Voter Resources
Bishop Rene H. Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi, TX
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The following is the text of an ad
made by Bishop Rene H. Gracida:
“This is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, reminding all Catholics that they must vote in this election with an informed conscience. A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate.”
To hear this ad, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kDZzkcaRO0
Voter’s Guide – Presidential Election – excellent! objective!
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Produced by Priest for Life, this is a very objective and useful guide for Presidential election. It simply lists issues and states each candidates words and position. Download it here:
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann
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Thank you to Randy Hain for bringing this excellent article to our attention —Following is Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann’s column from the upcoming edition of his archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven:
Leaven Column
March 6, 2009
By Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann
Normally, it would be a source of joy and pride to have a Catholic from Kansas named by the President to an important Cabinet Post. Unfortunately, I experience neither with President Obama’s selection of Governor Kathleen Sebelius as his choice to serve as the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In many ways, I can understand why President Obama selected Governor Sebelius. As I have acknowledged on several other occasions she is a very bright and gifted leader. In many important areas, she represents well Catholic social teaching. She has advocated for more affordable housing for the poor, she has worked to expand access to health care for economically disadvantaged children, and she has supported incentives encouraging adoption.
Yet, on the fundamental moral issue of protecting innocent human life, Governor Sebelius, throughout her career, has been an outspoken advocate for legalized abortion. For this reason her appointment to HHS is particularly troubling.
President Obama has made a top priority for his administration health care reform. The Church certainly supports the objectives of such reform: to make quality health care accessible and affordable for everyone. Of course, there is vigorous debate on how to best achieve this important goal. I claim no competence or expertise in this area.
The Secretary for HHS will be a key figure in developing and implementing the Health Care Reform for the nation. There are those, who have great influence within the Obama administration and with whom Governor Sebelius has been associated throughout her political career (e.g. Planned Parenthood, National Organization of Women, NARAL, etc.), who want abortion not only to be permitted in this country but considered a right.
If they are successful in their efforts to have abortion included amongst “basic health care services,” then it is entirely possible that doctors, nurses and health care institutions will be compelled to cooperate in the provision of abortion. Those advocating for abortion to be considered a “right” would love to see Catholic hospitals faced with the choice to either cooperate in providing abortions or close.
The protection of conscience rights for individuals and institutions is extremely important. The Obama administration has already expressed a desire to rescind the policies of the Bush administration to strengthen conscience protection for health care workers and providers. President Obama, when he was Senator Obama, co-sponsored the so-called Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) that was introduced in the previous congress. That version of FOCA would have, among other things, forced health care providers to cooperate in abortion. Regretfully, Governor Sebelius throughout her political career has been associated with and supported by Planned Parenthood, NOW, NARAL and others advocating for abortion to be considered a “health care right.”
Even more troubling is that earlier in her political career Governor Sebelius accepted political contributions from Wichita’s notorious late-term abortionist, Dr. George Tiller. When this was no longer politically opportune, Dr. Tiller established a political action committee through which he donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the election and re-election of Governor Sebelius, as well as other equally staunch supporters of legalized abortion.
Kansas has one of the most restrictive laws regarding late-term abortions. Yet, it has become, in large part because of Dr. Tiller, the late-term abortion capital of the Midwest. How is this possible? It is possible because our current laws have not been enforced. Each time the Kansas Legislature has passed statutes in an effort to improve enforcement of late-term abortion restrictions, Governor Sebelius has vetoed these laws.
As you are aware, because of her long history both as a legislator and Governor of consistently supporting legalized abortion and after many months of dialogue, I requested Governor Sebelius not to present herself for communion. I did this in the hope that it would motivate Governor Sebelius to reconsider her support for what is an intrinsic evil – the destruction of innocent human life by abortion. I also took this pastoral action to protect others from being misled by the Governor’s public support and advocacy for legalized abortion.
