Voting?

[basssoon]

Is it a sin to vote for someone who is pro-abortion (choice, what have you)?

This is going to be my first presidential election and after researching the candidate I agree with Kerry on almost everything except abortion etc. Should I vote for Bush just because we share similiar views on the protection of life and nothing else?

I'm very confused..

[shawnee]

i am a new catholic, was confirmed last easter. have been a lifelong democrat. in discussions with some catholic friends they say that voting for j. kerry would be considered a mortal sin. this has been bothering me. thanks

[dUSt]

I think this excerpt from an article by Fr John Corapi should help you with this question:

[i]"It is not morally possible for any Catholic to support abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, or same-sex marriage. There are no ways around this, no justifications whatever. Why? For the simple reason that the Church holds these things to be intrinsically evil. They are evil in themselves, and no circumstances or subjective conditions can ever change that. They are not to be confused with such things as the death penalty and legitimate self-defense, which are not intrinsically evil, and which governments can, and often must, make use of. While the conditions for applying such unfortunate measures as the death penalty and waging war may be open to debate, they are not things evil in themselves, always and everywhere.
...
Any candidate for political office, Catholic or otherwise, who is in favor of intrinsically evil things (abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, etc.), votes for them, or otherwise funds or furthers their cause, cannot be supported in any way by a Catholic who wishes to remain Catholic in fact, not just in name."[/i]

I highly recommend reading the entire article by [url="http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=24441"]CLICKING HERE[/url].

Now, here's what I have to say specifically concerning John Kerry. He has stated that he believes life begins at conception and is "personally opposed" to abortion, and yet, [b]still[/b] supports abortion. Abortion is the killing of a child. Period. It is pure evil. It's an elimination of an entire class of defenseless human beings. [b]It's genocide.[/b] [i]Will your conscience honestly allow you to vote for someone in favor of this?[/i]

What if Abraham Lincoln was "personally opposed" to slavery, but then supported it as a "right". What if America was "personally opposed" to Hitler killing millions of Jews, but then just shrugged it off as his "right"?

Let's wake up. Seriously.

[dUSt]

[b]From PARTICIPATION OF CATHOLICS IN POLITICAL LIFE
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [/b]

[i]"Catholics, in this difficult situation, have the right and the duty to recall society to a deeper understanding of human life and to the responsibility of everyone in this regard. John Paul II, continuing the constant teaching of the Church, has reiterated many times that those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a "grave and clear obligation to oppose" any law that attacks human life. For them, [b]as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them.[/b]"[/i]

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
8/3 - Eighteenth Tuesday

I think it is also worth noting that Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, MO (one of the best Canon lawyers in the world), has recently been quoted as saying that any Catholic who votes for a pro-choice candidate cannot receive communion before he or she first goes to confession.

It's a sin, people.