MEDIA ADVISORY State Senator Tim Mathern of Fargo Urges Bishop Kagan to Withdraw Election-Related Letter Today's Date: October 23, 2012 Contact: Tim Mathern, North Dakota State Senator and Roman Catholic Church Member, 701.893.5016 Senator Mathern's Statement: Bishop David Kagan has prepared an internal letter to be read in all Roman Catholic parishes in North Dakota during the liturgies of the weekend of October 27 and 28, 2012. The letter engages in partisan politics and damages the bounds of personal conscience, the Church's role in building the common good, and the non-profit status of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. I urge Bishop Kagan to withdraw or change the letter. As a matter of respect for the person of Bishop Kagan and Office of Bishop, I have attempted to speak with Bishop Kagan about the letter, which was scheduled for release this weekend but has come to my attention in advance. My preference was to ask him privately to change or withdraw the letter as written. Yesterday, I was informed by Bishop Kagan s staff that Bishop Kagan would not be returning my call. As a private conversation is not possible, it is now my responsibility to communicate publicly about this matter of immediate importance. Bishop Kagan's letter reads as follows: My Dear Friends in Christ Jesus, In this Year of Faith each Catholic citizen has the privilege and duty to participate in our Nation s governing by the exercise of our constitutional right to vote in national, state and local elections. As your Bishop I urge you to exercise this cherished right. I will not tell you how to vote. However, I ask you to vote as a Catholic citizen with a properly formed Catholic conscience. A properly formed Catholic conscience will never contradict the Church s teachings in matters of faith and morals. [Emphasis added.] In this letter I wish to explain what this means in direct relation to the issues on which each person s vote will have a lasting impact. What is a properly formed Catholic conscience? The Catechism says: A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. Everyone must avail himself of the means to form his conscience. (1798) The Catholic Church s teachings are the means for us to properly form our consciences so that we seek always what is true and good. 1
At the heart of all Catholic moral and social teaching is a single fact: the respect given to an individual human person must always be first and must govern every law and action so that the person s life and dignity is always and everywhere protected and defended. In other words, from the first moment of human conception to the last moment of life on earth, the person must be respected without exception. For this reason, there are some actions that are never acceptable and should not be made so by law, they include: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and not recognizing the unique and special role of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. [Emphasis added.] All of the other social, economic and political issues gain importance only from the fundamental issue of the respect for the individual person and the inviolability of each person s life and God-given dignity. Thus, if there is no respect for the life and dignity of each person from conception to natural death, then every other moral evil can be justified. There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. Such actions are so deeply flawed that they are always opposed to the authentic good of persons. These are called intrinsically evil actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. [Emphasis added.] A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life as in abortion and euthanasia. In this election year, the positions of the two political parties and the positions of their candidates are well known. [Emphasis added.] What I ask each of you to do before you vote is to consider carefully what our Catholic Church teaches about these issues, then consider how your vote for a particular candidate will contribute to the common good of us all as persons with that human dignity which must be respected and protected always. We know that we have a representative form of government and that those we elect are to represent us. When you vote, I ask you to vote for the candidates who represent you as Catholic citizens. Please do not vote for the candidate who is most likeable. [Emphasis added.] We can find something likeable in each candidate but that person may not represent us as faithful Catholics. Our vote as Catholic citizens has to focus on who and what protects human life and dignity and therefore, the common good. I close with a quote from Blessed John Paul II. He wrote: The common outcry which is justly made on behalf of human rights for example the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination. (Christifideles Laici, 38) 2
May God bless and guide us at this important moment and may Our Blessed Mother remain with us! Sincerely yours in Christ, Most Reverend David D. Kagan Bishop of Bismarck Apostolic Administrator of Fargo I ask Bishop Kagan to withdraw or change the letter for three primary reasons: 1) The Bishop's position is inconsistent with the principle of Primacy of Conscience, a long accepted position of Roman Catholic moral theology. The Bishop's letter states: A properly formed Catholic conscience will never contradict the Church s teachings in matters of faith and morals. As exemplified in the sentence above, Bishop Kagan short circuits conscience formation by insisting that properly formed conscience must follow his direction. He speaks as if the Church and he himself are infallible on matters of personal conscience. In a misstep of power, he colludes the complicated doctrine of papal infallibility with the positions of the Church. A Catholic owes a duty to listen thoughtfully to the Bishop, but if in "good conscience" he or she cannot give assent, the Catholic must be free to follow his or her own conscience, which is the true moral responsibility. On his blog, Franciscan author Richard Rohr writes about the primacy of conscience: Although the first principle of Catholic morality is that 'You must follow your conscience,' we usually immediately override it with the second principle, which is that 'You must form your conscience' through Scripture, tradition, and prayer, which I surely agree with. It balances individualism with community. But let s never forget the first principle is still first! In placing the second principle before the first, Bishop Kagan's letter impedes the needed discussion of what we all can do to promote the value of life and solve difficult public policy issues. 