The appointment of Governor Sebelius as the Secretary of HHS concerns me on many levels. With her history of support for legalized abortion and embryonic stem cell research, it is troubling the important influence that she will have on shaping health care policies for our nation. Having elected President Obama with his own record of support for legalized abortion, our nation should not be surprised by his appointment of a Secretary for HHS who shares his views. Though many people voted for President Obama, not because of his support for legalized abortion but despite it, voters in effect gave him the ability to appoint individuals who share his anti-life views to his Cabinet and even more troubling to the courts.
I am also concerned personally for Governor Sebelius. Her appointment as Secretary for HHS places her in a position where she will have to make many decisions that will in all probability continue her personal involvement in promoting legalized abortion and her cooperation in this intrinsic evil.
I am also concerned that the appointment of Governor Sebelius places another Catholic supporting legalized abortion in a prominent national position. She joins Vice-President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and unfortunately a host of Catholic Senators and members of the House of Representatives who support legalized abortion contrary to the clear and consistent teaching of their Church. It saddens me that so many Catholics, to gain political advancement, have chosen to compromise their Catholic faith by their failure to defend the most fundamental of all human rights – the right to life.
I am reminded of the powerful scene in A Man for All Seasons, the play about the heroic Catholic English Martyr, St. Thomas More. After Richard Rich has perjured himself in order to make it possible to convict Thomas More of treason, the Judge asks Thomas More if he has any questions for the witness. Thomas More notes that Richard Rich is wearing a chain of office and asks what it signifies. He is told that Richard Rich has been appointed Attorney General for Wales. Thomas More then paraphrases the Gospel saying to Richard Rich: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul, but for Wales?”
We need to pray for all Catholics who serve in public life that they will have the courage and integrity to be true to the teachings and principles of our Faith no matter the political consequences.
What Did Bishop Cordileone Tell Me?
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Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for Prop 8 volunteers, pray for our opponents and all of the people who may be suffering during this election.
Go to Confession
As we go into the last week of the campaign, it is important to focus on prayer. This Proposition 8 Campaign to restore what we know to be true about the nature of marriage must be a work of the Holy Spirit and we must rely on Him in all we do. Offering hours of Eucharistic Adoration, Rosaries and Divine Mercy Chaplets are all very important.
CatholicsforProtectMarriage.com leadership (now about 150 strong) has offered our efforts to Our Lady of Guadalupe and prayed that all campaign volunteers be under her protection. On our weekly leadership conference calls we have prayed to her and prayed the Memorare together.
But there is one other thing that I would like to tell you. In fact it is something that Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego, asked me to tell you.
When the California Catholic Conference asked me to take on the responsibility as Chairman of CatholicsforProtectMarriage.com, I asked His Excellency if he had anything that he would like me to tell Catholics as I traveled the state. He said, “Yes,” without hesitation. I waited in anticipation and what he then said moved me greatly. He said to ask Catholics to go to confession – this is a time for penance.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized the beauty of what he was saying. It is not only a time for penance, but we need the graces the Sacrament of Penance has to offer us. I have been sharing his message as I have been speaking to groups around the state, but not being able to talk to everyone, I wanted to make sure you received the message as well.
It is very important that we all – across the country – try to go to confession before this election. It is important that we offer penance for the restoration of the definition of marriage in California with the passage of Proposition 8, but also for just laws that respect the inviolable dignity of the human person at every stage and condition of life and the nature of marriage across the country.
Please join me in praying the Memorare:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for Us.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Bill May
Chairman, CatholicsforProtectMarriage.com
89 Catholic Bishops Speak Out: In This Election, Abortion is the Defining Issue
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DALLAS, October 28 /Christian Newswire/ – “As Election Day nears, more and more U.S. Catholic bishops - 89, at latest count - are proclaiming that in this election, Catholic voters must make abortion their defining issue,” says Sue Cyr, head of the Ad Hoc Committee in Support of Our Bishops. “That means not voting for pro-abortion candidates.”
“All Catholics need to hear these bishops’ voices,” says Mrs. Cyr, “especially those whose favorite candidates are pro-abortion. They need to listen to the following bishops. We’ve provided the bishops’ contact data for the convenience of the news media.”
1) Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican: “Catholics who support pro-abortion candidates participate in a grave evil. They must show a change of heart and be sacramentally reconciled or refrain from receiving Holy Communion.”
“At this point the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitely into a ‘party of death.’” http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804933.htm
Office telephone: 06.69.88.75.20
2) Bishop Robert Hermann, Administrator, Archdiocese of St. Louis: ”Save our children! How can a so-called good Catholic vote for a candidate that supports laws that take the life of innocent children, when there is an alternative?… Save our children! How can a so-called good Catholic vote for a candidate that supports laws that justify the killing of a child that survived a botched abortion? How can such a so-called good Catholic receive the Holy Eucharist?” (column, Oct. 10, 2008)
Archdiocese: 314.633.2222 or 314.792.7000
3) Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas, Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth: “…there are no ‘truly grave moral’ or ‘proportionate’ reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year. To vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or ‘abortion rights’ when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil — and, therefore, morally impermissible.”
Diocese of Dallas: (214) 528-2240
Diocese of Fort Worth: (817) 560-3300
4) Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., of Denver: “In the United States in 2008, abortion is an acceptable form of homicide… If you vote this way [for a candidate who supports or promotes abortion], are you cooperating in evil? And if you know you are cooperating in evil, should you go to confession? The answer is yes.”
“So I think that people who claim that the abortion struggle is ‘lost’ as a matter of law, or that supporting an outspoken defender of legal abortion is somehow ‘pro-life,’ are not just wrong; they’re betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child. And I hope they know how to explain that, because someday they’ll be required to.”
Archbishop’s office: 303-715-3129 shepherd@archden.org
5) Bishop Rene H. Gracida, retired bishop of Corpus Christi: “This is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, reminding all Catholics that they must vote in this election with an informed conscience. A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate.” (radio ad, Oct. 2008)) (Download radio spot in English and Spanish at www.RandallTerry.com)
6) Kansas Catholic Conference of Bishops: “[I]t is a correct judgment of conscience that we would commit moral evil if we were to vote for a candidate who takes a permissive stand on those actions that are intrinsically evil when there is a morally-acceptable alternative.” Office: 913-722-6633
7) Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J.: “Certainly policies on welfare, national security, the war in Iraq, Social Security or taxes, taken singly or in any combination, do not provide a proportionate reason to vote for a pro-abortion candidate.”
Archdiocesan Communications: (973) 497-4190
Bishop Robert W. Finn, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph: “But, again and again, I am asked, ‘Can a Catholic vote for the candidate who is perhaps the most extreme in favor of abortion, even if they promote other policies which we judge to be good?’…
When a candidate supports ready access to abortion on demand, they are inviting Catholics to put aside their conscience on this life and death issue. Such a candidate is inviting conscientious Catholics to look elsewhere for moral leadership.”
http://catholickey.org/index.php3?gif=news.gif&mode=view&issue=20081017&article_id=5325
Diocese: Phone: 816.756.1850 | Toll-Free: 800.246.1850
9) Cardinal Edward Egan of New York City: “Do me a favor. Look at the photograph [of a 20-week preborn baby] again. Look and decide with honesty and decency what the Lord expects of you and me as the horror of ‘legalized’ abortion continues to erode the honor of our nation. Look, and do not absolve yourself if you refuse to act.”
Archdiocesan Media Relations: 1-212-371-1011 Ext. 2990
10) Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics (A Statement by the Catholic Bishops of the United States, 1998):
Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care…But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. (sec. 23) - http://www.usccb.org/prolife/gospel.shtml
11) Bishop Robert F. Vasa of the Diocese of Baker, Ore.: “When we have someone who [supports legal abortion] then the other issues, in many ways, do not matter because they are already wrong on that absolutely fundamental issue.”
