Stephen Kokx
October 25, 2020
An anonymously written article that appeared on the website of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) makes a convincing case as to why Catholics who vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would commit a grave sin by doing so.
The FSSP is a group of conservative Catholic priests who celebrate the Latin Mass. It was formed in 1988 in Switzerland by 12 priests who had a love and devotion to the traditional liturgy and sacraments. Since then, they have expanded to many countries, including the United States.
The article itself is quite academic and can be difficult to understand at times. But the gist of it is simply this; abortion is against the natural law and that by supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Catholics would be indirectly complicit in their breaking of the natural law’s teachings against murder.
“The stance on life is not a disagreement in perspective or approach between political parties,” the article reads. “It is a moral absolute that admits no compromise and is the issue that must rise to the top on election day.”
“There is a hierarchy of moral issues, and so a grave error on the fundamental right to life poisons how all life is regarded and demands correction.”
The author then observes that a “Catholic president has the moral obligation to attempt to rid our land of immoral and evil laws and organizations on account of his profession of Faith, while also promoting the influence of the Church and her welfare.”
But Joe Biden, the article notes, “publicly claims that abortion is the law of the land and that he will do all he can to make sure it stays that way.”
Therefore, “any Catholic who supports him, or aligns oneself with a political party that supports him, would be in proximate cooperation with evil and would commit a grave sin.”
The article concludes by arguing that Catholic politicians need to take a stand for the Church’s moral teachings and that if his or her political party opposes those teachings, then that person should either leave the party or make public remarks condemning the party’s positions.
What I love most about this article is the principled, detailed way it lays out basic moral teaching on voting.
We live in a constitutional republic. We elect politicians to office. They pass laws. By extension, we are complicit in the laws they pass. If they pass good laws, we help make a more just society. If they pass laws opposed to the Church’s doctrines, we are helping tear down society.
If elected, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would propose and sign laws wholly at odds with the Church’s moral teachings, not only on life but also on religious liberty. Joe Biden has already pledged to drag the Little Sisters of the Poor back to court to force them to pay for abortion-inducing drugs. Who’s next on his list? Catholic schools that refuse to go along with the absurd idea that your gender is at odds with your biological body?
Catholics need to wake up and realize the radical policies of today’s Democratic Party are exactly what Pope John Paul II had in mind when he coined the term, “the Culture of Death.” Catholics have no obligation to vote Democrat because their grandparents belonged to a labor union and voted for JFK back in the day. Sorry, but those days are long gone! The new Democrats are anti-life, anti-religious liberty, and anti-God. Catholics simply cannot support them without endangering their soul.