Local News
Letter to the Editor: Most Important Issue
Published: October 16, 2008
To the Editor:
I would like to thank Brenda Stoll for her letter to the editor in the Oct. 2 issue, explaining where the presidential candidates stand on abortion. Now that we have this information, what do we do with it? What does the Catholic Church say we should do as faithful citizens? In Living the Gospel of Life, issued by the United States Conference of Bishops in 1998, the bishops speak, “We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty or a privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the Gospel 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 build a culture of life with our vote. This means rejecting any candidate that does not stand up for life. If both candidates are not 100 percent pro-life, you can vote for the candidate who is the most pro-life or the least pro-abortion. If you vote for a pro-abortion candidate, you must consider that you have indirectly contributed to the killing of innocent human lives.
John Paul II is quoted saying, “Above all the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights—for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture—is false and illusionary if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.” Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, puts it this way: If a candidate supported terrorism you would not even ask where he/she stood on other issues. You would immediately consider the candidate disqualified from public office. If a candidate cannot protect the weakest of our nation, the unborn, how can he/she be trusted to care for the rights of you and me.
There are other issues, but not all of the issues carry the same weight. The most important issue in our country today is abortion. Nearly 4,000 babies are killed in our country every day. Since Roe v. Wade, nearly 50 million babies have died, one every ten seconds. Abortion is legal at all stages of pregnancy.
I ask my fellow Catholic brothers and sisters to consider how powerful their vote can be during this election and to consider the most vulnerable when casting their vote.
Aileen Barreca, Atlanta
