PETER Ryan (Letters, CL 1/8/10) has bagged The Catholic Leader for publishing a couple of letters (CL 18/7/10) containing verifiable facts about the Prime Minister, the Labor Party and the Greens.
He has accused the Leader of bias against political parties whose official policies condone the deliberate killing of human persons, unborn and born.
In Victoria’s 2008 abortion “reform” legislation, every ALP Emily’s List member and every Greens member went so far as to vote against any intervention to save the life of a child born alive after a botched abortion. (cf. VicHansard 3620-3629).
Such beliefs are the very antithesis of Church teaching, and Catholic publications have an obligation to allow this fact to be made known to readers.
Revelations like these are not about “single-issue politics”, as My Ryan implied. They are not about politics at all: they are about morals.
Also, in Mr Ryan’s view the electorate is happy enough that tens of thousands of intentional abortions occur annually.
I wonder, but even if he’s correct, so what?
In some societies stoning to death is acceptable, but that hardly makes it right.
Some of us have strong political convictions, but if we would be true Catholic Christians we must place fidelity to God and His Church above loyalty to opposing secular ideologies.
The Church has no right to tell its members how to vote, but it does have the right and duty to tell them how to NOT vote.
In Matthew 18:17 Christ spelled it out very clearly for us: “… if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.”
RICHARD CONGRAM
Carindale, Qld
