Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

I think we have all been caught up in the politics of the season. How can you be a thoughtful and prayerful Catholic and not be reflecting on the upcoming election. Last week's Democratic Convention and this week's Republican Convention are reminders to us of the system in which we can actually vote for whom we think is best and who will be the best leaders for our country for the next four years.

An issue that is particularly interesting is that we will either elect our fist African-American President or our first woman Vice President. Come November 4^th, we are guaranteed a major change, with an African-American man or a woman at the top of our Executive Branch. Wow!

There are many issues we need to discuss as reflective and prayerful Catholics. Issues of immigration, the economy, unemployment, healthcare, the invasion of the Republic of Georgia by the former Soviet Union, the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan-these are issues that certainly draw our attention to the importance of our own vote. For Catholics, the Life issues are even more acute and difficult to discern. We worry about euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, capital punishment and, of course, abortion. These are issues that concern us all.

Maybe the scripture today should be our starting point. In Paul's Letter to the Romans, second Verse, he says, "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." We are called today to think about not conforming ourselves to the age we live in, but actually to the will of God, renewing our minds based upon what is God's will for us.

I would like to make three points today, based upon the comments from our Archbishop throughout this past week. The first is the role of the Magisterium in our decision process; the second is that abortion has been a great moral evil since the 1^st Century; and the third is a reiteration of the Church's position that life begins at conception.

The starting point is the reaffirmation that it is the Pope together with the bishops who speak for the faith of the Catholic Church. The word Magisterium (teaching office) expresses this action of the successors to the apostles. As Archbishop Wuerl wrote this past week in the Catholic Standard:

For a Catholic, there are sure answers to life's great questions. Jesus offers them. His Church proclaims them. The bishops in their teaching office explain them.

How often do we hear people outside and sometimes even inside the Church say, "Why should I follow the teaching of the Pope and the bishops when I have my conscience to guide me?" The question may also take the form of "How can the Church bind me in conscience?" The answers to these questions are found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

Christ did not intend to leave us as orphans. Once he returned to his father in glory it would be up to those he had chosen and anointed in the Holy Spirit to continue to teach everything that he had made known to them and to proclaim it even to the ends of the earth. As Christ gathered a people that was to be his Church, so the apostles were to continue the mission of bringing all men and women into this one family. By Jesus' will the apostles would speak in his name and with his authority when they taught on matters of faith and morals.

Christ committed to the apostles the task of preaching his word in his name, that is, authoritatively-with his authority. He assured them of the assistance of the Spirit who would guard them in all truth in speaking (cf. Jn 14:16, 26). He commanded them to teach his words as the words of God and he promised to be with them in their preaching until the end of time (cf. Mt 28:20).

What makes this issue all the more significant today is the position enunciated by some that all voices in the discussion have equal weight. In this scenario the voice of the Pope, the voice of the bishops, the voice of Church pastors is just one more opinion.

Precisely to avoid this confusion, Christ established in his Church the office of bishop charged with teaching and guarding the authentic faith. For 2,000 years, in direct continuity with the apostles and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, this teaching office has been exercised in a manner that allows the Church with confidence to profess the creed and to respond to the issues that arise out of the human condition. We are not left to our own devises. We have the teaching office of the Church.

A second and very significant point is that abortion is a great moral evil.  This is the constant teaching of the Church. This teaching has been confirmed from the first century on through the teachings of bishops and doctors of the Church such as Saint Augustine of Hippo on to our own day. There are various passages from Augustine that indicate the key point about his thinking; namely, that insofar as a human is the object of a direct attack during an abortion, this great Church father would certainly hold that abortion is always and without exception a sinful human action. His teaching about abortion can be found in his work On Marriage and Concupiscence. For those who are interested in more reflection on this topic, there is also Father John J. Hugo's book St. Augustine on Nature, Sex and Marriage.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.... Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law." (Catechism, 2270-2271)

The third point for clarification involves the biological evidence today that human life-a human being-begins at conception. Whatever the theories of biology and embryology from earlier centuries may have been, today all of the scientific research clearly confirms that the coming together of a human sperm and egg begins a new human life. The scientific position concerning the embryological origins of humans has become clearly elucidated during the past century in a manner that provides overwhelming empirical evidence of the continuity of the life of a human being. That continuity extends from the joining a sperm and egg through its stages as an embryo, a fetus, an infant, a child, an adult and a senior on to natural death.

Any destructive action against embryos (or fetuses) as they move along the continuum of their development destroys the entire future time line of that person. In other words, modern science confirms that in the embryo (or fetus) exists a whole, living member of the human species, and when destroyed, that particular individual has perished. One reason there has been so much interest in embryonic stem cells is precisely because everyone recognizes that the embryo is a human being. To sum up, then, the reason the Church opposes embryonic stem cell research is the same reason she opposes abortion. You cannot choose to directly destroy an innocent human life at any stage.

So, while we may disagree about issues that affect the future of our country, it's neither fair nor just not to speak clearly on the Church's teachings, which have been in existence since the earliest days of its founding. It's important that we listen to the Magisterium, it's important that we continue to respect the gift of life from the moment of conception and it's important that we recognize that the act of abortion is always a grave moral act against an individual's gift of humanity.

This lesson will not be an easy choice for many people. It will be difficult because we are challenged to reflect upon so many different issues besides those emphasized in today's homily. Clearly, the teachings of the Church and the guidance of the Holy Spirit must help all of us find our way to vote for the candidate that best represent not just our views, but the views formed by their belief in Jesus.

Father John

For a hard copy of this homily, please click here.

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