It was well that the Arch Bishop included only one brief paragraph on the non negotiables of the Catholic Church’s teachings. He carefully avoided using words like intrinsically evil and the obligation to not support a candidate who promotes anti Catholic teachings. It seems that he assumes all Catholics know what a conscience is that is properly formulated. He also seemed to avoid specific instructions on our presidenial candidates. I hope some found the overall article helpful. More Church officials need to wrie articles such as this with more specifics for Catholics on voting.

    It’s murky in this sense.  The democrats write enabling laws that make abortions more probable and Republicans want to cut mediCAID ( not medicare) by $800 billion which currently pays for 37% of births in the US.  The Bishops by now should have had a group like Pew Research figure out which group would cause the most abortions….the democrats by bad laws or the republicans by cutting aid to low income females.  No one has projected figures.  Pray that God picks the least damaging party.  Maybe the Bishops have moved the insurance mandate to absolute number one and that’s that.

I wish Catholics weren’t forced to compromise our beliefs in any way when it comes to how we cast our votes.  It used to be that there were pro-life, pro-justice Democrats whose policies embodied the whole of Catholic social teaching.  Many of the prolife measures passed in Congress would not have passed had it not been for these prolife Democrats.  But extremists on both sides have made it impossible for these moderates to survive.  And, frankly, in their blind eagerness to extert political power of any kind, our bishops have led us to accept the false, polarizing choices now offered by both parties. 

At this point, any vote represents an unacceptable compromise of our beliefs.  We say we have a moral duty to vote, but perhaps it’s our greater duty to protest.  We need to say no to further compromise and the bishops need to take the lead in re-framing the public debate away from false choices and wedge politics that divide us and our beliefs.

I heartily agree with Bill and Frank.  Neither party is acceptable to the conscience that tries to follow the Gospel.  Of course, life issues are paramount. Policies that drive people to destroy life, however, are counterproductive to the cause of life.  I,too, would like to see a real, objective study from the Bishops regarding “which is worse?”. I think they might be surprised at what they are not so subtly encouraging Catholic voters to do by stating there is only one choice.
For me, the options are don’t vote, vote Democratic, or write someone in, in protest of both parties.  I can not vote for anyone that would destroy our safety nets that and leave so many stranded.  There are not enough good paying jobs, and many people are not even qualified to do them if they were available.  Low wage jobs force people to seek public assistance of one sort or another.

The NON-NEGOTIABLES are LIFE, MARRIAGE and FREEDOM. Based on these we vote for the candidate who will do the LEAST harm.  If there is no life there is no need of healthcare, therefore, life comes FIRST. Marriage is to be upheld which forms the MOST IMPORTANT necleus of society. Without a firm foundation of marriage society itself will desintegrate from within. Freedom is a right which comes to us from GOD HIMSELF and is enshrined in our Constitution.
All issues other then these three are debateable.

Bill Bannon, you certainly have the right to state your opinion. Democrats support abortion and funding for it. Republicans do not. I consider myself an independent. I will not vote for any pro-abortion candidate (defined as espousing abortion rights) and consider it seriously sinful to do so.

Except for MR and Bill McCormick’,, the rest of the comments are pure dribble.  No matter how strongly JPII stated it or any of the U.S. bishops, Democrat Catholics just don’t hear it.  Their religion is Democrat first, Catholic second.  And such Catholics are solely responsible for the 52,000,000 murdered babies today and still counting.  You call yourselves Catholics; you’re not even Christians.

Abp Gomez is correct, including the non-negotiables.

The question that also needs discussion is in forming a conscience.
This is where all Bishops and Priests need to take a more active and prominent role in promoting reading and study of the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” - all year long.
It is too late if left only to election time.

CCC: ” 1801 Conscience can remain in ignorance or make erroneous judgments. Such ignorance and errors are not always free of guilt.”

CCC: ” 1791 This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin. In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.”

