Obama, Abortion, The Catholic Vote

Of course, this is not simply about the “Catholic” vote – pro-lifers come from all religious backgrounds and even from secular-humanist philosophies. But over the past few days several Catholic readers have either asked me for advice on how to address this issue. One reader has a friend who wore an Obama shirt to Mass, right after Obama told his followers to “get in their faces,” and then was upset when many were offended. Hey, he got right in Jesus’s face, at communion. Obama would be proud, right?

That fellow was offended, and “hurt” btw, when some co-parishioners “got into his face” after mass. Apparently getting “in ones face” is only okay for the Obama side. It figures.

My biggest advice: well, pray for your friends! I wrote: Finally, you could suggest to him that while he is praying, that he pray in all humility for the grace to know God’s will, and to be open to it in his life. Specifically, what God would have him understand about abortion. Offer to make that prayer in good faith both for him and for yourself. And ask him to pray for your intentions. There is no better way to bring about charity than to ask someone to pray for you.

Because we are close to the election, and the topic seems to be coming to the fore for many, I’m going to link to several pieces written here in the past, and one piece I wrote over the summer for Pajamas Media, which – perhaps – would be better read this month. If they help, great.

Also, remember that October is the month of the Rosary, and Mary, as Our Lady of Guadalupe is Patroness of The Americas and also Patroness of the Unborn. Ask for her prayers. She is the most powerful prayer-ally you can have.

Pajamas Media: The Catholic Vote and the Counterbalance to Abortion:

The moral calculus does look easy until one considers that war, torture, the death penalty, poverty, racism and even the excesses of capitalism – those evils so well defined in Catholic social teaching, and of concern to Catholics of all political persuasions – are fully present in the act of abortion.

Consider:
War is a struggle between two evolving powers over who will have dominance; whether just or unjust, it involves the murder of the innocent and the disruption of families. War introduces pain, fire, violence, savagery and torture into societies.

Abortion is a struggle between two evolving powers over who will have dominance; whether “justified” or not, it involves the murder of the innocent and the disruption of families. A vacuum abortion, saline abortion or a D&C introduces pain, fire and a limb-shredding, relentless violence deep into the very being of a woman’s body, within her very womb. A partial birth abortion, which involves inserting a scissor into the base of the skull of a partially delivered fetus, then suctioning out its brain before fully withdrawing the fetus from the birth canal, embodies the sort of savagery and real torture which is the most abhorrent part of any war.

The Death Penalty is a legal execution of an individual judged guilty of heinous acts against the larger society; convicts are sometimes discovered to have been innocent of the charges made against them only after their lives have been taken. Many consider even the most “humane” means of execution to be cruel and inhuman, and even when the convict is guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, it may be well-argued that killing a murderer does not bring back the victim, and that “two wrongs do not make a right.”

In an abortion, the fetus is as subject to the death penalty as anyone ever so ordered by a jury; the fetus is always innocent. Even the most “humane” means of abortion – whatever that might be – involves cruel and inhuman measures. And even if the fetus – in its innocence – is the product of a violent and “guilty” conception, it may be well-argued that one merciless violation cannot be healed by a second – equally merciless – violation, and that “two wrongs do not make a right.”

The social/political view: Failing to love is killing Europe

Trying to be open: Who Told You You Were Naked?

On Euthanasia (if you are arguing it): A Tsunami Cannot Be Drawn in Pastels

Andrea Shea King on the abortion she did not have