"The Catholic Church openly presses its members to vote in harmony with church policy"

 by Pastor Hal Mayer

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Guam, a U.S. territory, has released a statement to Guam’s Catholics to vote according to the moral teaching of the church. This means that they should only vote for candidates that support Roman Catholic teaching on issues like abortion, same sex unions, human cloning, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research.

“Writing to Catholics before Guam’s upcoming primary elections, Archbishop Anthony Apuron stressed… ‘a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals… As we exercise our civic duties, we are faced with issues that affect the common good of the People of Guam.’

“Regarding the feature civic duty to vote, the archbishop then highlighted 'non-negotiable' positions that the Catholic Church holds…

“In his concluding remarks, Archbishop Apuron told the faithful to ‘participate and exercise your civic duties as Catholic voters and make known your position by selecting the candidates who are willing to be accountable towards the common good of the People of Guam.’”

As more and more Roman Catholics are eligible to vote in the U.S. and its territories through illegal immigration, high birth rates, governmental policy, etc., the Catholic church will more effectively influence the outcome of elections. It is obvious how it is done. The Catholic Church openly presses its members to vote in harmony with church policy. If this was done by a Muslim cleric, he would probably be accused of violating laws designed to prevent undue influence by religious organizations on government. He might even be taken to court. But the Roman Catholic Church is apparently exempt from such laws in the U.S. these days. Keep the Faith

NOTE:   "The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.  History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people."   GC 581.