Catholic legal scholar Douglas Kmiec is wrong, and Archbishop Charles Chaput is right. If I may be permitted to complete the archbishop’s thought, I will point out that only 55% of eligible voters in America cast ballots in presidential elections (only 40% in the off-year congressional races).
The 60 million eligible voters who don’t vote most certainly include millions of thoughtful Catholics, like me, who refuse to vote for candidates who endorse anti-life government policies. Would political parties rush to court half of the eligible voting population if they thought it would bring them to power? You bet they would!
What America and other democratic countries need are guidelines that define all Catholic pro-life prerequisites, not merely those related to abortion. These guidelines would be, in effect, the Catholic Political Platform, which both major political parties would fall over one another to copy.
So, how about it Mr. Kmiec? As a Catholic legal scholar, might you consider taking the lead in writing a platform that Catholic bishops would be willing to endorse and promulgate to inform the Catholic voting public?
C. Edward Collins
