[Very surprising. IOKIYARepublican, I guess.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/us/15bishops.html?_r=1&oref=sloginCatholic Bishops Offer Voting Guide, Allowing Some Flexibility on Issue of Abortion
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: November 15, 2007
BALTIMORE, Nov. 14 ? The nation?s Roman Catholic bishops approved principles Wednesday intended to guide Catholics in choosing whom to vote for but leaving the door open for them to back candidates who support abortion rights.
Nearly all the bishops approved the document, ?Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.? That broad consensus might help the church avoid the fissures that occurred in 2004, church experts said, when some conservative Catholic groups issued voter guidelines that identified abortion as ?non-negotiable? and a group of bishops touched off a debate about whether Catholic candidates who back abortion rights should be denied Communion.
Past documents allowed Catholics to vote, in certain cases, for candidates who support abortion rights.
But the issue has garnered renewed interest this year with the Republican candidacy of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a Catholic, who supports abortion rights.
The set of principles discusses ?intrinsic evils? and defends them as actions that ?must always be rejected and opposed.?
?A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion,? the document says.
Abortion is among a few evils greater than others, the document asserts. But it also concedes that Catholics face difficult decisions when voting and in some cases might be able to vote for those who support abortion rights or stem cell research. ?There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate?s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons,? the document says.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been issuing reflections on how the church?s moral teachings should shape Catholics? political decisions since 1976. But this was the first time that an open discussion was held on the document and that the 300 or so bishops had the chance to vote for it.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, chairman of the bishops? domestic policy committee, which pulled together this document, said it was not aimed at candidates themselves.
Rather, it is ?a summary of Catholic teaching,? Bishop DiMarzio said. ?It offers a basic moral framework on what it means to be a Catholic and American, a believer and a voter in this coming election year.?
The set of principles will be issued as an insert that priests can put into a Sunday bulletin, but its dissemination is not mandatory, Bishop DiMarzio said.
The document could be an important factor in the political decisions of many Catholics, said Alexia Kelley, the executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
The document seemed to offer something for everyone. The Rev. Frank Pavone of the anti-abortion group Priests for Life said he was pleased with it. Catholics for whom abortion may not be the sole issue when voting have also been given room to maneuver.
?Can a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who is pro-choice?? said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. ?What they are saying is, ?Yes.??
Approval of the document capped a three-day meeting in which the bishops elected Cardinal Francis George of Chicago as their new president. Cardinal George succeeds Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash.
Cardinal George has close ties to the Vatican and will be host to Pope Benedict XVI on his trip to the United States in April. But the cardinal has recently come under fire because of two cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests that occurred during his tenure. Victims? rights groups have asserted that Cardinal George failed to act quickly enough to remove the priests once accusations surfaced.
