Bishop Burke's Stand

In a Jan. 8 letter, Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, Wis. — soon to be archbishop of St. Louis — said: “Catholic legislators who are members of the faithful of the Diocese of La Crosse and who continue to support procured abortion or euthanasia may not present themselves to receive holy Communion. They are not to be admitted to holy Communion, should they present themselves, until such time as they publicly renounce their support of these most unjust practices.” The letter completed a process that began with the bishop's Christ the King pastoral letter, excerpted below.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In these and in the coming months, politicians are beginning their campaigns for election or re-election to public office in 2004. The start of political campaigns reminds us that we, as Catholics, are called to be faithful to Christ also through our political involvement. Every election gives us the opportunity to discuss the ways our government should lead us now and into the future for the common good.

Forming judgments. Sadly, many Catholics misunderstand the meaning of the so-called separation of church and state in our nation and believe that the Word of God, handed on to us in the Church, has no application to political life. Certainly, our government does not endorse or fund a particular Christian denomination or religion. But, at the same time, we as Roman Catholics have the right and, indeed, the obligation to inform our consciences and political judgments from the teachings of our faith, especially in what pertains to the natural moral law, that is the order established by God in creation.

For example, while the Ten Commandments forbid stealing, no one would believe that laws against theft are an imposition of the Jewish or Christian religions. People of different faiths or of no faith can recognize the natural obligation to respect the property of others. Also, no one would consider Christian opposition to slavery a “religious” issue. Rather, Christians who oppose slavery and other similar evils are acting according to the standard of right and wrong, which has its foundation in our common human nature. …

Safeguarding the most fundamental good. Catholic teaching is true to the natural moral law, which obliges us to protect all human life. In our history as Americans, we sometimes have found reasons to exclude certain populations from the protection of the law. We were always wrong in doing so. How is our present-day exclusion of the unborn, the elderly and the sick any different from our exclusions of the past? The Church's moral teaching merely tells us what we should see with our own eyes, that the children we abort and the sick we “mercy kill” are our brothers and sisters in the human family.

Some will say the defense of innocent life is only one issue among many, that it is important but not fundamental. They are wrong. In the natural moral law, the good of life is the most fundamental good and the condition for the enjoyment of all other goods (see U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics, November 1998, No. 5).

Recall the words of Pope John Paul II on the mission of the lay faithful in the Church and in the world: “The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights is not defended with maximum determination” (post-synodal apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici, The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World, Dec. 30, 1988, No. 38b).

The protection of innocent life is not just a political issue, but, much more importantly, it is a basic political responsibility (see Living the Gospel of Life, No. 33-34).

Making consistently the choice for life. Catholics therefore cannot legitimately believe that, if they support programs for the poor and marginalized, this “makes up” for not being consistently pro-life. “Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing and health care. … But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life.

“Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘right-ness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community” (Living the Gospel of Life, No. 23).

Concern for the plight of the poor must be accompanied by a profound respect for the dignity of all human life. Otherwise, it can be corrupted and all too easily embrace procured abortion and euthanasia as acts of compassion toward the suffering. But it is a false compassion, which seeks to lessen human suffering by eliminating those who suffer. When we allow the killing of those most in need, we do not love the poor as Jesus did, who gave his life as a ransom for many (see Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45 and 1 Timothy 2:6).

The responsibility to defend human life in all its stages falls upon all Catholic citizens. It falls, with particular weight, upon Catholic politicians. A year ago, on the solemnity of Christ the King, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of our Holy Father Pope John Paul II published a document, “Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life” (Nov. 24,2002), which clarifies for Catholic politicians their most serious responsibility for the defense of human life. The document explains: “John Paul, continuing the constant teaching of the Church, has reiterated many times that those who are directly involved in law-making bodies have a ‘grave and clear obligation to oppose’ any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them” (No. 4a).

Responding morally to unjust laws. Oftentimes, Catholic politicians who hold anti-life positions defend their voting record on the ground that they are following their constituency or the will of the “majority.” One cannot, however, defend an unjust law on the ground of political consensus. We do not consider the “Jim Crow” laws, which discriminated against African-Americans, “just” because the majority of the population supported them.

Catholic politicians have the responsibility to work against an unjust law, even when a majority of the electorate supports it.

When Catholic politicians cannot immediately overturn an unjust law, they must never cease to work toward that end. At the very least, they must limit, as much as possible, the evil caused by the unjust law. John Paul illustrates for us this important moral principle: “[W]hen it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality” (encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, On the Value and Inviolability of Human Life, March 25,1995, No. 73c). The judicial system in the United States allows legislators to limit access to procured abortion, and Catholic politicians are obliged to restrict the scope of this gravest of injustices whenever the opportunity presents itself.

While certainly there are Catholic politicians who have worked diligently to promote the gospel of life through our laws, many have compromised their duty to do so. I joined my voice to that of my brother bishops five years ago in our appeal: “We urge those Catholic officials who choose to depart from Church teaching on the inviolability of human life in their public life to consider the consequences for their own spiritual well-being as well as the scandal they risk by leading others into serious sin. … No public official, especially one claiming to be a faithful and serious Catholic, can responsibly advocate for or actively support direct attacks on innocent human life” (Living the Gospel of Life, No. 32).

Once again and more urgently, I, as bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, appeal to all Catholics who hold political office to examine your conscience in the light of your duty to protect human life in all its stages. Further, I urge you to resolve to live the gospel of life fully and faithfully in all your legislative activity.

Excerpted from Bishop Burke's

Nov. 23 pastoral letter

“To Christ's Faithful of the

Diocese of La Crosse:

On the Dignity of Human Life and Civic Responsibility.“