Catholics Shouldn't Only Care About Abortion While Voting, Texas Bishop Says
Abortion shouldn’t be the only issue that Roman Catholics care about when they decide how to cast their votes in the 2020 elections, a Texas bishop has said.
El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz lamented the fact that some Christians are “single-issue” voters when it comes to abortion ― while ignoring issues such as racism, workers’ rights, climate change, and restoring protections for asylum seekers.
Prioritizing abortion over other moral issues has “harmed the credibility of the commitment of Christians to the common good and compromised the integrity of our Gospel witness,” Seitz wrote in a reflection published Wednesday by the Jesuit magazine America.
“Our concern and advocacy for life must embrace all of the marginalized and excluded, or it will ring hollow,” the bishop wrote.
Many Catholics feel “politically homeless” during election season, the bishop said. He said he believes it’s possible for faithful members of the church to arrive at different conclusions about whom to vote for after weighing the issues facing the nation.
While President Donald Trump has supported the anti-abortion movement and taken steps to protect religious liberties, he has ultimately “tainted the pro-life cause with the individualism and cult of wealth, greed and celebrity that very quickly erode solidarity and cheapen life,” Seitz said. The Trump administration has encouraged nativism and undermined religious liberty with policies like his travel bans that targeted Muslims, the bishop said.
Seitz decried the Democratic Party’s position on abortion and religious liberty issues important to the church. But he commended its presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, for the respect the Catholic politician has shown to Pope Francis, his historic selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, and his “working-class ethos.”
“As a bishop on the border, I am also encouraged by the Biden campaign’s promises to address climate...