2) Bishop Kagan s approach misuses parishioners' trust in Church authority and is therefore not in the best interest for the Church or the building of the common good. The Bishop's letter states: There are some actions that are never acceptable and should not be made so by law. After outlining some of these actions, the letter then says: These are called 'intrinsically evil' actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. Ultimately, the letter declares: In this election year, the positions of the two political parties and the positions of their candidates are well known. 3
While the Bishop has a right and responsibility to teach on matters of faith and morals, the difficulty arises when he applies the teaching to this specific practical case. Doing such and including it as a request on voting for or against a specific person or party misuses the trust of the people in the Church and damages their faith. As the Franciscans state in a recent Directorate: In the election sphere today, there is often an attempt to link our Catholic faith squarely with one political party. Although most religious leaders assert that our faith is not adequately represented or served by the platform of any particular political group, some, overtly or tacitly, strain to demonstrate how one party is the only morally acceptable choice. Such effort is wasted. The world is a morally complex and ambiguous place, especially when it comes to political decisions. Further, in Authority and Conscience, Cardinal Avery Dulles teaches: There is always a temptation for church authorities to try to use their power to stamp out dissent. The effort is rarely successful, because dissent simply seeks another forum, where it may become even more virulent. To the extent that the suppression is successful, it may also do harm. It inhibits good theology from performing its critical task, and it is detrimental to the atmosphere of freedom in the church. The acceptance of true doctrine should not be a matter of blind conformity, as though truth could be imposed by decree. The church, as a society that respects the freedom of the human conscience, must avoid procedures that savor of intellectual tyranny. In addition to the issues noted by the Bishop, there are issues of equal concern which the Conference of Catholic Bishops have asked citizens to consider; these issues include poverty, immigration, war and peace, and the Ryan budget. Serious and devoted Catholics who are of both political parties are now weighing a host of issues. To direct parishioners toward or away from one particular political party is a misuse of faith and trust. Sitting in the pews, parishioners have every reason to expect that the message will be relevant to current events and issues of conscience. However, endorsement of a political candidate, either by inference or direct statement, serves to disenfranchise, discourage, and even, to some, harm. Such an act bends religious faith toward service of a political party. When Bishop Kagan states that the positions of their candidates are well known, he suggests that one party conforms to the Bishops' view of Catholic teaching and the other does not. This is not the case, and for both parties, the party platform neither dictates nor controls the views and votes of the candidates themselves. This has been apparent in the presidential race; consider the views expressed by the platforms of the parties and the expressions of Governor Romney and President Obama. The differences between parties and candidates become even clearer in statewide and local district legislative races. 3) Bishop Kagan's letter refers to a specific candidate or candidates and political parties, which strikingly risks the Church's 501(c)(3) non-profit status. The Bishop's letter states: Please do not vote for the candidate who is most likeable. 4
North Dakotans who have been exposed to political coverage or advertisements this election season can readily identify the candidate who is considered the most likeable. Repeatedly, newspaper reports use this designation for one candidate, as do ads against her candidacy. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is currently running an ad that says: North Dakotans think they like Heidi Heitkamp...You might like Heidi... The Bishop's counter-endorsement of one candidate serves as an endorsement of her opponent. The Bishop explicitly urges parishioners to vote, saying Each Catholic citizen has the privilege and duty to participate in our Nation s governing by the exercise of our constitutional right to vote...as your Bishop I urge you to exercise this cherished right. He then indicates who not to vote for. As a condition of non-profit status, the United States Internal Revenue Service tax codes prohibit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations like churches from endorsing any candidate. Even the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, in their guidelines regarding Activities to Avoid, state the following: In order to avoid violating the political campaign activity prohibitions, parishes, other church organizations, and their representatives should remember these guidelines: Do not endorse or oppose candidates, political parties, or groups of candidates, or take any action that reasonably could be construed as endorsement or opposition. [Emphasis added.] In closing, I urge Bishop Kagan to withdraw his letter due to its infringement on the Primacy of Conscience, its effects on parishioners and the common good, and its violation of proper conduct for non-profits. 5