Brother JP,

I normally just point fellow Catholics to resources to aid them in their choices during an election with a public post. This election is critical, for what is decided governs what will happen for generations and generations, not just the next fours years.

This election can not be a protest vote election as it is too close. If we use this as a protest vote, when we know all that is at stake, then we are accountable to GOD. Any protest vote, is in effect a vote that will be a major setback for those of us that are against abortion and have fought so hard against this evil.

Brothers and Sisters, consider the following:

"We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life. Every voice matters in the public forum. Every vote counts. Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power. We must exercise that power in ways that defend human life, especially those of God's children who are unborn, disabled or otherwise vulnerable. We get the public officials we deserve. Their virtue­or lack thereof­is a judgment not only on them, but on us. Because of this we urge our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self-interest." [Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics 34, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 1998]


"...However, I think it is most frequently motivated by a sincere desire to elect someone whose views they believe coincide best with Church teaching. This is certainly praiseworthy. Yet, human judgments in order to be prudent must take into account all the circumstances. Voting, like politics, involves a practical judgment about how to achieve the desired ends - in this case the end of abortion as soon as possible, the end of partial-birth abortion immediately if possible, and other pro-life political objectives. A conscience vote of this type could be justified if the voter reasonably felt that it could achieve the ends of voting. The question must be asked and answered, however, whether it will bring about the opposite of the goal of voting (the common good) through the election of the worst candidate. That, too, is part of the prudential judgment. In the end every voter must weigh all the factors and vote according to their well-informed conscience, their knowledge of the candidates and the foreseeable consequences of the election of each." [ Moral Duties Concerning Voting - Colin B. Donovan, STL ]


This is the salient point as Abortion is the Major issue in this election year.

"...Is it a mortal sin to vote for a pro-abortion candidate?  Except in the case in which a voter is faced with all pro-abortion candidates (in which case, as explained in question 8 above, he or she strives to determine which of them would cause the least damage in this regard), a candidate that is pro-abortion disqualifies himself from receiving a Catholic’s vote. This is because being pro-abortion cannot simply be placed alongside the
candidate's other positions on Medicare and unemployment, for example; and this is because abortion is intrinsically evil and cannot be morally justified for any reason or set of circumstances. To vote for such a candidate even with the knowledge that the candidate is pro-abortion is to become an accomplice in the moral evil of abortion. If the voter also knows this, then the voter sins mortally." [ A Brief Catechism for Catholic Voters, Fr. Stephen F. Torraco, PhD ]

In Christ's Most Holy Name,
Roy