Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 4:47am

Bishop David Ricken: “This could put your own soul in jeopardy.”

Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin released a letter to his diocese on October 24 outlining considerations that should be taken into account by Catholics when voting:

I would like to review some of the principles to keep in mind as you approach the voting booth to complete your ballot. The first is the set of non-negotiables. These are areas that are “intrinsically evil” and cannot be supported by anyone who is a believer in God or the common good or the dignity of the human person.   They are:  

1. abortion  

2. euthanasia  

3. embryonic stem cell research  

4. human cloning  

5. homosexual “marriage”  

… Some candidates and one party have even chosen some of these as their party’s or their personal political platform. To vote for someone in favor of these positions means that you could be morally “complicit” with these choices which are intrinsically evil.   This could put your own soul in jeopardy.   The other position to keep in mind is the protection of religious liberty. The recent aggressive moves by the government to impose the HHS mandate, especially the move to redefine religion so that religion is confined more and more to the four walls of the Church, is a dangerous precedent. This will certainly hurt the many health care services to the poor given by our Catholic hospitals. Our Catholic hospitals in the Diocese give millions of dollars per year in donated services to the poor. In the new plan, only Catholic people can be treated by Catholic institutions.

Go here to read the entire letter.  Bishops are shepherds who have a heavy responsibility to Christ for their guarding and leading of the souls entrusted to them.  Would that all our bishops took the task with the same seriousness that Bishop Ricken does!  He obviously understands that this is not merely an election year for Catholics, but rather an Elijah on Mount Carmel Year.  A time of choosing is upon all of us.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
13 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
DJ Hesselius
DJ Hesselius
Monday, October 29, AD 2012 8:21am

Alas, I think he will be ignored by many. In our state, (my own town actually) a Democrat Catholic publically came out with the Personally Opposed, But… and is running for state office. You know, she just might win too.

philip
philip
Monday, October 29, AD 2012 8:45am

If the choice is unlimited abuse of the U.S. Constitution or preserving the rights of the people under the Constitution then one shouldn’t have difficulty in making the correct choice. In my opinion the impact of a biased msm is more damaging to our nation than the visible attack of a radical regime. If our Catholic church can not distinguish between the enemy of freedom and it’s supporters then loss is inevitable. I pray the united Bishops effort has been enough to save our freedoms.
Bahl has too many followers in the world including our church.

philip
philip
Monday, October 29, AD 2012 11:22am

…..including some of the members of our Holy Church. ( correction added )

G-Veg
G-Veg
Monday, October 29, AD 2012 12:19pm

I preface by stating that I will be pulling a Republican straight ticket this year – the first one of my life.

That having been said, philip, I pray that the GOP places a return to constitutional principles at the forefront of its plans. Such is not the case now.

I disagree with many of the specific positions of our Libertarian cousins but the general thrust of their belief that we have deviated far from the principles of the Republic and that the GOP is not committed to restoring our constitution is spot on. It is noticeable that Romney has said not a word about Executive Orders. Obama was lying when he said, as a candidate, that he would not dive down that unconstitutional rabbit hole. Romney is silent.

Is Romney reserving the power to rule by executive whim? Hopefully he will beat Obama and we will see.

Even if Romney refrains from running the Executive Branch like his own little private agent and an extension of his party – sins visited upon us in large and small ways for the last three and a half years, it seems clear that GOP Representatives and Senators have no sense of the power vested in the Legislature by our constitution. They follow the executive, whomever he is, like stubborn goats, propelled forward only by an insatiable and gluttonous desire for individual prestige and advantage. They see no more clearly than their Democrat counterparts that the US Constitution places them in the driver’s seat, not the rumble seat of American policymaking.

Finally, from top to bottom of the federal government and through all three branches, there is an overwhelming sense that Federalism is dead. Would that the states saw it differently but they are too busy making their administration the tool of federal policy to do other than stand, hat in hand, at the doors of Washington, hoping for the crumbs of the bread ripped from the hands of their own people.

I truly do wish that our Republic was even a shadow of the constitutional government created by the Framers but we have transformed our people into ignorant and servile sheep. Forty years of teaching our children social studies instead of civics and history, doling out government benefits on every class of society without placing any burden to advance ourselves, and litigiousness as a substitute for personal responsibility has ripped the very soul out of America. But for a vanguard, curiously attached to the past, we would have ceased to be ourselves before now.

