‘2020’ and Church Teaching

I would like to thank you and Senior Editor Matthew Bunson for the Register’s recent article on the candidates for the nomination to be the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2020 (“Meet the Democrat Candidates for 2020,” Nation, May 12 issue).

I appreciate both your research and work to inform the Catholic community about where these candidates stand on issues that are important to Catholic social teaching. The candidates’ positions on abortion, in particular, stand out as a central issue to be considered, and the article helpfully describes the religious background and “pro-choice” stance of each candidate.

However, I was concerned that the article did not provide a fuller analysis of the candidates in light of the full body of Catholic social teaching. For example, Pope Francis has both written and spoken extensively about the need to care for our common home and the plight of immigrants and refugees. The latter of these issues has been a central focus of many in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Religious liberty and access to health care have also been central issues for Catholic voters to consider as they form their consciences in preparation for the upcoming primaries and the election next year.

The question of access to health care, for instance, was clearly stated more than 50 years ago by Pope St. John XXIII: “Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest and, finally, the necessary social services” (Pacem in Terris, 11). My hope, in sending you this brief letter, is that you will keep in mind the full range of Catholic social teaching as you continue your important and irreplaceable work of helping to inform Catholics in the United States. As our country (and too frequently our Church) becomes increasingly polarized, I feel strongly that it is important that we remain steadfast in our call to preach the truth of the Gospel in its entirety. It seems likely to me that Catholics who have been formed deeply in the teaching of the Church are likely to be challenged once again by the candidates offered by the major political parties in the United States.

Your work in helping to inform our community well in these matters is an issue of great civic and ecclesial importance. Thank you for your vocation as Catholic journalists and living out your call to inform the U.S. Catholic community in light of the teachings of the Church.

         Theodore James Whapham

         dean and associate professor

         Ann and Joe O. Neuhoff School of Ministry,

        University of Dallas

 

Right to Be Born

Pertinent to “States Debate Life and Death Laws”: Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s macabre celebration of abortion in New York prompted states to reassess the abortion issue, as reported in the Register’s article, which appeared online March 8. The U.S. Supreme Court wrote its own abortion law (Roe v. Wade). It defines its own law, and it enforces its own law.

How can anyone make inroads with a governmental entity that believes “it” has the totalitarian authority to dictate the death of all this nation’s future citizens by abortion? Because “their law” — Roe v. Wade — gives every woman the right to abort every pregnancy. Men who father babies have an equal right and voice in their babies’ livelihood. Roe v. Wade victimized fathers. They could not be mentioned because the right “found” in the Constitution was called a “woman’s” right to prevent interference in the abortion. Women were made responsible for pregnancies. The right or choice to abortion “found” in the Constitution is as useless as the illegal choice women have always had. The woman must still abort the baby herself — or find someone to unlawfully perform the abortion. The right “found” in the Constitution had to be a smokescreen. Feminists who wanted abortions needed only one thing — legal killers — but the Constitution doesn’t give anyone a right to kill human life. It is called killing — because the unborn individuals being formed in the womb are living. It’s why they are killed. All women have a right to have children — which means all children have a right to be born.

                        Ruth Ruhl-LaMusga

                        Chico, California