This came from my Catholic Men's Fellowship email. Father James Farnan, our popular NFCM Channel 1 podcasters delivered a courageous homily on October 18th. He exhorted his parishioners to embrace faithful citizenship & respect for life. A few parishioners walked out of the Mass during his homily and immediately transferred parishes. However, he received a resounding applause from a majority of the parish. The text of his homily is attached to this email. Please forward it to others!
• I can’t tell you how many times in the last few months I have been approached like this:
• “Father, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: can I vote for a politician who is pro-abortion?”
• I kind of know how Jesus must have felt in our Gospel today.
o Are they “plotting how they might entrap me”? Are they being malicious?
o Or do they really want to know? How open are we to the Truth, to what Jesus might say to us if we challenged him with any question, but especially THAT question?
o But I know this parish, and I don’t find you malicious. These are real questions because this is a real problem for people. An it is a volatile issue…I would not think of addressing it but so many of you have asked me. You, like me, want to know the truth. And we pursue that knowledge, and love the Truth when we discover it.
o But the question won’t go away…Can I vote for a politician who is pro-abortion?
o I guess every Father gets asked tough questions and has to answer them…
• We all need to inform and follow our consciences on this issue.
• Let’s look at the Church teaching.
• Let’s look at our Tradition.
• Let’s look at Sacred Scripture.
• Frtunately we have the Holy Spirit leading the apostles in our midst, our Bishops, to help us answer that question.
• Let’s start at home. Last week Bishop Zubik, our Apostle, the primary teacher in our diocese, released a statement and published it on the front page of our diocesan Newspaper, the Pittsburgh Catholic.
o To assist you in understanding what the teachings of the Church are regarding the various campaign issues, I would recommend that you consult with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults or the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Moreover, you might also want to secure a copy of Faithful Citizenship. Since the presidential election of 1976 and every four years, we the Bishops have offered updated versions of this important document to assist voters as they exercise their voting rights coupled with the responsibility of an understanding of the issues from the perspective of faith.
o The primary theme of Faithful Citizenship is the right to life and the dignity of every human person. As the United States Bishops made clear, this is the foundation of a moral vision for society. We cannot dismiss this foundational principle as secondary in our thinking. As the bishops insist, we cannot consider abortion or euthanasia as merely two issues among many to be weighed or dismissed with a shrug.
• Those are strong words from our chief shepherd. Unprecedented in his Episcopal tenure. He must feel strongly, and the Holy Spirit must be moving in a powerful way in his soul. But he is not alone.
o U.S. Catholic bishops affirmed in 2008 when they released “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” that, in accord with Vatican statements, a “consistent ethic of life [which] neither treats all issues as morally equivalent nor reduces Catholic teaching to one or two issues.” Life issues, like abortion are a defining issue, according to our bishops; in other words a deal breaker.
o This makes sense, as the Church has always taught that abortion is a grave evil. In the Spirit of Vatican II we see this theme: “[T]he human being is to be … treated as a person from the moment of conception,” Evangelium Vitae, no. 60. And from the Vatican’s “Instruction on Bioethics” published in 1987, we are taught that “The law must provide appropriate “penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child’s rights.”
o But wait, there’s more. In 2004, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in a letter to the American bishops, said: “Not all moral issues have the same weight as abortion and euthanasia. 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.”
o And more recently from Bishop Lori, the Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport (Connecticut) and Chair of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, we get this: “It would be refreshing if we could find candidates whose records, party platforms, and personal commitments embody the full range of the Church’s social teaching, reasonable as that teaching is. Unfortunately that seldom happens. That is why we must have a well-formed conscience capable of giving each issue its proper moral weight and making other important distinctions and judgments. For example, a Catholic may never vote for candidates precisely because they advocate and advance intrinsic moral evils like abortion; to do so is to cooperate formally (intentionally) with a grave evil. And while Faithful Citizenship acknowledges that one may vote for a politician who supports pro-abortion policies “only for truly grave moral reasons,” a conscientious voter must question what grave moral issue rises to the level of nearly 49 million lives lost to the evil of abortion.
In our tradition, there has never been a time in the 2000 years we’ve been around when we have ever supported or encouraged abortion, or taught the same. In fact, as early as the second century Church catechisms spoke directly against disregarding innocent human life inside and outside the womb.
• My dear sisters and brothers in Christ, we need not look any farther than Sacred Scripture and Divine Revelation in helping to form our consciences…Recall that during the annunciation the Angel Gabriel tells Mary about her cousin Elizabeth being pregnant. Immediately afterwards, Mary travels in haste to her side. Upon her arrival, the BABY in the womb of Elizabeth leaps for joy, and Elizabeth is inspired by the Holy Spirit to say, “Who am I that the MOTHER of my Lord should come to me. At the sound of your greeting the BABY in my womb leapt for joy.” The BABY in Elizabeth’s womb? Mary, only a few days pregnant, is theotokos, the MOTHER of the Lord. Do we need anything else than the very mystery of the incarnation of God in the womb of a woman to reveal to us that life in the womb is precious, life in the womb is touched by the Divine, life in the womb is truly LIFE!
• God has revealed it…pregnant women are already MOTHERS!
• Now, the political process has played out before our eyes over the last months, and each candidate has their chance to make their position clear in regards to the important MORAL issues.
• And what we have seen is that no candidate comes to this election with clean hands. But they have stated their positions on very important life issues.
• And it is clear, we as Catholics must consider these issues FIRST when casting our vote.
• That being said, not voting or writing in someone is a viable option.
• Imagine is we all voted the truth of these issue, what effect we would have on this country. In fact I believe that if Catholics truly voted pro life, voted our beliefs, voted as a witness to our faith, we would HAVE good candidates, in both parties, to choose from.
• Our gospel today challenges us…it’s not just about the coin. It’s not just about the economy.
• In fact, what’s the most important image? The image on the coin, or the one in whose image you have been created, and every child, born or unborn, is created?
• Yes, give to God what is God’s, but I must warn you, the people of God whom I love dearly, you can give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, but don’t give anything to Ceasar that would jeopardize your eternal salvation.
October 18th and 19th 2008
