Letters to the Editor: Miracles at Mass/ Catholic voting

CatholicAnchor.org

The following letters to the editor were recently published in the Catholic Anchor.

Catholic voters must never support ‘intrinsic evil’

Thanks to Geoff Kennedy’s April letter to the editor asking how Catholics decide to vote. This is a conversation more Catholics should be having.

Kennedy has apparently read the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document “Faithful Citizenship,” but a more careful reading of that document is in order. As Kennedy says in his letter, “we are free to weigh a number of important issues when determining how to vote.” However, the bishops’ document makes clear that as Catholics we are never to support intrinsic evils such as abortion.

“Faithful Citizenship” clearly states, “There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. Such actions are so deeply flawed that they are always opposed to the authentic good of persons. These are called ‘intrinsically evil’ actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia.”

So as Catholics we must not vote for candidates that favor abortion, homosexual “marriage,” or other intrinsic evils. Any candidate who supports continued government funding of Planned Parenthood — an organization which murders completely innocent people, tears them limb from limb, and sells their body parts — is not worthy of a Catholic vote. This is not my opinion, this is the clear teaching of the Catholic Church.

There may be such a thing as a just war, but there is never a just abortion.

Please read “Faithful Citizenship” (available on the U.S. bishops’ website) and then vote like a faithful Catholic.

— Laura Burke, Kenai

A miracle occurs during every single Mass

In “The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus”, a practical guide for daily devotion to Jesus’ Most Sacred Heart, Jesuit Father John Croiset wrote, “Jesus Christ has never conferred so many favors as in the practice of the devotion which tends to honor him in the Blessed Sacrament.” He continues, “When was it that Saint Francis, Saint Ignatius, Saint Teresa, Saint Philipp Neri, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and a hundred others, have felt their hearts more than usually inflamed with love but when they approached this august sacrament?”

As Catholics, we know that at every single Holy Mass, a miracle occurs. Now if a friend called me up and told me that there was a man in downtown Anchorage who was curing the sick, I would jump in my car and go. And yet, some days I don’t make Mass a priority. Some people are blessed to be able to receive Our Lord daily in the Eucharist, to be present at this great mystery every day. May we all challenge ourselves to have a greater appreciation for Christ, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

— Carole Hart, Anchorage

Note: Letters from readers may or may not reflect the opinions of the Anchorage Archdiocese.