Oct 21, 2004 / 22:00 pm
In the light of statistics that indicate that “Catholics are no different than the general population in their opinion on abortion or in their voting behavior,” Archbishop Bernard W. Schmitt, Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston has issued a letter to his diocese reiterating Church teaching that “abortion is the greatest moral evil of our age.”
“As the deliberate killing of an innocent human being, there is “no circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever” that can justify or excuse abortion,” affirmed Msgr. Schmitt, citing Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, The Gospel of Life.
He notes “that most Catholic legislators are no different from others in their lack of support for Pro-Life legislation; in fact, some Catholic legislators vote against any attempt to limit abortion on demand, and the culture of death it has created, with such regularity as to have a perfect record of opposition to this most innocent of all human life.”
He noted that though Catholics must preach the entire Gospel of Life, “not all evils are equal…Abortion, representing as it does an attack on the most innocent of all human life and the most sacred of all human relationships, is so grave and profound an evil that it calls all men and women of good will to action.”
“Abortion is an evil we can do something about,” he said.”As a nation, we are wealthy enough, blessed enough, and compassionate enough to achieve this goal and to achieve it right now. If, however, we choose to stand idly by while abortion continues, we risk the fate of the rich man who refused to lift a single finger to help the starving Lazarus.”
In his conclusion he states that “a Catholic who deliberately votes for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion is guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil.”
Read the Archbishop's full letter at:
http://www.dwc.org/news/oct2104.shtml