Monday November 1, 2004
Two More US Catholic Bishops Weigh in at the 11th Hour on the Primacy of the Right to Life
GREEN BAY/ORLANDO, November 1, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The bishops of Green Bay Wisconsin, and Orlando Florida have issued 11th hour statements on the responsibilities of Catholic citizens in voting. Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic diocese of Green Bay, in a letter published in the diocesan newspaper, urged his flock "for God's sake, to vote." The bishop, a lifelong political observer wrote, "Never, in the course of those 44 years, have I seen a campaign as heated or as divergent or as critical as the current one."
Bishop Zubik writes that the right to life "is the most basic of all rights of nature" and cannot be abrogated by the Supreme Court or by a President. He urges the Catholics of Green Bay when they go to the polls, "don't leave God outside. Take with you the belief that God is the Creator of all life and not some scientist who promises to create life, only in the end to kill life."
Bishop Thomas Wenski, who has been one of many US bishops prominently condemning the 'personally opposed but…' rhetoric espoused by John Kerry, also reminds his flock of their responsibility to vote. The coadjutor bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando wrote on October 30th, in the Orlando Sentinel, "More than terrorism, the tendency to moral relativism in our culture is the greatest threat to authentic democracy today."
Reiterating the duty of all citizens "to oppose uncompromisingly policies and laws that undermine the common good," Wenski says, "The church -- clergy and laity - while agreeing to disagree on other matters of prudential judgment cannot but oppose the evils of abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem-cell research, human cloning and so-called same-sex marriage. In these areas, there can be no other legitimate Catholic position."
To read Bishop Zubik's letter:
http://www.thecompassnews.org/compass/current/bridginggap.shtml
To read Bishop Wenski's commentary (registration required):
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpwenski30103004oct30,1,5640827.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines
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