Los Angeles, Calif., Aug 29, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A Catholic apologetics organization is taking out a full-page ad in the country's largest national newspaper tomorrow to tell Catholics how to vote according to the teachings of the Catholic Church when they go to the polls this November. Catholic Answers will take out the ad in tomorrow's edition of USA Today.
The ad will feature the text of the organization's "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics," which stirred some controversy recently. The text can be seen on the organization's Web site: www.catholic.com.
The "voter's guide" focuses on five major issues - abortion, homosexual marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia - for which Catholics should never support in accordance with the Church' Magisterium, said Karl Keating, founder and president of the California-based organization.
The guide doesn't tell Catholics which politicians to vote for, he said, "but which to vote against, simply on principle."
Keating said Catholics are free to support or to oppose any politician on issues such as jobs, trade, taxes, or the war in Iraq, but regarding these five key issues "all Catholics are forbidden to endorse them or vote for them."