A good ole Wisconsin boy speaks up...

H.E. Frank J. Dewane

2nd bishop of Venice in Florida

A photocopy of the letter, for your own prooftexting.

transcription:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As you are all aware next week our country will conduct its political elections in so doing, choose its public officials. Many of you have spoke and written to me on this matter sometimes requestion that I endorse a political party or candidate: that is something I cannot do.

However, as Bishop, it is my responsibility to instruct the faithful regarding the Church's teaching on moral issues, the most important being the right to life and dignity of every person, from conception till natural death. There issues are fundamental to the healthy of any society and should therefore, be carefully considered when voting for a particular candidate. After all, in voting we are making moral choices [my emphasis].

The Second Vatican Council has taught that the laity are not to reliquish their participation in 'public life,' but instead fulfill their proper task of infusing the temporal order with Christian values. This teaching would apply for instance, to the act of voting for a political candidate or public official [my emphasis], which I encourage you to do.

In assisting you in properly forming your conscience before voting, I would recomment that you consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium fo the Social Doctrine of the Church. There two works highlight the Church's teaching on our moral responsibility to promote the common good [my emphasis, see note 1].

As Catholics, we are called upon to respect and protect the rights of all, especially, the unborn child [his emphasis], the weakest and most vulnerable among us. At the same time the family [his emphasis], the basic unit of society [my emphasis], must be safeguarded, promoted, and protected based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman [my emphasis].

In affirming these right of natural law [my emphasis, see note 2], it is often argued that Catholics are promoting their own "personal values" which do not apply to other citizens. This accuation is false inasmuch as rights, such as the right to life and dignity of ever person are common to all people [my emphais - common to all people, not just Catholics, and Catholic is always pro-life for all], regardless of their personal belief. These fundamental rights cannot be denied by any individual or group as they are intrinsic God-given rights which we must affirm [my emphasis, see note 3], and above all protect.

As you discern your choices of public official, be assured of my prayers for you and your families.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+Frank J. Dewane

Bishop of Venice in Florida

Notes:

(1): This term, common good, is very much misunderstood. Often people think of what society, most specifically government can provide for them in a material and fiscal sense. This is not the common good, but rather an exercise in distrubative justice. The common good actual is not material, it is the benefit that a person receives from being a member of that society in and of itself. This is seen by looking at a marriage: When a man and woman marry, we say that they enter into a marriage. If unfortunetly they divorce, as they stand before the family court judge they cannot ask for "half-the-marriage" in the final settlement. Each of them benefited from being part of this marriage, but neither of them would be able to point out what this benefit was materially. So the interest of the common good actually means to promote what makes the nation better.

(2): Natural law are the moral norms that any healthy and sound person (and many unhealthy and unsound people for that matter) can arrive at through the exercise of reason. It is objective true for all, since human nature is the same for all. While often used in various systems of ethics developed by various religious systems, natural law is not dependent on any religious doctrine. It can be used just as easily in the secular sphere, as in the religious sphere.

(3): From the Declaration of Independance: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men" (paragraph 2). In its founding documents the state, and in Her teachings the Church, agree that human rights are not created by man, but for man, and are given to him by God. As such it is also a common teaching of both state and Church, that the state cannot create new rights. Any attempt to do so is a violation of the concept of rights in general. These "new rights" are necessarily "false rights," and hence will ultimately conflict with each and every genuine right.

I mean this last sentence as a prophetic utterance, unless false rights, such as the "right for two men or two women to marry each other," the "right to abortion," the "right to redistribution of property," etc. are not absolutely opposed, all other rights will in practice be eroded. There will be limits on freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of the free exercise of religion (this is not just the running of parishes, congregations, and dioceses, but also the running of schools, hospitals, and other social outreaches, which are intrinsic to the mission and character of the Christian religion), the freedom of parents to educate their own children as they see fit, etc. will be severly limited.