attempts to build a sense of meaningful community

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With the elections less than two weeks away, Catholic bishops took to the pages of secular and Catholic newspapers to explain their views on the key issues facing voters.

While Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver and Bishop Bernard W. Schmitt of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., focused on abortion as the most important moral issue of the day, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit said the policies of President George W. Bush were "in opposition to a culture of life" despite his stand on abortion.

Bishop Kenneth A. Angell of Burlington, Vt., noted in a letter read at all Masses in Vermont Oct. 23-24 that there is "no perfect being in humanity ... no perfect politician ... no perfect leader." But he said Catholic politicians and voters both have a responsibility to learn the truth taught by the church and not to distort Catholic teaching.

Comments by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago in a recent edition of his archdiocesan newspaper centered on the church's response to Catholic politicians who support abortion. He said he had not directed anyone to refuse Communion to those politicians "because I believe it would turn the reception of holy Communion into a circus here."

Archbishop Chaput's comments on "Faith and Patriotism" in an Oct. 22 op-ed piece for The New York Times were similar to those he has made in earlier talks, columns and interviews.

He criticized those who say Catholics "must not impose their beliefs on society" and who warn about the need for separation of church and state, saying that "we should recognize these slogans for what they are: frequently dishonest and ultimately dangerous sound bites."

"People who support permissive abortion laws have no qualms about imposing their views on society," Archbishop Chaput wrote. "Why should the rules of engagement be different for citizens who oppose those laws?"

The Denver leader said Catholics, whether voters or politicians, "are doubly unfaithful -- both to our religious convictions and to our democratic responsibilities -- if we fail to support the right to life of the unborn child."

"Our duties to social justice by no means end there," he said. "But they do always begin there because the right to life is foundational."

Bishop Schmitt, in a letter to Catholics made public Oct. 20, called abortion "the greatest moral evil of our age" and said it is "so grave and profound an evil that it calls all men and women of good will to action."

"In light of that truth, a Catholic who deliberately votes for a candidate precisely because of the candidate's permissive stand on abortion is guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil," he said.

"When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, such an action can only be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons," Bishop Schmitt said. "I cannot think of a value to put on innocent human life and the right to life; others, in conscience, may be able to."

Bishop Gumbleton, writing in the Oct. 20 op-ed section of the Detroit Free Press, said that if Bush were to visit Detroit's inner city he would meet "many men, women and children who have dramatically experienced the effects of his policies."


"When Bush travels the country, he often says that he stands 'for a culture of life in which every person counts and every being matters,'" the bishop wrote. "These words resonate deeply with Catholics. But is Bush's agenda really the Catholic agenda?"

Citing the president's policies on the Iraqi war, capital punishment, health insurance, jobs and poverty, Bishop Gumbleton said Catholics must "call on Bush to account for a deeply troubling record."

"And we must also challenge Democrats to embrace the entire culture of life, not just a selective economic and social agenda," he added, calling the 2004 elections a choice from among "imperfect candidates."

"What we will not do is vote for a candidate just because he uses words that we like to hear, remembering, as Scripture tells us, that we must be 'doers of the word and not hearers only,'" Bishop Gumbleton said.

Bishop Angell's letter, which was also published in the Oct. 22 issue of The Vermont Catholic Tribune, Burlington's diocesan newspaper, quoted extensively from the U.S. bishops' document, "Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility."

"How do we imperfect human beings recognize the truth and apply it to our responsibility to vote, to choose between two imperfect candidates, especially when it seems both are infringing on life in one way or another?" he asked.

"We must tirelessly hone our judgments, inform our consciences and measure each person, politician or platform according to how close they come to living the way, speaking the truth, and respecting and protecting life," Bishop Angell said.

The bishop urged "prominent figures who profess the Catholic faith" to take "great care to lead, not mislead, the faithful on any and all respect-life issues."

"Public statements and opinions which distort Catholic Church teachings can confuse the faithful, cause them great pain and promote disunity within the church," he added.

Cardinal George, in his column for the Oct. 10-23 edition of The Catholic New World, Chicago's archdiocesan newspaper, revisited the question of whether Catholic politicians who support keeping abortion legal should receive Communion, saying that such a decision should be left to a politician's pastor after discussions between the two.

"A firm case can be made that refusing Communion, after pastoral counseling and discussion, is a necessary response to the present scandal," he wrote. "Some bishops have made that case. If I haven't made it in this archdiocese, it's primarily because I believe it would turn the reception of holy Communion into a circus here."

Saying that the Eucharist is "our highest, most perfect, form of worship of God," Cardinal George said it "should be manipulated by no one, for any purpose."

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Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0405870.htm

by Benedict Auer




Nenette had gathered anemones

for beside your sickbed

while the sun slit the sky,

and as you lay in bed,

too weak to leave it,

you ask for your paintbox,

and for several hours

you become the flowers -

buttercup sunlights canvas,

lemon light across your face,

pain is forgotten.

Your petrified hand

rigidly curled inward

grips the brush,

afraid to let go, knowing when you do

it will be forever.

