文章基本信息

标题：Hijacking the election
作者：John A. Marino
期刊名称：Commonweal
印刷版ISSN：0010-3330
出版年度：2004
卷号：Dec 17, 2004
出版社：Commonweal Foundation

Hijacking the election

John A. Marino

Regarding "Bush Redux" (November 19): The U.S. Catholic hierarchy is laying the groundwork for its own demise by allowing a handful of bishops to alienate faithful Catholics, suffocate Catholic candidates who would advance a broad spectrum of Catholic social values, and most troubling of all, manipulate and distort the church's teaching according to a shrewdly devised political strategy.

The strategy of framing abortion as a moral issue that outweighs all others, such as war, poverty, and the death penalty, did not emerge to defeat Kerry by mere coincidence. According to the New York Times, the White House began a highly organized campaign four years ago to reach out to conservative Catholics. They knew that abortion was the key to eliminating any Democrat from the competition. That the opposing candidate would turn out to be Catholic, giving Team Bush the opportunity to twist Kerry's own faith against him, was just an ironic bonus that they exploited to full effect.

Archbishop Raymond Burke told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that while in theory there could be issues that outweighed abortion, he found it "difficult to imagine" what those issues could be. As a practicing Catholic, I can imagine a few. My faith has led me to support leaders who promote programs that help the poor instead of the wealthy, who fight to protect the environment, and who believe in true social and economic equality for all people, locally and globally. I also believe that starting a preemptive war that cannot be justified in any way by Catholic guidelines is worth serious moral consideration.

This is not to say that Catholics could only have supported Kerry, or any Democrat. The church does not belong to any political party. It is up to the greater Catholic community--from the lay parishioner to the archbishop--to make sure that a radical few don't hijack the church, as they did in this election.

JOHN A. MARINO

Bedford, N.Y.

The writer is the former chairman of the New York State Democratic Party.