A wonderful letter to be read at Mass in the Diocese of Peoria.
Dear Catholic Believers,
Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present. Neither the president of the United States nor the current majority of the Federal Senate have been willing to even consider the Catholic community’s grave objections to those HHS mandates that would require all Catholic institutions, exempting only our church buildings, to fund abortion, sterilization, and artificial contraception. This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent in the American political and legal system. Contrary to the guarantees embedded in the First Amendment, the HHS mandates attempt to now narrowly define and thereby drastically limit our traditional religious works. They grossly and intentionally intrude upon the deeply held moral convictions that have always guided our Catholic schools, hospitals, and other apostolic ministries.
Nearly two thousand years ago, after our Savior had been bound, beaten, scourged, mocked, and crowned with thorns, a pagan Roman Procurator displayed Jesus to a hostile crowd by sarcastically declaring: “Behold your King.” The mob roared back: “We have no king but Caesar.” Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin. For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life. God is not mocked, and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God’s great mercy in time will give way to God’s perfect judgment in eternity.
I therefore call upon every practicing Catholic in this Diocese to vote. Be faithful to Christ and to your Catholic Faith. May God guide and protect His Holy Church, and may God bless America.
Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, CSC
Catholic Bishop of Peoria
This subject does remind me of something Archbishop Chaput said back in 2007.
I think there are legitimate reasons you could vote in favor of someone who wouldn’t be where the church is on abortion, but it would have to be a reason that you could confidently explain to Jesus and the victims of abortion when you meet them at the Judgment…and we will meet them. That’s the only criterion. It can’t be that we favor a particular party, or that we’re hostile to the war, or so on.
In other news from Thomas Peters at Catholic Vote:
Next Tuesday, America heads to the polls.
But before that, on Sunday, Catholics across the country will go to Mass.
When I go to Mass this Sunday I’ll be using the social app Foursquare to check in and announce via Facebook and Twitter that I’m “celebrating my First Amendment right to religious liberty by attending Mass.”
You don’t have to use Foursquare to participate, simply update your Facebook and/or Twitter account with some sort of announcement this Sunday that you are going to Mass (I think Facebook and Foursquare do this best). The Twitter hashtag we are using is #CHECKINSUNDAY.
Just this week Pope Benedict said our Catholic faith is personal but not private.
I have mixed feelings about this initiative considering that the Obama Administration has tried to redefine religious freedom as meaning the right to go to Mass, services, etc. To actually live out your faith by their redefinition – not so much. Still I am more in favor of this than against it.