On internet please see:  ” What Catholics REALLY Believe Source “, or http://whatcatholicsreallybelieve.com .
The answer to question # 1 will give suggestions on how each of you can help with evangelization, and knowing your Faith.
Forming a good conscience is critical to our Salvation.

Some readers have submitted excellent comments that show the dilemma for Catholic voters: Vote for the candidate who used to be pro-choice, now (temporarily?) claims to be pro-life, and espouses economic and social policies that are virtyally certain to drive more poor women to seek abortions - or vote for the pro-choice candidate but advocates more Christian social policies.
In 1967 then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) wrote: “Over the pope as expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there stands one’s own conscience which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”
My conscience tells me that I do not have to worry one bit about the fate of the aborted fetus - (s)he is with God. I have to pray for the aborting mother and those who perform abortions - and for those who promote and enact policies that drive desperate women to make desperate decisions. And I must pray for all politicians.
I commend Archbishop Gomez for acknowledging the dilemma today’s voters face, and for acknowledging the role our conscience plays in resolving the dilemma. My own Bishop has made himself irrelevant to this debate by seeing the abortion issue only.

stillbelieve,
    Registered republica.  You’d write more carefully if you used your real name.  A wacky name permits you to commit sins of the tongue in your case more easily…and the NT says the “evil tongued…will not possess the kingdom of God.”
  I would not vote for Obama but republicans can be against abortion and produce abortions through cutting medicaid which now covers 37% of all child births in the USA. 
    Ask yourself if the Pope talks like you…“you’re not even Christian”.  I never heard one Pope talk like that ever let alone to a person who wrote what I did in my post.  Use your surname.  You’ll have more respect for your salvation in terms of a blameless tongue.

Count me in with MR, Bill McCormick, and stillbelieve…..........It is impossible to support the Democratic Party and be CATHOLIC!!  And to not support the Republican Party in this election is a SIN of omission.  It is your duty as Catholics to have an informed conscience!  Wake up before it is too late!  And may GOD still see fit to bless America!

“When Catholics go to the voting booth, he said, there are non-negotiable aspects of Catholic social teaching that they should recall. Abortion and euthanasia and families based on a marriage between a man and a woman are among those non-negotiables. These issues cannot be disagreed about among Catholics who have formed their consciences with the Church, he said.”

What does “non-negotiable” mean people?  It means there are no “buts” when it comes to your voting.  And quite frankly we are talking only about one group of people who are supportive of all the non-negotiable issues - abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage.  That group of people are in an organization called the Democrat Party; the party of slavery, Jim Crow and segregation laws in the past, and enslaving minorities and poor whites today in welfare programs to get their votes.

The article goes on to say, “But many issues are debatable among Catholics who have well-formed consciences. Archbishop Gomez pointed to issues such as taxes, government spending, how to deal with immigration and helping the poor as examples of topics that are matters of prudential judgment.

“In these areas, ‘sincere and faithful Catholics are always going to have legitimate differences of opinion over how best to apply the Church’s moral principles,’ he wrote.”

“What’s important is that we are always trying to think and act with the mind of Christ and the mind of the Church.”

And there is the cop-out - everything after the “but.”  Everything after the “but” is the “moral equivalency” the bishops instituted, under Archbishop Bernardin the new Chairman of the Pro-Life Committee, from the Archdiocese of Chicago; Chicago, the most corrupt, Democrat City in the county.  The city is run by a Mayor, and a City Council made up of 50 members from 50 Wards in the City.  Every member on the Council is a Democrat. Bernardin got the U.S. Bishops to add so called “social justice” issues to the word that was created only to fight abortion.  That word was “pro-life,” a word coined to counter the pro-aborts calling themselves “pro-choice.”  And the Church’s pro-life teaching had no room for compromise up to that point, creating a problem for Catholic Democrats.  They had to choose - to be a Catholic who was pro-life, or a Catholic who was a Democrat who chose to support the pro-abortion Democrat Party. That was a moral dilemma for those Catholics who wanted to remain in the Democrat Party.  Thus, to the rescue came Bernardin, because not only was he concerned about the moral dilemma Catholics, who loved being Democrat, were having to deal with, Bernardin, himself, wanted to “keep the pro-life movement from falling completely under control of the right wing conservatives who were becoming its dominant sponsors.” (“Cardinal Bernardin - Easing conflicts - and battling for the soul of American Catholicism” a favorable biography by his long time friend, Eugene Kennedy).

