Questions and answers concerning Archbishop Burke's pastoral letter

1. Is the archbishop endorsing a particular candidate?

No. The archbishop is presenting traditional Christian teaching to help voters make an informed decision in the coming election. His responsibility as a bishop clearly requires him to speak out on critical moral issues.

2. Doesn’t the pastoral letter on voting threaten the traditional American separation of church and state?

No. As American citizens Catholics have a civic responsibility to promote the common good. The first priority of the common good is the protection of human life, which makes sense of all our other rights.

3. Can Catholics simply avoid voting?

To ensure the common good Catholics have a responsibility to vote for a worthy candidate. Our civic responsibility for the common good is great, especially in a society which fails to afford legal protection to the weakest and most defenseless.

4. What do pro-life issues have to do with politics? Isn’t this legislating morality?

Scripture teaches us that we are our “brother’s keeper.” Like the good Samaritan in the Gospel, we must come to the aid of our defenseless brothers and sisters in the womb, innocent victims of human engineering, persons who have grown weak in advanced years, and all people and institutions that are threatened by violations of the moral law. The government already “legislates morality” when it addresses issues such as healthcare, employment, immigration, race relations, poverty, the rights of citizens, to name only a few.

Ongoing initiatives to educate people about the dignity of human life are of vital importance. The power of prayer for the intention that all will embrace the truth about human life cannot be underestimated.

5. Aren’t capital punishment and war also pro-life issues?

Capital punishment and war are certainly pro-life issues. Although they are rarely justified, they are, though, not intrinsically evil as is abortion. In some circumstances self-defense and defense of the nation are not only rights but responsibilities.

One cannot, however, justify voting for a candidate who promotes intrinsically evil acts which erode the very foundation of the common good, such as abortion, by appealing to that same candidate’s opposition to war or capital punishment.

6. Can a Catholic vote for a candidate who favors abortion?

It is never right to vote for a candidate in order to promote immoral practices. This would be “formal cooperation” in evil. There can never be justification for directly and deliberately taking innocent human life: abortion, destruction of human embryos, euthanasia, human cloning. For the sake of the common good we must safeguard the good of human life, and the good of marriage and family life.

7. If all the candidates favor abortion, but in different circumstances, how should a Catholic decide about voting?

In some circumstances it is morally permissible for a Catholic to vote for  a candidate who supports some immoral practices while opposing other immoral practices. This is called “material cooperation.” However, there is no element of the common good that could justify voting for a candidate who also endorses the deliberate killing, without restriction or  reservation of any kind, of the innocent.

8. Can a Catholic vote for a candidate who would allow abortion in limited circumstances?

If a candidate supports abortion in a limited number of cases, but is opposed to it otherwise, Catholics may vote for this candidate. This is not a question of choosing a lesser evil but of limiting the evil.

9. How can there be a connection between the reception of Holy Communion and a Catholic politician’s public policy actions?

One of the earliest examples of the connection between Holy Communion and public behavior is from St. Paul (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). St. Justin the Martyr (early 100s A.D.) lists three conditions for receiving Holy  Communion, the third of which is to live in accord with Church teachings.

People can receive Communion worthily if they are in fact in communion with Christ and His way of life.

10. How do social justice issues like poverty, housing, and education relate to pro-life issues?

The sum total of all social conditions - social justice issues - depends on the protection of human life. Without this fundamental protection it makes no sense to consider other social conditions. The inalienable right to life of every innocent individual is a constitutive element of civil society and its legislation.

11. Has the archbishop changed his thinking about voting and elections from earlier statements attributed to him?

 No. The principles outlined in this pastoral letter are entirely consistent with what the archbishop has previously stated. Previously he had occasion to speak only in a limited or particular context. The pastoral letter is a comprehensive and thorough treatment of our civic responsibility for the common good.

12. Did the archbishop write this pastoral letter because of the June letter of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on this subject to the U.S. bishops?

The pastoral letter was written to present the Church’s teaching regarding our civic responsibility to promote the common good, especially by exercising our right and fulfilling our duty to vote. It is meant to assist Catholics, and all people of good will in the metropolitan community, to choose those representatives who will best serve the good of all. The letter draws principally from the teaching of Sacred Scripture, the documents of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

(Provided by St. Louis Archdiocese)