Pro-life Bishop Gracida strikes again, this time with radio and youtube ads
Retired Bishop Rene H. Gracida (above), now 85, of Corpus Christi, Texas, has always been a strong voice in defense of preborn babies.Now he has issued a radio ad in which he tells Catholics that Barack Hussein Obama is pro-abortion and we may not vote for him.
A pro-lifer in Ohio has turned the radio ad into a Youtube ad (click on this post's title).
Here is the text of Bishop Gracida's ad, in its entirety:
"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."
Why, do you suppose, haven't L.A.'s Cardinal Roger Mahony and his bishops raised their voices in this crucial election battle as Bishop Gracida has and as so many other bishops have?
Maybe the Cardinal and his bishops all have laryngitis together. And paralysis of the fingers, too, so they can't type anything out. That's got to be it -- got to be the only reason they haven't told their Catholic flock not to vote for the pro-aborts. Don't you agree?
posted by Quintero at 10:23 PM
9 Comments:
it must be q, lol, can't think of any other reason our Bishops' have been silent.
I agree that Bishops must teach the lay faithful about the truths held by the Church - as is their duty as Shephards of Christ's Flock - lest the lay faithful be ravaged by wolves, even wolves in sheep's clothing, but I do not think making fun of any Bishop is charitable, nor will it contribute to the growth of the Church or the coming of the Reign of God. You should instead be telling people to pray for the clergy and not to worry.
I forgot to mention in my last coment: Bishop Gracida did an excellent job defending life on the radio! He could not make the teaching of the Church cleaer, in my opinion. God bless him!
A political candidate’s position on abortion has become the de facto litmus test of morality, and of respect for life. Other issues (taxes, education, health care, immigration and the economy) that also divide Republicans and Democrats have been seen primarily as issues of “social justice,” and less critical. However, the data show that these also have a profound effect on life.
Consider the matter of health care. For a study of life expectancy in the United States published in PLos Medicine in 2006, Christopher Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed census and health statistics data for the years 1982 to 2001. He found an enormous, 35-year gap in life expectancy based on race, county of residence, income, and other social factors. In my home county of Fairfax Virginia, life expectancy is in the top ten counties in the US - about 81 years. Life expectancy in counties at the bottom is only 46 years, shorter than that in many developing countries. This isn’t a new finding - many other articles have been published over the last two decades describing similar differences in life expectancy. There are several reasons for premature death in some counties, but socioeconomic status and access to health care are the heavyweights. Thus, health care in particular, as well as many other philosophical differences between the political parties can have as profound an influence on life as the death penalty and abortion. The moral justification for voting cannot be based on a single issue.
As a Catholic, I've been opposed to abortion all my life, and efforts to reduce abortions must continue. However, the concept of pro-life must encompass all causes of death, not only abortion. The positions the Democratic Party has held with respect to universal health care, taxation, unemployment, war and torture are more consistently pro-life than those of today's Republicans. My conscience requires that I vote for Barack Obama, and I will do so with great enthusiasm and hope.
Peter Kaufmann, Ph.D.
Past President, Society of Behavioral Medicine
Secretary, International Society of Behavioral Medicine
The views expressed above are not necessarily those of the SBM or ISBM.
Dear Nikkname,
Thank you for your counsel!
At various times I do ask everyone to pray for Cardinal Mahony, our bishops and our clergy.
We all pray for our bishops at every Mass, too, of course.
The Catholics of L.A. have been praying for Cardinal Mahony for nearly a quarter-century.
Yet he remains silent even now, as the election approaches and the danger of absolute disaster faces the preborn babies of L.A., all California and the entire USA for the next generation and beyond.
The Catholics of L.A. have tried every approach with the Cardinal, and nothing has worked.
Once a year he holds a ceremony to mark the deaths of the 155 babies he calculates are aborted every day in L.A. But then, too often, he appears in the company of the pro-abortion politicians who make the deaths of all those babies -- BABIES! -- possible.
So is it really advisable to tell people not to worry?
And is it really lack of charity to use a little sarcasm to attempt to prod our hierarchy into showing some charity for L.A.'s moms and babies by speaking up for them?
Dear Peter,
Thank you for writing.
Neither you nor I nor anyone can ignore the following passage from 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."
That should be enough right there to cause you to not vote for the abortion zealot Obama.
Why would you or anyone suppose that the socialized medicine that Barack Hussein Obama proposes would improve anyone's health?
In the first place, taxpayer-funded abortion, contraception and other agents of the culture of death will be part of Obama's socialized medicine.
In the second place, mark my words, so will be "futile care" and "rationing" of resources for elderly, infirm and disabled Americans -- just like in England, where after people reach a certain age they heartlessly deny them surgery and write them off.
Socialized medicine has not worked anywhere, so why do you expect it to work in the USA?
How can you posit some extremist pro-abortion politician's government-medicine scheme, for which there is no guarantee of success, against a pro-life administration's already proven protections for preborn babies?
No one outside the right to life movement has any right or any legitimate reason to say that movement must change its mission.
No other movement but right to life is ever told it has to dilute its focus and absorb other causes.
Sorry, you have not at all made the case for any Catholic to ever morally vote pro-abortion.
Mahoney & company have not spoken out on abortion because they are faithful democrats first, Catholics second.
Who is to say that the same law that allows a mother to kill her unborn child will also allow a child to kill his/her mother/father by euthanasia?
Dear Quintero,
Policies regarding health care and employment are not only matters of "human dignity" as stated by the Catholic Bishops, but have life-or-death consequences.
Moreover, in addition to adhering to moral principles, we have a responsibility to examine whether the strategies we use to bring about change are adequate. What have the Republicans done in the 25years since Roe v. Wade to earn continued support of the Pro-Life movement? Their strong statements give them an automatic block of votes. I feel I've been fleeced.
Peter
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