So, to keep Catholics happy in the Democrat Party, because that was what the party bosses needed, the bishops consented to enable liberals to call themselves “pro-life,” too, by introducing prudential judgment issues which shifted a properly formed conscience from absolutes to moral equivalency.  Even though the bishops continue with the teaching that a properly formed conscience would enable a Catholic to be registered in and vote for the Democrat Party, which Archbishop Gomez silently approves, reality screams that they drop the charade, and fast.  Not only have more babies been murdered under the stalemate they created in the Church with the inclusion of social justice issues in the equation for arriving at a properly formed conscience, the Church, herself is now being attacked by the very same Democrat Party Bernardin and the bishops saved 29 years ago. 

To save the Church, today, in this election, the bishops should show their true, individual, colors and announce as private, U.S citizens, who they are voting for in all federal and state political offices that have a say so in the continuation of abortion-on-demand remaining the law-of-the-land, as well as defining what marriage is.  Because that will be the best illustration of what a properly formed conscience looks like to Catholics.  And it just might save the United States of America and the Constitution.

stillbelieve ............Please forward this post in its entirety to the USCCB!  We have such a very short time to get the TRUTH out to Catholics. The social justice issues can NEVER out rank the LIFE issues and our bishops have got to make this perfectly clear. Great post!  Thank you!

Sounds like there are some “Catholics for Obama” posting on this site, or are part of athiest George Soros’ “Media Matters” group to re-elect the evil Obama.
You are trying to twist things and cause confusion.
1)  OBAMA is for ABORTION and wants to use our tax dollars to do this.
2)  OBAMA is for SODOMY - gay marriage.
3)  OBAMA is against Freedom of Religion and is trying to force us to use our tax dollars against our Faith beliefs.

Using the Doctrine of our Faith - as contained in the CCC, we may not vote for OBAMA under pain of mortal sin.
Always vote for the candidate who will do the least damage.

Romney has done nothing that would be a sin of omission for us.
Let’s talk about OBAMA removing $310 billion dollars from Medicare to give to Medicaid at a time when the baby boomers have been retiring, and refusing mammograms to women over age 74, and age discrimination at hospitals by Obama fining them if they readmit SENIORS only - for the same health issue within a certain period of time - EUTHANASIA.
Let’s talk about Obama’s making people slaves to the government with his policies that harm private sector job creation.
Let’s talk about our National Debt - which he has done nothing to lower and in fact is so much higher that US credit rating has dropped twice within the last two years.
Let’s talk about the fact the more US Military have been killed during the Obama Administration in Afghanistan than all 10 years previous.
Obama has to take full credit and responsibility for his 4 years in Office.  What happened prior to his 4 years does not matter regarding Obama’s candidacy for 2012.
Obama has been a total flop - a big ZERO - regarding Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, Energy Policy, Economic Policy, and Defense.
Not only is Obama EVIL, he is a lousy President.

Above all as Christians and Catholics, we have powerful weapons which we must use, namely: The sacraments, the holy rosary. St. Therese of the Child Jesus said that prayer is a queen who always has access to the King.

We start by making a sincere sacramental confession then mass and holy communion.  The rosary is to be prayed DAILY. Our Lady herself asked for the daily recitation of the rosary as a means of conversion in some of her most renowed apparitions among which are Fatima and Lourdes. Let us not forget Guadalupe.  When Bishop Zumarraga asked the people to pray Our Lady for help in the conversion of the Aztec, the response he received was an amazing conversion of the indigenous people in the millions! Let us also remember the miracle at Lepanto and how through the prayer of the holy rosary, the Christian fleet won a most miraculous victory.

