DURBIN'S SCORECARD GETS AN “F”
On June 2, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois released a report,
"Evaluating the Votes and Actions of Public Officials from a Catholic
Perspective," which ranked the twenty-four U.S. Catholic senators based
on their votes in three areas: domestic, international and pro-life.
The issues were taken from a publication issued by the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Faithful Citizenship."
Referring
to bishops who have said they may deny Communion to pro-abortion
politicians, Durbin said they "cross the line in terms of what most
Catholic Americans find acceptable regarding the relationship between
their church and their government."
We didn't see it that way, and that is why we released the following statement to the media:
"To
say that a senator votes better on Catholic issues because he has voted
to increase the minimum wage while voting against a ban on killing a
baby who is 80 percent born is ludicrous. Senator Durbin has done the
same as some House Democrats last month, lumping together policy issues
that do not have the same moral weight. The Vatican's recent document
on Catholic politicians, echoing the pope, states that Catholic
lawmakers have 'a grave and clear obligation to oppose any
law that attacks human life' [emphasis in original]. The U.S. bishops,
in the very same document used by Durbin to form the scorecard, call
this 'the fundamental moral measure of their [lawmakers'] service.'
Saying otherwise is a disgraceful misrepresentation of Catholic
teaching.
"Durbin has even gone so far as to
say that the 'right to religious belief and the separation between
church and state' may be 'compromised' by bishops who impose sanctions
on pro-abortion lawmakers. This is ironic, coming from the senator who
on the Judiciary Committee enforced a de facto religious test barring
pro-life Catholics from the federal bench. The fact of the matter is
that the bishops have not only the right but the duty to speak on moral
issues that play out in the public sphere; and Durbin's inflammatory
rhetoric is a blatant attempt to muzzle them."
 Share this Article
 Printer Friendly
Back to July-August 2004 Catalyst Online »
More Catalyst Online »
|