When you drop the brush, your head falls to the pillow,

and filled with awe you whisper

"I think I am beginning

to understand...."




======================

Renoir's Last Painting

by Benedict Auer


http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/auer/other/originalpoems.htm

Vatican Official Addresses U.N. Panel

NEW YORK, OCT. 6, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The key to guaranteeing "sustainable development" is to put the person at the center of attention, says a Holy See official.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations, expressed that conviction Tuesday when addressing the U.N. committee studying the question of sustainable development.

"Human beings are at the center of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature," the prelate said. "For this reason we believe that sustainable development must always be considered within the context of an authentic human ecology."

"In order to proceed more quickly towards sustainable development, useful steps forward will be made by means of the broadest participation of stakeholders," he suggested.

"Through their active involvement, the essential principles of solidarity and subsidiarity will be respected. It is through these two principles that stakeholders will come to perceive that the needs of all, not just some, must always be taken into account," the archbishop added.

"In this context, what is important is to guarantee an appropriate accountability on the part of those directing programs and projects on sustainable development, so that decisions taken will reflect the concerns of the people that the programs meant to help," the Vatican official said.

"In this sense, it would be most helpful if persons living on or beyond the margins of society were actually considered as true actors in their own development," the archbishop suggested.

"People are not tools but central participants in the determination of their future. In their specific economic and political circumstances, they should be left to exercise the creativity that is characteristic of the human person and upon which the wealth of nations depends," he stressed.

"Sustainable development should thus be aimed at inclusion, something that will only be attained through equitable international cooperation, participation and partnership," he added.

"The marginalized, while stakeholders, are often deprived of their voice at the negotiating table. Only the bond of solidarity can guarantee a real change in this regard," Archbishop Migliore said.

"Genuine global prosperity and progress on issues of sustainable development depend on the unification of the interests of all people," he indicated.

This is why the Holy See took this opportunity, he said, "to appeal for an integrated strategy that will reinforce the kind of solidarity in which all, not just some, people can exercise joint stewardship."
ZE04100607

By Catholic News Service
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) -- Using the business practices of the Knights of Columbus' insurance company as an example, the head of the Knights said corporations can succeed by placing ethical values above profit margins.Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the 1.7 million-member organization based in New Haven, spoke Sept. 28 at the St. Thomas More Center on the campus of Yale University in New Haven."Contrary to the impression given by recent scandals in the business world, not only is it possible to conduct business from a moral standpoint, but it is possible to do so in a way that is successful," Anderson said."Furthermore, I think that Catholics have an important contribution to make in this area and there are lessons that may be learned from the experience of the Knights of Columbus," he added.Although any company will be subject to "failures in training, in diligence, in prudence and in foresight," Anderson said, "ethical decision-making should permeate every aspect of the life of a company and its employees" and "should provide the context for product development, marketing, investments and employee relationships."In addition to being a volunteer Catholic men's organization involved in charitable activities, the Knights is a fraternal benefit society that has more than $52 billion of insurance in force for its members and their families and more than $11 billion of assets under management, the Knights' leader said.He said the insurance operation -- which employs 650 people in New Haven and nearly 1,400 agents across the United States and Canada -- is "one of only six insurance corporations out of approximately 1,700 in North America" receiving top ratings from Standard and Poor's, A.M. Best and the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association."And I would suggest to you that a principal reason that we were able to achieve that ... is because we have been steadfastly committed to our motto, 'Protecting Families for Generations,'" Anderson said.Among the business decisions made by the Knights which would seem to favor ethics over profits, he cited:-- Its marketing code of ethics, based on the Ten Commandments, which calls on agents to "present honestly and accurately all facts necessary to enable a member to make an informed decision."-- A follow-up of randomly selected clients about whether they understood what they purchased and their level of satisfaction.-- A mandatory third-part mediation system, in which clients with a complaint may be represented by counsel at no cost to themselves."We think a Catholic company ought to be able to develop a system of dispute resolution without depending upon trial attorneys and lengthy court proceedings," Anderson said.-- Refusal to invest in any companies with ties to abortion, contraception, pornography, for-profit health care, embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning."Even though we have consistently applied these ethical criteria to our investments and therefore have refused to invest in companies that many analysts insist are superior investments, we have continued to achieve strong earnings year after year," he said.-- A commitment to employee-employer relationships based on "recognition of the dignity of all those whose efforts combine to form the cooperative initiative that makes a company's efforts a success."Employees -- many of whom have been represented by unions since the 1960s -- make no contribution to their health care coverage and receive significant educational incentives, Anderson said. He also expressed pride at the fact that recent union contract negotiations were completed three months before contract expiration and extended the existing contract for three years "with only one minor language change."Anderson opened and closed his talk with references to former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who wrote in "The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice" that the communist regime had "reduced gifted and talented people to nuts and bolts of some monstrously huge, noisy and stinking machine, whose real meaning is not clear to anyone.""Gifted and talented people should not be reduced to 'nuts and bolts,'" the Knights' leader said. "The moment a company loses sight of the reality that its people -- its employees -- are its most important resource, that is the moment a company begins to lose both its moral foundation and its capacity for long-term success."
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