This country, the USA, was consacrated to Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception. Let us pray this Holy Mother and entrust ourselves and our country to her.

The Church is starting a novena to Our Lady for our country, on September 29 till October 7,feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  You’ll find the novena at ewtn.com/novena

    Romney believes in abortion in cases of rape, incest, and health of the mother.  Google it please.  Sodomites will sin with or without Obama.
    You are over simplifying.  Medicaid is something most elderly need who have the misfortune of dying slowly in old age.  Medicare covers 100 days of a skilled nursing home…then your savings go if you are the last spouse…..then after all your savings, medicaid pays until you die.  Ryan wants to cut medicaid $800 billion but he voted twice for the Iraq war which the Eisenhower Institute costed out at $4 trillion dollars.  Thus he wants to cut medicaid for elders and child birth amongst the poor but he makes no mention of wasting $4 trillion searching for weapons of mass destruction that were never found.  He voted for 25% of the very deficit he complains of.
      Bottom line….will Obama’s bad legislating cause more abortions than Ryan’s cuts to medicaid for poor pregnant girls?  No one knows because the hierarchy really should have tasked a research firm to do the probabilities.  I am not voting Obama by any means and am a registered republican but I can see praying rather than voting that day.

@Pete Muth

Thank you for the quote of Cardinal Ratzinger: “My conscience tells me that I do not have to worry one bit about the fate of the aborted fetus - (s)he is with God.”

I wonder if Cardinal Ratzinger believes it is God will on earth to create life for it to be aborted? 

Fourteen years ago, I had a conversation one evening standing in the church parking lot, with the pastor of a church just a few blocks from my house.  I was asking him if he could vote for a friend of mine, a pro-life former Congressman for 8 terms, and 2 terms as the state Attorney General, who was the unchallenged Republican nominee for Governor of the State of California.  That pastor told me, “I can’t vote for him, I’m a Democrat.”  I asked him, “What about abortion?”  I’ll never forget his answer.  He said, “I’m not worried about the babies, they’re in heaven.”  I was so shocked with his answer, I couldn’t speak.  And this was a priest who had great sermons, including against abortion.

I am glad to learn that this wasn’t an original idea he came up with himself.  But it worries me because Archbishop Bernardin sent his proposal to incorporate social justice issues into the issue of pro-life to Rome where cardinal Ratzinger reviewed it and returned it approved with a few minor changes about 6 months later.  That also was in the biography - Cardinal Bernardin.

OBAMA is forcing us to pay for ABORTION for convenience, CONTRACEPTION, and Sterlization with our tax dollars both in the US and abroad.
Legalizing sodomy (gay marriage) is promoting sodomy as an accepted way of life.

Praying and Voting is what your Faith teaches if you are Catholic.
Voting is and obligation.  CCC 2240.
By staying home a Catholic is electing Obama.
Some Obama posters write on Catholic sites to encourage Catholics to stay home from voting so their buddy will get re-elected.

Internet - search ” What Catholics REALLY Believe Source ” which includes links to instruction from Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) and links to Priests for Life.  They know more than many posters on this site do.
1)  A statement by Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict);
2)  A Voting Guide for Serious Catholics;
3)  Where do Candidates stand on key issues (2012 Presidential);
4)  A Comparison of the 2012 Republican and Democratic Party Platforms;
5)  A link to the short video “Test of Fire”.

Sorry Obama is already throwing seniors under the bus. Women over age 74 will not be able to get mammograms.
Hospitals are already being penalized for re-admitting seniors with the same serious illness within a several month period.  This is discrimination against seniors only -no other age group.
This can all be verified on internet.
It is evident Bill that you are working too hard to get people to vote for Obama or not vote at all - even though you pretend otherwise.

Thou shall not Kill.
We can only hope that in His Mercy these unbaptized aborted babies are in Heaven.  You may NOT presume.  Presumption is a sin.

