As you recall, Archbishop Chaput has been very forceful is saying that the culture of life should be predominant in our thoughts come election day. Well, you’d expect a motley bunch of secularists, atheists, and liberals to cry foul. I just didn’t expect it from a couple of nuns. Here’s a letter to the editor from The Denver Post from two Denver nuns who are essentially telling the Archbishop to mind his own business and they’re going to support Obama. Sad. Here’s the letter:
As Catholics and supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, we appreciate Archbishop Charles Chaput’s clarification in Sunday’s Post that he is speaking as a private citizen when he takes issue with Sen. Obama and his supporters.
We had supposed that since the official archdiocesan newspaper last week included a voter guide supporting John McCain from a group calling itself Colorado Family Institute (different from the guide promoted by the U.S. bishops), the archbishop might, perhaps, be attempting to influence the choices of Catholic voters.
We honor the archbishop’s right to support the candidates and issues he believes best represent his deepest values, and applaud his recognition that not all Catholics will make his choices their own.
We also appreciate the respect for primacy of conscience in our decision-making, as enunciated by Josef Ratzinger, now our current pope, Benedict XVI, who wrote: “Over the pope, as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there still stands one’s own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else — if necessary, even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”
We are making our ballot choices as adults and as faithful citizens who have weighed the issues in light of the gospels and the justice teachings of our church. We encourage all Catholics to do likewise.
Sister Mary A. Coyle, Denver
Sister Mary Ann Cunningham, Denver
This is a snarky letter written with nastiness in intent. It’s no wonder the faithful are so confused.
October 31, 2008 at 4:38 am
Both are Sisters of Loretto…big surprise!
October 31, 2008 at 8:07 am
Those who make a god of conscience, divorcing themselves from reason, who cling to relativism and lack obedience, are merely evading the obligations of the Faith. For a faithful Catholic, one’s conscience must be conformed to Christ’s Truth as articulated by the Magisterium.
October 31, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’ve always understood that “primacy of conscience” stemmed from St. Paul’s exhortation (I forget which epistle it is now) that one’s scruples over innocent items took on moral force – in other words, if it bothers my conscience to listen to Metallica or play bingo or what-have-you, then I ought not to do those things… and, that those who can do those things ought not to indulge in such a way as to offend the more scrupulous. It was NEVER meant to let one off of moral imperatives, or to substitute for objective truth.
It’s as if colorblind people woke up one day and decided that color was merely a matter of interpretation, and called all red lights “blue.” Just because they can’t see red, doesn’t mean that red isn’t real; it certainly doesn’t make it safe to drive through red lights, either.
All these pro-choice Catholics need a refresher course in reality.
October 31, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Yes, it is a sin to act against one’s conscience, but I frankly don’t see how one could believe, in conscience, that one must vote for Obama. Even if one believed, in conscience, that one could vote for Obama (and I think an argument could be made for that, but it rests upon speculation about what could happen if McCain is elected), I find it hard to believe that one could believe, in conscience, that not voting for Obama is a sin.
November 1, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I notice there is not a title after the “sisters” names..like SSJ or the like. In my neck of the woods, SSJ would probably be the title, however….It is truly upsetting that those who have entered the convent or a particular order would ignore the issue of life at its most vulnerable and instead accept the big government, marxist ideologies of Barack Obama. I understand that some believe that social welfare issues take precedence over life issues, however, in my experience social welfare issues are better addressed by churches and private organizations than by the government. We should all be praying the rosary to Our Lady of Victory for the protection of the unborn in this election season.
November 1, 2008 at 6:24 pm
“…I find it hard to believe that one could believe, in conscience, that not voting for Obama is a sin.”
That’s the Prof. Kmeic school of thought saying Obama will be more effective through social policies at reducing unwanted pregnancies and hence abortions. Not that I agree with it, but hey, Obama has a 20-something point lead among ‘Catholic’ Americans, people who receive Holy Communion with us on Sundays, stand and pray with us in the pews.
November 2, 2008 at 2:12 am
I remember Sr. Theresa Kane telling off JPII to his face, so I was rather surprised by the rather mild tone. It is embarrassing that we are saddled with religious like these, but they are learning to restrain themselves form the blatant insulting of authority that characterized them for so long. That seems to have become a largely lay pastime.
November 2, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Tom said:
“Obama has a 20-something point lead among ‘Catholic’ Americans, people who receive Holy Communion with us on Sundays, stand and pray with us in the pews.”
I don’t know if we should be pleased or be depressed about it, Tom, but I’m fairly certain the great majority of Catholics voting for Obama are of the cafeteria kind, those who don’t attend Mass regularly, and who certainly don’t participate often in the life of the Sacraments. For if they were more orthodox and practicing Catholics, they would NOT be voting for the most anti-life candidate ever to run for the presidency.
We have much to do by way of better catechesis of our children and even our adults, and certainly the narcissistic dissenting nuns mentioned in the blog post here are not helping matters!
November 3, 2008 at 1:03 am
My guess would be Sisters of Loretto.