Diocese: 541-388-4004
12) Bishop Joseph Martino, Diocese of Scranton, Pa.: “No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people [as abortion has]. This is madness, people.” (to parish forum)
“Our Lord, Jesus Christ, does not ask us to… take up his Cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door… Let us continue to speak the language of love and affirm the right of every human being to have the value of his or her life, from conception to natural death, respected to the highest degree.” (pastoral letter, Respect Life Sunday, 2008)
Scranton Diocesan Chancery: 570-207-2238
Mrs. Cyr says, “This election presents a stark contrast between a pro-life candidate and one who is the most pro-abortion Presidential candidate in American history. Barack Obama has pledged that his first act as President would be to sign a bill that would undo all the pro-life legislative protections for abortion-targeted preborn babies that pro-lifers have gained in the last 35 years.”
“Barack Obama,” she continues, “has also promised to appoint only pro-abortion nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. That would entrench abortion on demand for another whole generation. That would be a disaster for our country and a death sentence for millions more innocent babies.”
Do you know how powerful the prayer of the Rosary is still, today?
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Here are some brief historical facts – including those in the 20th Century — proving the power of praying the Rosary :
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The historical fact behind October 7th being proclaimed the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary:
In 1571, the armada of the Cross (Christendom) under John of Austria, brother of King Phillip II, met and defeated the naval armies of the Crescent (Islam) under Selim the Sot off the gulf of Lepanto, between Italy and Greece.
But this was no easy battle. The Christendom fleet crew members were exhausted from another battle. They were far, far outnumbered by the fresh, Islamic forces and ships. Yet unrelenting, aggressive inroads had been made by Islamic forces in conquering Christian territory up to this point in history, and keeping further aggression at bay was critical to the preservation of Christendom.
Saint Pius V, the great Dominican Pope, ordered the public praying of the Rosary throughout Christendom in support of the Christian navies stopping the onslaught of Islam. Although aged and ill, he himself led, on foot, a rosary procession through Rome. The crew members themselves all knelt on their ship decks and prayed the Rosary before the battle. They knew the odds against them. Wondrously, during the battle, a thick fog arose that made it difficult to distinguish ships. The overpowering Islamic forces found themselves attacking their own ships amid the confusion and they retreated. In the thick clouds, a vision of Our Lady was reportedly seen by the crews.
After the victory of the Christian forces, the church was quick to acknowledge the help of Our Lady, and instituted October 7 as the Feast of the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, a feast around which naval traditions have gravitated through the centuries.
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In Manila, Philippines, on February 25, 1986, army tanks rolling down the streets to take over the city were stopped dead in their tracks as people knelt before the tanks, praying the Rosary.
Cardinal Jaime Sin, then archbishop of Manila, had called for “people power” in a pastoral act designed to avoid bloodshed. Rosary vigils and nightly processions of a replica of the antique image of Our Lady of La Naval were led by the Filipino Dominicans outside the gates of the Presidential palace. And people armed only with the weapons of love —Rosaries, Icons of Jesus and Mary, flowers and food –knelt down praying the Rosary, literally in front of the tanks and troops who were in battle gear. The astounding event made front page news around the world! The tanks stopped and troops came down from their tanks to join in praying the Rosary for peace. It was the power of the Rosary!
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In 1978, Pope John Paul II requested permission to visit then-communist Poland.
The government would permit Pope John Paul II to enter Poland if he would visit only those places predetermined by the government. The Holy Father desired to visit other places. Permission was not granted; the trip to his homeland seemed to be in jeopardy.
On December 8, 1978, through a private revelation, Our Lady requested seven days and nights of continuous Rosaries to be said from May 1 – 7, 1979, at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The prayers were to be offered for a resolution of the impasse preventing the papal pilgrimage.
The seven-day prayer vigil was approved by the local Ordinary and began as requested on May 1. It was soon popularly referred to as the “Siege of Jericho,” reminiscent of the Old Testament battle, because participants believed they “were destroying the walls of satanic darkness … overcoming the gates of hell … fighting the princes and rulers of darkness. Such was the form of our prayers and meditations,” said one organizer and participant. From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. there was a continuous sequence of Masses, Rosaries and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Sacred Heart Chapel. From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Rosaries were prayed before the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
As the Rosary seige was beginning, Bishop Kraszewski was informed again by Polish Communist authorities on May 2 that the Pope would be permitted to visit Poland, but with a limited itinerary. The bishop reportedly answered that the governmental restrictions would bring shame on the nation in the year marking the 1000th anniversary of Polish Christianity. The Pope would not come to Poland with such restrictions, he said. On May 7, the last day of the Rosary vigil at Jasna Gora, the government unexpectedly relented and removed the major obstacles to the papal visit. The power of the Rosary!