CCC: “1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism.  All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

If you read what Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) stated in “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion, General Principles” - Catholics who vote for a pro-abortion politican are at the least participating in the abortion by - REMOTE MATERIAL COOPERATION unless there are proportionate reasons.
There are no proportionate reasons in the USA with the murder of approx 1 MILLION innocent babies each year - and Obama using our tax dollars for abortion both here and abroad. 

Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) is against Socialism as is the Church.
Bernardin was a Socialist/Marxist who lied by fixing the votes at the USCCB on several key issues.  His seamless garment theory that all issues are equal is outrageous.

Regarding Cardinal Ratzingers positions, read “The Ratzinger Rport” which he approved.
And read the CCC which he has asked to study in Porta Fidei - the Year of Faith.
CCC:  ” 2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:
You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.
God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.

I am truly surprised at how much pure hatred oozes from some of these comments, and how much misinformation and false accusations they contain. Should we not leave the judging to our merciful God who sees in the hearts of mothers who abort, physicians who assist, politicians AND of writers of comments to the NC Register? St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 distills the essence of Jesus’ message more convincingly than many who have contributed a comment here. I love you all, however, and I pray that God may treat you with more mercy than you show in judging others whom, and whose circumstances, you do not know.

bill bannon

“You are over simplifying.”

No, you are.  Jesus never taught his disciples to go get government to take care of the poor and those in need, he taught them to do it themselves.  They are the ones who will get the rewards, not politicians or people who vote for them, especially politicians in one particular party who are responsible for abortion-on-demand remaining the law-of-the-land resulting, so far, in 52,000,000 murdered babies created by God.  And now that Decadent Party is for same-sex marriage.  And you want to tell us that THAT party is the one to entrust the care of those in need?  Next, you will probably be trying to sell the Israels on the idea that the interment camps the Nazis’ had were family vacation lodges.

@bill bannon

“The democrats write enabling laws that make abortions more probable and Republicans want to cut mediCAID ( not medicare) by $800 billion which currently pays for 37% of births in the US.  The Bishops by now should have had a group like Pew Research figure out which group would cause the most abortions….the democrats by bad laws or the republicans by cutting aid to low income females.”

I wondered where this warped analysis of reality came from. It came from Dr. Stephen Schneck, co-chair of CATHOLICS FOR OBAMA.  He is an associate professor at Catholic University of America.  An article by Alice von Hildebrand headlined “A Plea to Confused Catholics” makes reference to his warped thinking.  You can find that article in Today’s Register Update (9/27/12), in Tito Edwards’ multiple list of articles.

Peter Muth, this is not about “judging” anyone but about stating the truth. Abortion is evil. Any politician, who advocates abortion, is promoting evil. Ignorance is no excuse (well known axiom in the law). We must work to ascertain the truth in order to form “good consciences”, which is our duty. We dare not claim to be following our consciences unless they are well-formed.

As to voting in November, I’m struggling with my conscience. There is no possibility of my voting for Obama, but (like Bill Bannon), I question the pro-life convictions of Mitt Romney.

You got that wrong Mr Obama supporter.
Obama has Medicaid paying for Abortions, contraception, and voluntary sterilization.
And you will see that Obama’s HHS mandate even does this for minors without parental knowledge or approval.
You can not prove one thing where expectant Mothers or their young babies will lose one benefit that they had prior to 2010 Obamacare when it went into effect.
Stop using the Soros talking points, from Media Matters, and just provide facts that are documented on the internet.  We expect you to prove your points.

Bill, why did you leave out that Obama and his Democrats are using our tax dollars to pay for ABORTIONS, CONTRACEPTION, VOLUNTARY STERLIZATIONS ? ? ? - for the first time in this Country’s history.

Could it be because you are supporting OBAMA ?
Of course you are.

You know that a Catholic not voting is a vote FOR OBAMA don’t you.
Be honest.

And document all your statements which you know are false.
Poor Women and their unborn and born infants will have health care under Medicaid just like they did prior to Obama’s election.

