By John-Henry Westen
OTTAWA, September 15, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With a federal election campaign underway, the Social Affairs Commission of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has issued an election guide for the nation’s Catholics. Topping the list of items of concern in the guide is “respect for the life and dignity of the human person.”
In its “Federal Election 2008 Guide”, the Commission “encourages Catholics to become better informed about the issues, to voice their concerns with the political candidates … and, most of all, to vote.” The four-page text goes on to list some basic principles from Catholic moral and social teaching to help voters examine and evaluate public policy and programs. These principles begin with respect for life and the dignity of the human person, after which are listed concerns for the poor, peace and the environment.
Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition, in an interview with LifeSiteNews commented that the life issues should be used as a first filter when considering which candidate to support in your riding. “If only two candidates in a field of five are pro-life then we can assess the two remaining choices for their stands on issues dear to us such as defense of marriage, care for the poor, and more,” he said.
The document notes, firstly, that ‘choosing life means’: “Protecting the right to life for even the smallest – the human embryo and the human fetus – who are members of the human family, and also offering assistance to pregnant women who are facing difficult situations.”
Michèle Boulva, Director of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), an organization co-founded by the CCCB and the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus, told LifeSiteNews.com that she was glad to see respect for life as the first concern listed. Boulva explained that in today’s society there is pressure to legalize euthanasia, and “a lot of reaction from pro-abortion groups to bills that somehow recognize the humanity of the fetus.”
The Social Affairs Commission admits that “choices can be tough” for Catholics when a political candidate or a political party holds “values that are not fully in line with Church teaching.” Citing the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the CCCB Social Affairs Commission points out that “a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.”
Boulva said that Catholics must act coherently when voting. We must, she said, “act and make choices and decisions based on our values and convictions; voting is another way of exercising our civic responsibilities which has to be done in coherence with our values.”
The CCCB guide adds that “the principle of choosing ‘the lesser evil’ may also apply.” It explains: “Depending on the situation, a voter may feel it necessary to choose the candidate or the party that represents the lesser evil in terms of moral or ethical values, thus exercising prudential judgment as noted at the beginning of this guide.”
Could it be, as is often said, that because one candidate supports abortion and another, while being against abortion, supports a war effort or the death penalty, that that would be a “proportionate reason” to vote for the pro-abortion candidate over the anti-abortion one? Pope Benedict XVI answered the question in a document he produced just prior to being elected Pope.
“Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia,” explained then-Cardinal Ratzinger in the document. “For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”
The full guide is available on the CCCB website here:
https://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/election_2008_en.pdf
See the full document by Cardinal Ratzinger here:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/050419a.html