PROVIDENCE,
Rhode Island, October 31, 2008
(LifeSiteNews.com) - The bishop
of Providence published a column
Wednesday to guide Catholic
voters striving to be "faithful
citizens of both the Kingdom
of God and our nation."
The bishop's column joined the
flood of writing from other
bishops who have underscored
the
singular gravity of abortion
in this year's U.S. presidential
election, now
less than a week away.
Borrowing
the words of Gandhi, Bishop
Tobin began the Rhode Island
Catholic column with the quote:
"Those who believe that
religion and politics aren't
connected don't understand either."
True
as the saying is, said the bishop,
Catholics need more direction
in order to decide with a fully
informed conscience.
Bishop
Tobin relates that the U.S.
bishops urge a
candidate's stance on abortion
must assume a primary role in
the voter's discernment process.
"While
there are many questions we
should evaluate in deciding
how to vote, the
primary moral issue we face
today is the right to life and
particularly the need to fight
against the terrible sin of
abortion,"
writes Bishop Tobin.
"And
as I've written previously in
this space, while there are
many issues the Catholic must
consider in forming moral judgments,
'Abortion is different.
It
is always intrinsically evil.
There
are no circumstances that justify
abortion. Its
victims are innocent and defenseless,
and number in the millions.
Abortion is the fallacious foundation
upon which the culture of death
builds its ugly edifice.'"
After
emphasizing that Church leadership
has no place endorsing any candidate,
the bishop writes, "You
can never separate your faith
from life (including political
life) and so it follows closely
that you must vote as a person
of faith, taking your faith
and your conscience with you
into the voting booth,"
writes Bishop Tobin.
"You
need to support candidates who
will promote the common good
and uphold basic moral values
- beginning with the right to
life, especially for unborn
children. In that way you can
be a "faithful citizen"
- of our great nation and of
the Kingdom of God.
"I
don't know about you, dear reader,
but I could never vote for a
candidate - of any party for
any office - who supports laws
that promote or allow the death
of thousands of children in
the hideous crime of abortion.
I just don't want that on my
conscience."
See
related LifeSiteNews.com article:
50
Bishops Say Abortion Most Important
Issue in U.S. Election