So, yes, I will vote for Romney and the slate of Republican candidates on the ballot but it is an act of desperation, not one of optimism.

philip
philip
Monday, October 29, AD 2012 3:06pm

G-Veg-

Constitutional law.
Obama can be counted to do the very opposite of what he claims he will do. The game plan he uses is based upon lying as a means to get what he wants.
I do not blame you at all for your straight line approach this election season.
May God preserve the republic.

G-Veg
G-Veg
Monday, October 29, AD 2012 6:08pm

It is a curious reality that the majority of the lawyers I know have little respect for the Constitution. Constitutional Law professors have even less. I think this is a result of “thinking like a lawyer” – that terrible corruption of the mind that teaches one to manipulate truth like a sculptor does wood. I would expect no less of Obama than to have no respect for the Constitution and to have such hubris as to assume he could do better if only he had the chance to re-write the rules.

Our Republic is not advantaged by having so many citizens taught to “think like a lawyer.”

trackback
Tuesday, October 30, AD 2012 12:02am

[…] Bp. David Ricken: This Could Put Your Own Soul in Jeopardy – D. McClarey, The Amr Cth […]

philip
philip
Tuesday, October 30, AD 2012 8:19am

G-Veg-
Manipulate truth….
Your right on. The ego and law. Seems the appetite of many lawyers is feeding their unsatisfiable ego.
I hope you had a safe night riding out the storm. We prayed for you. All of you in harms way.

Jared
Jared
Tuesday, October 30, AD 2012 8:38am

Why is it ok to vote in favor of envy, jealousy and coveting other people’s money.? Why is it ok to vote to put government in the place of God and to encourage people to look to government to meet their needs and solve their problems?
The party of death and sodomy is also the party of envy, jealousy and covetousness.

G-Veg
G-Veg
Tuesday, October 30, AD 2012 9:36am

It isn’t OK.

The genius of the Framers was that they assumed the worst in those who aspired to be active in politics and used those vices to safeguard the Republic. It is precisely the greed, the hunger for power and influence, the very human inclination to twist and manipulate for one’s own devices that the Constitution uses to prevent tyranny.

My view is that the Framers assumed those vices would rule many who seek office and pit those vices against one another: the Executive Branch and Judiciary on one side and the Legislative Branch on the other, the States as states on one side and an hamstrung national government on the other, the impulse for unfettered license against the impulse for rigid conformity.

The US Constitution is a formidable foe for any tyrant, even well-meaning ones. We have come close to abrogating it several times: the Whiskey Rebellion, the Civil War, the Red Scare, and the Obama Administration. Each time though, it has been the jealously guarded rights and greed of men that has preserved us.

So it is now.

It is a testimony to the wise compromises of the Framers of our constitution that the President could not get even a fraction of what he wanted through the healthcare debate and has had to resort to limitless Executive Orders to satisfy the diverse factions of his party. He cannot get what he wants lawfully and, so, has to directly abrogate the Constitution.

What concerns me is that the Legislature, both Republican and Democrat, stand aside and let presidents rule by whim through Executive Orders. I don’t think it is a stretch to assert that Executive Orders represent the greatest danger to American liberties. The Framers counted on a legislature that would jealously guard their legislative prerogatives. Yet, since the second Clinton Administration, we have seen an increasingly fawning and emasculated Congress, begging for leadership and receiving dictates. It is even worse to contemplate that the States as states have lost all sense of themselves, with notable exceptions like Texas and Arizona. The States accept federal dictates without even a murmur of protest and act as though the Framers intended the federal government to dictate the terms and conditions of state powers.

This issue concerns me greatly and that both parties seem quite comfortable with the degradation of liberties and Federalism, it is difficult to get behind even the GOP.

I am Republican because there is no viable alternative for a Catholic but the GOP is only a shadow of what it should and could be.

philip
philip
Tuesday, October 30, AD 2012 2:44pm

G-Veg,
Can executive orders be rescinded?
Your explanation to Jared is appreciated.
I remember in May how Obama almost threatened the Judiciary branch just prior to the announcement of their ruling on obamacares constitutionally. I was outraged at his arrogance toward the system, ( if it didn’t go his way) . Individual mandate…by the way.

philip
philip
Tuesday, October 30, AD 2012 2:46pm

…constitutionality! Sorry.

G-Veg
G-Veg
Wednesday, October 31, AD 2012 4:37am

Executive Orders are controlled by each new Administration. When Obama took office he modified a host of GW’s, he eliminated a few, and added many of his own.

Scary stuff.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top