Peter Muth….......pure liberal gibberish. Touchy feely!  We are angry that offending GOD is taken so lightly in our culture. It is not hatred!  Conservatives show true compassion not just lip service.

Peter Muth - for links to “Catholic” info regarding helping those with same sex attraction and family members - see links in answer to question # 9 on web site: ” What Catholics REALLY Believe Source “.

Encouraging people to stay in the state of mortal sin by approval or indifference to their sinfulness is NOT charitable, shows indifferance or hatred to those affected.
Loving your Neighbor is wanting and helping them to get to Heaven for eternity.

Admonishing sinners and Instructing the Uniformed - are two of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.

Does it bother anyone that the organizations and politicians who call themselves prolife have pretty much failed, after almost 40 years, to end abortion or even overturn Roe v Wade?

By now, I think I would have fired these people if they were working directly for me.

It’s a tough fight, but the message and the methods haven’t worked.

I read one study that said the abortion rate has been falling faster in “blue” states without all these abortion restrictions, than in states which have enacted restrictions.

I read another study by the Rand Corp. that over-turning Roe would reduce the abortion rate by only 17 percent, because women would still be able to travel to nearby states where it would be legal. 

And that’s not taking to account abortion drugs that can be obtained online from pharmacies overseas.

40 years for 17 percent.

What are we getting for our votes?

Frak, the problem is your Decadent, Democrat Party; in case you haven’t read or heard about their platform and didn’t watch the Decadent Party National Convention - THEY SUPPORT ABORTION ON DEMAND REMAINING THE LAW OF THE LAND AND HAVE PUT PRO-ABORTION JUSTICES ON THE SUPREME COURT AND DENIED A NUMBER OF THE DECENT PARTY’S JUSTICE NOMINEES FOR FEAR THEY WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE.

Now, along with that, Catholic Democrats, or I should say, Democrat Catholics because they are more Democrat than Catholic, continue to give their name identity and votes to the pro-abortion party which enables the Decadent Party elected officials to continue to have the power to prevent passage of pro-life legislation and a court that will overturn Roe. 

If Catholics stopped voting for the Decadent Party and removed their names from their voter registration list in a boycott of the party’s refusal to support the unborn’s right to life going on 40 years next January, we would be able to get the necessary legislation to save their lives.  And that would save nearly 100% of those babies because the Decadent Party would cease to have any power in any state to continue the murdering of the unborn human beings.

Great post, stillbelieve! 

Frak…....We should stop the good fight even though it appears to some that we are losing?  We Christians already know the end of the story. The GOOD wins!  Catholics who vote for the Democratic Party are not Catholics. Pray!

No thinking Christian, no thinking Jew, no thinking American can vote for an anti-American, anti-Christian dictator! The stench of the lies, manipulation, intimidation, coercion, bribery, corruption, and backroom deals to force us to swallow the Obamacare SCAM got even more nauseating when Obama forced us to swallow his pro-abortion mandate!

Thinking Americans understand that the issue is NOT birth control or abortion per se, although Obama and his comrades tried to spin the issue to make appear that way.

The issue is the government FORCING us to act against our principles, the government taking away our FREEDOMS, as if we were already a poverty-stricken, enslaved, commie country like Cuba.

The Obamacare CANCER must be repealed ASAP, before it spreads and continues destroying our economy, our FREEDOMS and our country.

And we must all unite to defend our country and our future from Obama and other U.S. enemies.

We have no greater enemy than Obama, who has already harmed us more than any terrorist, more than Osama.

We are in GRAVE DANGER every second that U.S. hating Marxist is in the White House helping our enemies—including the Muslim Brothers in Egypt and AL QAEDA in Libya—and destroying our economy, our freedoms and our country.

We are in grave danger!  If Obama is reelected we are toast. GOD help us!  Mary pray for us!!!

Great comment Antonio. Dittos to every word you wrote¡!!!!!!!