C-L-S: Endangering the Church’s Tax Exempt Status
We received the most bizarre comment from “Kathy” to an earlier post showing a Grassroots produced clip on Catholic Voting. Let me share it with you:
The video and website, Catholicvote.com were produced by Fidelis. They have very strong ties to the Republican Party and to the McCain campaign. In February of this year they issued a press release endorsing John McCain for president and their website includes articles from Deal Hudson who is an advisor to the McCain campaign as a member of the “Catholic Outreach Committee”. They have given campaign contributions only to republicans and even supported republican Senator Rick Santorum over Bob Casey, a pro-life Catholic democrat, during the 2006 election cycle.
If you forward this video or link to the website in your official capacity you may be in violation of IRS regulations and Church policy. You will also be distributing materials that contradict Church teaching.
Among other things, the video glorifies US economic and military power. This runs contrary to Catholic Social Teaching which emphasizes a preferential option for the poor and solidarity. It also runs contrary to the Cathecism which teaches us that “Respect for and development of human life require peace.”
There is more than one intrinsic evil at issue this year. They include genocide, racism, torture, targeting non-combatants and engaging in unjust wars. They are all life issues and they all require our attention as Catholics.
Whether we vote Republican or Democrat this year what defines us is that we are Catholic.
Don’t let the political parties redefine what it means to be CATHOLIC.
Vote the Common Good!
I hardly know where to start.
Bob Casey as a pro-life Democrat, really? With a 65% positive rating from NARAL, I suppose that from the MM and the Democrat party perspective, he is pro-life but he is not pro-life in any meaningful sense of the term.
The Grassroots video clip contradicts Catholic Social teaching because it “glorifies” US military and economic power? Only the most partisan of minds could find this to be the case. In fact, it says quite the opposite. It says America’s strength comes from a commitment to moral values rather than just military or economic strength. It’s real offense, I suspect, is that its depiction of a Catholic’s obligation of a commitment to protecting the dignity of life from conception to natural death goes against the Democrat party platform.
Implying that McCain and Palin embrace policies that embrace “genocide, racism, torture, targeting non-combatants and engaging in unjust wars” is simply ludicrous. McCain was one Republican who stood up very early against what he believed to be interrogation techniques that fell into the category of torture. The other claims are quite outside the pale of reasonable discourse. One can only envision that these claims are coming from partisans who are desperate to find reasons to be able to justify voting for the most egregious “culture of death” ticket ever presented to the American electorate. There is absolutely no question here. While both parties present morally problematic positions (Obama/Biden hardly needs to be explained, McCain/Palin is problematic in the area of embryonic stem cell research and abortion in the cases of rape and incest), the McCain ticket still possesses a 100% prolife voting record. When this is compared to the voting record of the Obama ticket and the promises Obama has made about his “culture of death” priorities starting with the “Freedom of Choice Act” the thin veneer suggesting that there is room for prudential judgment in this matter quickly melts away. In order to follow Catholic moral teaching in this case, one must vote under the rubric of the principle of double effect. The evidence clearly points to the fact that the overwhelmingly smaller proportion of evil will come from a McCain presidency. Thus, given this choice, a faithful Catholic cannot materially cooperate in the evil that would come from supporting an Obama presidency.
Discussing all of this, apparently, is putting the Catholic Church’s tax exempt status in jeopardy. If that is true, then I suppose we need to abandon dependence upon that status because what we are doing is nothing more than applying the principles of the Catholic faith to the concrete circumstances of this years options. Of course, Kathy’s claim is ridiculous. I cannot figure out if Kathy actually thinks that we are that ignorant or if the fault lies with her understanding.
Since this video does nothing other than present what the Church teaches and never mentions any candidate, what Kathy really intends to say is that anyone who understands Church teaching and applies it to the choice of candidates this election season has only one choice of the two major parties; and it is not her candidate. Thus, she calculates, professing Church teaching is tantamount to advocating McCain. In other words, in condemning the video she tacitly admits that one cannot both be a faithful Catholic and vote for Obama.
There is one thing on which I am in agreement with Kathy. It is that we cannot allow either political party to redefine what it means to be Catholic. However, neither can we allow confused Catholics like Kathy to do so either. Catholics must vote for the common good, but the common good is not served by the thinly veiled dressing up of the Democrat platform to appear as Catholic social doctrine. Unfortunately, this is what Kathy and her “vote the common good” partisan group wish to offer up.
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Someone should tell Kathy that it takes common sense to “Vote the Common Good!”
And why is it that people who insist on “the common good” seem to focus on what is “common” without ever asking if it is in fact “good”?
Comment by dim bulb — September 17, 2008 @ 2:15 PM
Sounds a bit Chestertonian, Dim Bulb.
Comment by Chris — September 17, 2008 @ 3:55 PM
Actually it’s more than “common” sense or political correctness that she needs. What she (and we all) need in an informed conscience. It would be great if an informed conscience WAS common sense but that won’t happen until His “Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
Comment by GT Beck — September 17, 2008 @ 4:03 PM
It’s rings a bell, the term “Common Good” since there is a group by the name “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good ”
Catholic Culture had a commentary on the group here.
“Voting for the Common Good: A Practical Guide for Conscientious Catholics published by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good — which is led by former advisors to Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton — is nothing other than a well-funded attempt to try to persuade Catholics that it is morally acceptable to continue to vote for the “personally opposed” pro-choice candidates who have swindled them in the past.
The guide notes that there can be “no litmus test” for Catholic voters and that there is “no Catholic voting formula.” It adds that “since we seldom, if ever, have the opportunity to vote for a candidate with the right positions on all the issues important to Catholics, we often must vote for candidates who may hold the ‘wrong’ Catholic positions on some issues in order to maximize the good our vote achieves in other areas.” Then it applies these half-truths to the question which is really at the foundation of the guide: “Is it okay to vote for a pro-choice candidate?”
We recommend you look elsewhere for guidance on political issues. “
Comment by Renee — September 17, 2008 @ 6:14 PM
The Catechism is clear, the common good must always serve the individual.
However there seems to be several secular definitions, some which imply or say the individual serves the common good.
In the first abortion can never be justified as by the common good since it harms individuals.
In the second abortion can b egood because the baby is serving the common good by being killed.
Sometimes people in the church in good faith miss the distinction. When some one says “common good” ask what they mean and press them.
Comment by Hank — September 17, 2008 @ 8:46 PM
Dim – Chris is correct, yours is a sage, Chestertonian quip. If you do a post fleshing this out, let me know. I’d like to read it.
Comment by David — September 18, 2008 @ 3:18 PM
I was furious when we received the same message from Maureen “Queen of Dissent” Fiedler of Quijote Center (another heretic group). I am
now not surprised that these Catholic “looney” lefties are threatening us. I am planning to respond to these org. but since these are mass e-mail, I will just ignore them.
Comment by Father Gary V. — September 19, 2008 @ 10:01 AM