Vancouver’s Archbishop Adam Exner Clarifies the Issues for Catholics
VANCOUVER, Nov 17 (LSN.ca) - The Office of Life and Family Archdiocese of Vancouver has today released “A Canadian Catholic Voter’s Catechism” which notes that “the right to life is the most important issue in deciding” one’s vote. The Catechism, laid out in classical question and answer format, was compiled under the authority of Archbishop Adam Exner. It explains that “The most basic of all our rights is the right to life - the right from which all other rights flow. Without life, no other right can be enjoyed. Any threat to the right to life, then, is a threat to all our rights.” The Voter’s Catechism also notes that another important consideration for voting is the “status of marriage and family.”“First, we must vote for candidates and parties that uphold the right to life for all Canadians and for all human beings everywhere,” says the Voter’s Catechism. “Second, we must vote for candidates and parties who recognize that a family is ‘a man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children’; who will enact policies that recognize that children are the responsibility and duty first and foremost of their parents and not of the state; and who will enact policies that assist and do not hamper parents in raising their children.”
The document also suggests, “If no candidate upholds the right to life and the rights of the family,” then “We can vote for the candidate who is the least hostile to the right to life and to the family.”
For the full Canadian Catholic Voter’s Catechism see: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/nov/001117a.html