support abortion saying, “A Catholic politician who excuses his or her decision to allow the killing of the unborn and of others who can’t protect themselves because he or she doesn’t want to ‘impose Catholic doctrine on others’ seems to me to be intellectually dishonest.”

During the last federal election campaign, Cardinal George was among only a fraction of American Catholic bishops who dared to point out that the erosion of Catholic teaching, particularly the development of the “primacy of conscience” doctrine had poisoned the political atmosphere in the US and elsewhere.

Cardinal George’s column this week is a reiteration of his constant message since the federal election in 2004 when the leading Democrat candidate, John Kerry, claimed there was no conflict between his claim to be a “good Catholic” and his complete support of the entire abortion and homosexual political agenda.

That year, the Cardinal told LifeSiteNews.com, elaborating his point about the separation of conscience from the universal moral law, “The usual platitudes such as ‘I am personally pro-life but...’ or ‘I can't enforce my morality,’ simply aren't enough.”

This week, Cardinal George writes that he is “frustrated” by the dichotomy between the moral law and the current political situation in the US and elsewhere,

By way of example, he writes, “Everyone understands that the state should protect property by forbidding stealing... It is not imposing Catholic morality on anybody, even though the Church teaches that stealing is a sin. Our present legal system protects stocks and bonds, as well as dogs and cats, more than it protects unborn human beings.”

Read Cardinal George’s column:
http://www.catholicnewworld.com/cnw/issue/cardinal.html

Read previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Chicago Cardinal George Mulling Action on Catholic Pro-Abortion Politicians
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04020203.html

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