LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Single issue voting

Posted

TO THE EDITOR:

This is a response to "The Supreme Court and Roe versus Wade" published on September 27, 2012.

Let's pretend Candidate X is running for President of the United States. He is a professed Christian, extremely charismatic, and supports multiple programs for the poor and disenfranchised. He may even have a more realistic plan for economic recovery than his opponent, but he also favors sending Jews to the gas chambers. Jews, in his mind, do not qualify as disenfranchised human persons nor does killing them violate his duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States. In fact, a majority of Supreme Court justices already ruled so in 1973.

Many Catholics are appropriately appalled by this and refuse to support Candidate X. Others castigate this group of "single issue voters" and accuse them of abandoning the Catholic Church's call for social justice. Besides, the politically correct argue, there is nothing a president can do to end this holocaust, it is a matter for the Supreme Court.

Let's be clear: all Americans have a moral obligation to be "single issue voters" on matters of intrinsic evil. Abortion, same–sex “marriage,” and the suppression of religious freedom –three of the pre–eminent issues in this current election cycle – are all intrinsic evils. To vote for a candidate who supports even one of these is to participate in that intrinsic evil and to potentially commit a mortal sin that will endanger your eternal salvation (cf: Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, USCCB, No. 38).

It is true that both opposing evil and doing good -- feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, stimulating the economy and the like -- are essential obligations. However, good Catholics may disagree over how to best fulfill these obligations. Rights pertaining to basic needs such as food, shelter, health care, education, and meaningful work are all linked to the right to life. Good Catholics (and all reasonable people of good will) recognize the primacy of the right to life. It is from the right to life that all other human rights flow and derive their meaning. This fact is what has made abortion the defining moral issue - not only for this election - but for every election since 1973.

Michelle A. Cretella, MD

Westerly