Roman Catholics for Obama '08

Archbishop Chaput is an admirable Catholic leader in the United States. He faithfully presents the teachings of the Church and candidly speaks about them. More importantly, he is very humble and often gives people the benefit of the doubt; it might be more accurate to say, he invites Catholics to conscientiously reflect on the teachings of the Magisterium and conform to the authentic teachings of Christ Jesus. I think this is direly needed especially in the politicization of the Catholic Church and debate on which American political party better reflects Catholic social teaching.

Earlier this year, the Denver Archbishop offered a coherent vision of Catholic responsibility as voters in the American political process. He clearly stressed the primacy of the abortion issue and did not criticize those who for "proportionate" reasons vote for a pro-choice candidate. He did emphasize that he disagreed with them, but in his experience, he knew people, of good will, who morally did oppose abortion, but hoped to bring about its demise in a different way.

I am proud that Catholics speak out against pro-choice rhetoric. I am even more proud that we remind fellow Catholics that the pro-choice position is not compatitible with our faith. But, in his own way, Archbishop Chaput is a humble gift to the Catholic Church in America. He goes beyond political language and does not speak condescendingly or make ad hominem statements. I personally am grateful for him as a Roman Catholic. While I profoundly disagree with people who identify as "pro-choice," I think basic respect is due to them and true civil dialogue will serve us better as we move toward the goal of ending the horror of abortion. In all truthfulness, calling people "baby killers," "pro-death," "proponents of a culture of death," "anti-life" and so forth, while it may be true of their position, it is not productive and it yields an unnecessary culture war at the expense of lives of unborn children who die everyday while we fail to humbly approach those who disagree with us. The solution to hostility is not to respond with hostility.

Once again, I admire and thank Archbishop Chaput and I recommend his words to the Roman Catholics who for whatever reason have decided to back Sen. Barack Obama for President.

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