Saturday, February 18, 2012

Roman Catholic Teaching & the U. S. Political Parties’ Public Policy Positions

One can always find exceptions to the generalizations I am about to make. Nonetheless, generalizations can be useful (as long as they are not hasty). Political Parties often play the “Religion Card.” See a quick summary of some of the “hot button” issues and official Roman Catholic teaching and the two major political parties in the United States.

Democratic Discontinuities

The Roman Catholic Church believes that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances because human life, they believe, begins at conception (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, Resolution on Abortion, 1989).

The Roman Catholic Church believes that the use of birth-control pills, condomns, and other contraceptives should not be premitted (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, see Pope Pius XI's 1930 encyclical entitled Casti Connubii).

The Roman Catholic Church believes that euthanasia should not be premitted (see,the Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity: A Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide, 2011).
The Roman Catholic Church believes embryonic stem cell research should not be premitted (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, On Embryonic Stem Cell Research, 2008)

The Roman Catholic Church believes same-sex marriage should not be premitted (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, Between Man and Woman: Questions and Answers About Marriage and Same-Sex Unions, 2003)

Republican Discontinuities

Pope John Paul II was against the war in Iraq (see also the Conference of Catholic Bishops, Statement on Iraq, 2002).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that health care be provided to all Americans (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform, 1993).

The Roman Catholic Church opposes the death penalty for criminals in almost all situations (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Death Penalty, June 2005).

The U.S. Conference of Bishops has urged that the federal minimum wage be increased, for the working poor (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, A Catholic Framework for Economic Life, 1996).

The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying “We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit that will permit children and their parents to live in dignity. A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children” (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, Primer on Poverty, an Option for the Poor, and the Common Good, November 2011).

The US bishops say that “the basic rights of workers must be respected–the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions…” (see the Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers).

Catholic bishops demand the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories (see, Toward Peace in the Middle East, 1989).

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops was critical of Arizona’s law on treatment of immigrants, Cardinal Roger Mahony characterized Arizona’s S.B. 1070 as “the country’s most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law…” (see “Cardinal Mahony criticizes Arizona immigration bill” April 20, 2010, by Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times).

9. The Bishops have urged that illegal immigrants not be treated as criminals and that their contribution to this country be recognized (see “Catholic bishops: Don’t treat illegal immigrants as criminals” December 12, 2011, Los Angeles Times).

10. The U.S. Conference of Bishops has denounced, as has the Pope, the idea of ‘preventive war’ and ‘preemptive strikes’ (see also, “The Vatican sees the United Nations as the guarantor of international law, and so it would view any action outside U.N. authorization as very dangerous….[T]he concept of ‘preventive war' is not found in the moral principles of just-war theory—not even if it is authorized by a vote of the United Nations.” Archbishop Jean Louis-Tauran, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Conference at Rome hospital, February 24, 2003).

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