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Vancouver Catholic Diocese Tells Catholics to Vote Pro-Life, Pro-Family FIRST

Bishop says, "Support those who uphold the sacredness of life and marriage and the family"

Vancouver, June 18, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) -The Archdiocese of Vancouver has for the past few decades been perhaps the most faithful in Canada to John Paul II's directions to place a high priority on efforts to eliminate abortion, euthanasia and other attacks on the sacredness of life and on the family.

The June 21 issue of the B.C. Catholic is full of election related articles as it attempts to assist its readers to make a fully informed vote in the light of authentic Catholic teaching.

Archbishop Roussin sets the tone with his statement in his already released message for this weekend's upcoming Pro-Life Sunday in which he says about voting, "Support those who uphold the sacredness of life and marriage and the family".

Editor Paul Schratz is blunt about Catholic responsibility in his election editorial. He writes: "If one believes that life is absolutely sacred, that euthanasia is wrong, or that homosexual marriage is a defilement of marriage, one is bound to act on those beliefs, just as politicians in generations past acted on their personal views that slavery is immoral, even though the courts defended it and segregationists told them there was no place for the Church in politics". Schratz continues, "The court may say it, politicians may defend it, and the Charter of Rights may guarantee it, but the Catholic cannot fall back on excuses like, 'I have no right to force my views on anyone else.'"

The Diocesan paper offers ten top questions that Catholics should ask the candidates before they vote. They concern:
1. the candidate's support for the right to life.
2. taking steps to reduce the number of abortions.
3. support for defunding abortion
4. opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
5. preventing the killing of embryonic humans for research.
6. banning cloning.
7. supporting the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.
9. supporting the right to speak on moral issues and repealing Bill C-250.
10. Ensuring that Canada does not try to impose anti-life, anti-family policies on other countries.

The BC Catholic lists in chart form the voting record of all the incumbent BC Members of Parliament on the 1999 marriage vote, the 2003 marriage vote, Bill C-250 and Bill C-13, the stem cell bill. It also very briefly lists the party platforms on life and marriage.

In a special section called the Canadian Catholic Voter's Catechism, the refreshingly faithful Catholic paper bluntly states, "two basic issues stand out in Canada today: the right to life and the status of marriage and family. The most basic of all our rights is the right to life, the right from which all other rights flow. Without life, no other right can be enjoyed. Any threat to the right to life, then, is a threat to all our rights. Any threat to the right to life not only puts human beings at risk of being killed, but also "is a threat capable, in the end, of jeopardizing the very meaning of democratic co-existence,"(7) Pope John Paul II warns in Gospel of Life.

So, the BC Catholic concludes, "First, we must vote for candidates and parties that uphold the right to life for all Canadians and for all human beings everywhere. Second, we must vote for candidates and parties who recognize that a family is "a man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children,"(12)

See the B.C. Catholic at
http://bcc.rcav.org/

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