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In 1954, in Brazil, devout praying of the Rosary prevented an attempted communist takeover.
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In 1646, again in the Philippines, there were not only hostile Muslims in the South, but also Dutch and English privateers who wanted the riches of the archipelago and who wanted to replace Catholicism with Dutch Protestant Calvinism.
During this year, there were five bloody naval battles between the greatly outnumbered Spanish – Catholic – Philippine forces and the Dutch marauders. Only 15 of the defenders of Manila were lost in all of the battles. The Dutch, then political enemies of the Spanish, retreated, and never again threatened to destroy the integrity of the islands by annexing them to the Dutch East Indies.
Before each of the battles, the intercession of Our Lady was fervently sought. Crew members — Spanish soldiers, religious, and Filipinos — vowed special homage to Our Lady for a victorious battle. True to their Latin heritage and Catholic pride, the victorious defenders petitioned official church recognition and declaration of the naval victories of 1646 as miracles worked by the Mother of God. The Ecclesiastical Council in Cavite, with the help of doctors of theology, canonical experts, and prominent religious, deliberated and examined written and oral testimonies from all eye-witnesses. Finally, on April 9, 1662, the Council ordered that the five naval victories of 1646 be declared as miraculous, “granted by the Sovereign Lord through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin and devotion to her Rosary, that the miracles be celebrated, preached and held in festivities and to be recounted among the miracles wrought by the Lady of the Rosary for the greater devotion of the faithful to Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Her Holy Rosary.” This decree was signed by all eight Council members.
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In August 1945, the Russians mysteriously withdrew their forces from occupied Austria after a mere ten percent (10 %) of the Austrian people pledged to say the Rosary daily.
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In 1214, the Blessed Virgin told St. Dominic that the principal weapon the Holy Trinity relies upon to reform the world is the Rosary.
It was through praying the Rosary that St. Dominic and his followers conquered the Albenensian heresy.
A Prayer for our Nation as We Prepare to Elect our Leaders
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Knights of Columbus — Jerry J. Junk council #10244
For nine weeks, from September 1 to Election Day, November 4, Priests for Life calls upon believers to participate in the “Election Novena” by saying the following prayer each day:
O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord, not only of individuals, but of nations and governments,
We thank you for the privilige of being able to organize ourselves politically and of knowing that political loyalty does not have to mean disloyalty to you.
We thank you for your law, which our Founding Fathers acknowledged and recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us, to exercise our solemn duty not only to vote, but to influence countless others to vote, and to vote correctly.
Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, their response to you requires that they be politically active.
Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world but rather a community of faith renewing the world.
Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; that the same eyes that read your Word are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, and that they do not cease to be Christians when they enter the voting booth.
Awaken your people to a commitment to justice, to the sanctity of marriage and family, to the dignity of each individual human life, and to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin, and not one moment later.
Lord, we rejoice today that we are citizens of your kingdom.
May that make us allthe more committed to being faithful citizens on earth.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
NOVEMBER 1 ROSARY – KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NATIONWIDE CALL TO PARISHES
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 Councils Asked to Pray the Rosary on Nov. 1In a special letter to all state deputies, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson asked that all councils “schedule a rosary at each local parish on Saturday, Nov. 1, to pray for divine guidance as critical choices are made on Election Day and to entrust the outcome to the maternal intercession of our Blessed Mother.” He noted that “much is at stake, especially in states where citizens will have a chance to vote to protect marriage (Arizona, California and Florida), to prevent physician assisted suicide (Washington), to protect the unborn (California, Colorado and South Dakota) and to oppose embryonic stem cell research (Michigan).” |
State by State, Pro-Life Voter Guides
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Pro-Life Voter Guides for each state can be found here:
