Denver Catholic

2 I CATHOLIC LIFE OCTOBER 22, 2014 I DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER ARCHBISHOP'S COLUMN MOST REV. SAMUEL J. AQUILA As I listen to the political discussion leading up to the Nov. 4 election, a warning from the prophet Isaiah comes to mind: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil" (Is 5:20). This rings especially true when it comes to the issue of women's health, which has been a strong focus of the con- test between Congressman Cory Gardner and Senator Mark Udall for the U.S. Senate. I have made the Church's beliefs on these issues clear to the candidates. Championing abortion and contraception as good for women, is calling evil good. It is no secret that the Church teaches that abortion, which ends the life of an innocent human being, is evil. Science teaches us that the life of a human being begins at the moment of conception. Without conception there is no human being. Life is an in- alienable right, not bestowed by the state, but recognized by the state as inherent to what it means to be a human being. It is also well-known that the Church teaches contracep- tion is immoral because it introduces a refusal of the gift of life, hinders marital unity and reduces each person to a mere object of pleasure. But fewer people know that contraception is bad for women from a scientific point of view. The possible side effects for the pill include: developing high blood pressure, blood clots, depression, having a stroke, heart attack, or migraines and having difficulty with breast-feeding. The pill also increases the risk of breast cancer by over 40 percent if it is taken before a woman delivers her first baby. Many people have not read the contraindications for taking the pill or using other forms of birth control and rarely are they made public. Certainly this cannot be good for women. I bring this to your attention because it is my responsibility to teach on these issues so that you are able to vote with an informed conscience. On the topic of women's health issues, neither candidate is perfect. Congressman Gardner has proposed making the pill available over the counter, and this is problematic. Senator Udall has gone a step further by backing the Obama administration's contraception mandate, which re- quires employers to provide contraception, including some forms that can cause an abortion, and sterilization. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the mandate vi- olated the religious freedom of Hobby Lobby, Senator Udall moved to reverse the ruling through legislation. This past July, he co-sponsored the "Protect Women's Health From Corporate Interference Act" with Senator Patty Murray from Washington state. As voters, you need to be aware of what this act will impose on people. This legislation does more than call evil good. It elimi- nates the option for people of faith to cite their beliefs as a reason not to provide contraceptive coverage, including abortifacients. Supporters of the bill say that it is aimed at reversing the Hobby Lobby decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, but the bill would do much more than that. It states that when the federal government decides to mandate any item in health plans nationwide, no one will have a right to object that it violates their religious freedom or conscience. Just as contraceptives have been mandated as a "preven- tive service" to avert unintended pregnancies, coverage for all abortions—including late-term abortions—could be mandated to avoid unwanted live births. In short, any fed- eral law protecting conscience rights on abortion would be null and void, not just for "corporations" but for everyone involved. When you decide how to vote in the coming days, I ask you to do so with a well-formed conscience, with real knowledge of what each candidate stands for, and to be mindful of the impact of your vote for good and for evil. We Elections and calling evil good DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE: 303-722-4687 OR CIRCULATION@ARCHDEN.ORG Published by the Archdiocese of Denver, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 Denver Catholic Register (USPS 557-020) is published weekly except the last week of December and the first week of January, and in June, July and August when it goes bi-weekly. The Register is printed by Signature Offset in Denver. Periodical postage paid in Denver, CO. Subscriptions: $35 a year in Colorado; $42 per year out of state. Foreign countries: $42 surface, all countries, 6-8 weeks for delivery; $135 air, all other countries (average). Mexico, $48 air; Canada, $55 air. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Denver Catholic Register, Circulation Dept., 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 or e-mail circulation@archden.org. Editorial: 303-715-3215 or editor@archden.org Advertising: 303-715-3253 or dcrads@archden.org Circulation: 303-715-3211 or circulation@archden.org Online: www.DenverCatholicRegister.org General Manager Karna Swanson Interim Editor Julie Filby Business Manager Michael O'Neill Below are Parts IV and V of the Doctrinal Note on the Partici- pation of Catholics in Political Life issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2002. Archbishop Samuel J. Aq- uila asked the Denver Catholic Register to publish the entire note over four installments as a reminder of the role of Catholics in the upcoming elections. IV. Considerations regarding particular aspects 7. In recent years, there have been cases within some orga- nizations founded on Catholic principles, in which support has been given to political forc- es or movements with positions contrary to the moral and so- cial teaching of the Church on fundamental ethical questions. Such activities, in contradiction to basic principles of Christian conscience, are not compatible with membership in organi- zations or associations which define themselves as Catholic. Similarly, some Catholic pe- riodicals in certain countries have expressed perspectives on political choices that have been ambiguous or incorrect, by misinterpreting the idea of the political autonomy enjoyed by Catholics and by not taking in- to consideration the principles mentioned above. Faith in Jesus Christ, who is "the way, the truth, and the life" ( Jn 14:6), calls Christians to ex- ert a greater effort in building a culture which, inspired by the Gospel, will reclaim the values and contents of the Catholic Tradition. The presentation of the fruits of the spiritual, in- tellectual and moral heritage of Catholicism in terms under- standable to modern culture is a task of great urgency today, in order to avoid also a kind of Catholic cultural diaspora. Furthermore, the cultural achievements and mature ex- perience of Catholics in polit- ical life in various countries, especially since the Second World War, do not permit any kind of 'inferiority complex' in comparison with political programs which recent his- tory has revealed to be weak or totally ruinous. It is insuf- ficient and reductive to think that the commitment of Cath- olics in society can be limited to a simple transformation of structures, because if at the basic level there is no culture capable of receiving, justifying and putting into practice posi- tions deriving from faith and morals, the changes will always rest on a weak foundation. Christian faith has never presumed to impose a rigid framework on social and polit- ical questions, conscious that the historical dimension re- quires men and women to live in imperfect situations, which are also susceptible to rapid change. For this reason, Chris- tians must reject political posi- tions and activities inspired by a utopian perspective which, turning the tradition of Biblical faith into a kind of prophet- ic vision without God, makes ill use of religion by directing consciences towards a hope which is merely earthly and which empties or reinterprets the Christian striving towards eternal life. At the same time, the Church teaches that authentic free- dom does not exist without the truth. "Truth and freedom ei- ther go together hand in hand or together they perish in mi- ser."[27] In a society in which truth is neither mentioned nor sought, every form of authen- tic exercise of freedom will be weakened, opening the way to libertine and individualistic distortions and undermining the protection of the good of the human person and of the entire society. 8. In this regard, it is helpful to recall a truth which today is often not perceived or for- mulated correctly in public opinion: the right to freedom of conscience and, in a spe- cial way, to religious freedom, taught in the Declaration Dig- nitatis humanae of the Second Vatican Council, is based on the ontological dignity of the human person and not on a non-existent equality among religions or cultural sys- tems of human creation.[28] Reflecting on this question, Paul VI taught that "in no way does the Council base this right to religious freedom on the fact that all religions and all teachings, including those that are erroneous, would have more or less equal value; it is based rather on the dignity of the human person, which demands that he not be subjected to external limitations which tend to constrain the conscience in its search for the true religion or in adhering to it."[29] The teach- ing on freedom of conscience and on religious freedom does not therefore contradict the condemnation of indifferent- ism and religious relativism by Catholic doctrine; [30] on the contrary; it is fully in accord with it. V. Conclusion 9. The principles contained in the present Note are in- tended to shed light on one of the most important aspects of the unity of Christian life: coherence between faith and life, Gospel and culture, as re- called by the Second Vatican Council. The Council exhort- ed Christians "to fulfill their duties faithfully in the spirit of the Gospel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come, we are entitled to shirk our earthly responsibilities; this is to forget that by our faith we are bound all the more to fulfill these re- sponsibilities according to the vocation of each. ... May Chris- tians ... be proud of the oppor- tunity to carry out their earthly activity in such a way as to in- tegrate human, domestic, pro- fessional, scientific and tech- nical enterprises with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are ordered to the glory of God."[31] These footnotes have been abbreviated: [27] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ra- tio, 90 [28] Cf. Second Vatican Council, Declaration Digni- tatis humanae, 1 [29] Paul VI, Address to the Sacred College and to the Roman Prelature [30] Cf. Pius IX, Encyclical Let- ter Quanta cura; Leo XIII, En- cyclical Letter Immortale Dei; Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quas primas; Catechism of the Cath- olic Church, No. 2108; Congre- gation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Dominus Iesus, 22 [31] Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 43; see also John Paul II, Apostolic Exhor- tation Christifideles laici, 59. Authentic freedom requires truth See Aquila, Page 4

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